Documentary: Why Does U.S. Health Care Cost So Much?

[alp227]

"Money and Medicine," a documentary set to air Sept. 25 on PBS, investigates some of the most notorious drivers of U.S. health care costs. Ray Suarez speaks with Roger Weisberg, the producer and director of the film, about some of the reasons these costs are driving the nation toward financial crisis --while still producing relatively mediocre medical results. For the full story, visit newshour.pbs.org/health.

[dkf]

1. Must see TV. Thanks.

[Politicalboi]

2. Idiots

Don't they know that the emergency room is FREE?

[physioex]

3. Holy cow....

That woman should not have been at in the ICU for 10months at the cost of 5 million dollars. She could have been transferred to a hospice or simply allowed to pass. We could have done so much preventative care for that amount of money.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. I don't know exact numbers

but it is estimated that one third of all tests, interventions, procedures are what is referred to as "defensive medicine" used to diagnose through process of elimination. Here is an example: A 20 year old female with a history of late or missed periods, fainting spells and weight fluctuations. Assessment possibilities: After general office visit assessment and charges, 24 Hr urine sample for endocrine analysis, blood tests, MRI or CAT of brain, ultra sound of abdomen. Differential Diagnosis: rule out pituitary tumor, hypothalamic dysfunction, ovarian cancer, polycystic ovary disease... now this is a hypothetical case with a simplistic description but how much money would you estimate this young woman spent on this ?

[JDPriestly]

11. It is up to the family as the movie shows -- and rightfully so.

I think this movie is yet more propaganda for cutting Medicare costs. If you don't want to be placed on life support for months, tell your family. It has to be your choice and that of your family.

I've already discussed all of this with my children, and my mother has discussed it with me and her other children. That is the way to handle this.

For many people this is an issue between their family and their pastor. A bunch of know-it-alls in a video do more harm than good. They are too motivated by the bottom line and not enough by compassion.

Looked like a lousy movie to me. It's got a propaganda-style presentation. And about a topic on which that is extremely inappropriate.

These are very personal matters. You don't want people watching some propaganda about saving health care dollars and then not getting the healthcare they need.

In my experience, the biggest problem is that people wait too long to get medical care and diagnosis, and then the costs are really high for a condition or illness that could have been handled quite inexpensively and easily had it been diagnosed earlier.

[physioex]

13. I am happy to hear you have had a frank discussion indvidually....

And frankly more people in society should. But I think we also need to have this discussion as a public policy. I am not a medical expert, but common sense would assume that a person in their eighties with and end of life condition (heart attack, stroke, terminal cancer) and other comorbidities in the ICU for say three weeks does not have a good prognosis. At some point the Doctors should have a talk about either moving the patient to hospice or letting nature take its course. My understanding is that hospice is but a fraction of the cost of the stay in the ICU. The care givers spend a fixed amount of resources on the physical aspects and focus on the emotional and spiritual. They are also given leeway on medications like morphine to keep the patient as comfortable as possible.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. Here is an excellent quote from the director of the film

ROGER WEISBERG: There's no doubt that patients are insulated from the costs and consequences of the medical decisions they make and yet we know from research that when patients are really given a true, fair choice, that is they're given all the information about the costs, benefits, risks, tradeoffs, of elective procedures, they tend to choose about 30 to 40 percent less treatment and their rate of consumption drops to about to the level that doctors choose when they're confronted with those same medical problems.

[alp227]

6. There's a transcript online?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec12/medicine_09-24.html

The transcript is for the TV interview with the director. The video I posted is an online-only segment with excerpts.

[GulleyJimson]

9. Why?

She had/has insurance.

[fasttense]

10. This video is a crock and it does NOT explain why health care costs are so high

It only complains about people using too much health care. Really? Too much health care use is the reason for the high costs? How about the millions who never go near hospitals or doctors because they can't afford it? Are they using too much health care too?

And if you were that patient in the bed, wouldn't you want a chance to live even if it costs a lot? We didn't put Cheney down when he's had his heart replaced twice - how much did that cost the taxpayer? Maybe we should have left him to die too? Or is it the fact that these poor people are on Medicare that we get all upset about them using the health care system so much?

This documentary is a scam and pushes the RepubliCON's talking points that we don't need universal health care. What about taking a few pictures of millionaire doctors in their overpriced mansions? Or how about quoting the salaries of some of the health care insurance CEOs. Don't those excesses add to the cost of health care? Or is just the little old lady who is dying in the hospital bed that we want to throw out into the streets to die?

Why does it cost so much? Why does it cost millions to take care of breast cancer? Why does it cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to have one over night stay in the hospital?

I wish this documentary would do what it claims to do and explain why costs are so ridiculously high instead of complaining about people who want to save their loved ones.

[JDPriestly]

12. Thanks. The Pete Peterson crowd is at it again.

If you aren't a millionaire by the time you are 70, you shouldn't get medical care of be able to live. That's their real message.

If Americans had single payer healthcare, they would go to the doctor before things got so bad. And their doctor would know them and their medical history and not need to do so many tests just to get a baseline established for them.

I lived in Europe, had single payer. It was great. Every pregnancy was monitored. Each baby got its health notebook -- a book in which the baby's and then child's medical history was recorded -- for the child and his/her mother.

Good prenatal and postnatal care followed by visits and check-ups as appropriate during childhood and the teenaged years -- that is the key to saving medical costs.

I'll bet that the elderly woman in the pictures did not have medical insurance at all for many years of her life and saw the doctor only in emergencies even if she did. Many Americans cannot afford to go to the doctor until they have some sort of emergency -- and then getting medical care is expensive.