U.S. healthcare costs now 800% higher per person than in 1960, even when adjusted for inflation

Do not the AMA and AHA and Insurance companies and their lobbyist have a fiduciary responsibility to their members and businesses?
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also:
Price increases on lifesaving EpiPens have parents outraged — but the CEO of the company that makes them said no one's more frustrated than her, pointing to other players in an "outdated" health-care system.

"The system incentivizes higher prices," Mylan (MYL) CEO Heather Bresch told CNBC's " Squawk Box " on Thursday.

The price of EpiPens, a lifesaving medication and delivery system for people with severe allergies, has increased more than 400 percent in the past decade.

The price hikes have gotten national scrutiny. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton called the increases "outrageous," saying they put "profits ahead of patients." Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has written Mylan asking how EpiPen's prices were determined.

"No one's more frustrated than me," Bresch said . "My frustration is, the list price is $608. There is a system. I laid out that there are four or five hands that the product touches, and companies that it goes through before it ever gets to that patient at the counter. Everyone should be frustrated. I'm hoping that this is an inflection point for this country."

from:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/mylan-ceo-epipens-system-rewards-133106510.html

 

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And Medicare Part D wasn't? If you think Obamacare is an example of crony capitalism, it's nothing compared to Medicare Part D which was past in the wee hours of the morning and after a night of voting and under the table deals. Medicare Part D which provided pharmaceuticals to senior citizens is nothing but crony capitalism. It was created to prevent senior citizens from crossing the border and purchasing prescription drugs at much lower prices and was funded by the American taxpayer. And Medicare Part D was introduced by and passed by a Republican congress and signed into law by a Republican president.

So for you to point your finger at Democrats as you have done repeatedly is more than a little hypocritical and dishonest. The truth is powerful special interest groups like the healthcare industry control congress. They control our government. Powerful special interest groups are the 4th branch of government. That's how powerful special interests are. No matter who controls congress or who is in the White House they cannot get things done without the assent of the fourth branch of government. That is true no matter which party controls Washington. Democrats have a better shot of cleaning that up than Republicans, because at least they are talking about it and trying to fix it. Republicans aren't, because the party is heavily dependent upon these groups and the money they donate to the party and to their candidates.

Well, that's what happens when you listen to Republican entertainers. You get a lot of misinformation and baseless conspiracy theories. Think for just a moment about what you are saying. You assert Obamacare is some sort of conspiracy to control "all aspects of people" lives. Medicare, a truly government run healthcare system for seniors and for the disabled, has been around for more than a 60 years. Has it led to the totalitarian nightmare you ascribe to government run healthcare? It hasn't. In fact, it is a very popular program, and it has not led to the totalitarian nightmare you envision. In fact the program has been expanded over the years because it has been so successful.

Has government run healthcare ever led the totalitarian nightmare you envision anywhere, in any country? No. It hasn't. Government run healthcare systems have been quite successful virtually everywhere. Our Canadian neighbors to the North love their government run healthcare system. Our Asian, Australian, and European friends and allies love their government run healthcare systems. The data clearly shows government run healthcare systems are better and cheaper. Now that runs against the grain of your Republican belief system, but that is the truth of the matter. The problem is, as with so much of your so called "conservative" ideology, the truth, facts, and reason run counter to your ideological beliefs. You should ask yourself, why?

And then there is the small fact that Obamacare isn't government run healthcare as you and your so called "conservative" fellows have repeatedly asserted. It doesn't provide healthcare services to any of the many millions of people it serves. It doesn't provide healthcare insurance to the millions of people it serves. It doesn't insure even one single person. It doesn't provided healthcare to a single person. What it does is provide people access to healthcare services and healthcare insurance. What it does it make healthcare more affordable for millions of Americans. And it attempts to make the healthcare system more efficient by requiring automation. Every industry in the US had become more efficient by automating. Healthcare outside the US had become more efficient by automating. It also established a best practices database whereby healthcare professionals can learn what works and what doesn't work. These are all practices that had been voluntarily and successfully adopted by private enterprises long ago. Because the American healthcare system wasn't competitive, those practices hadn't been adopted and it took Obamacare to make the US healthcare system more efficient, effective, and more productive.

What Obamacare does is require health insurers who participate to provide health insurance to everyone and not discriminate against people with chronic health problems. It doesn't even set prices. It maintains an internet marketing tool and support system to help people purchase healthcare insurance. People are free to choose their own insurance. If they want to pay more for their insurance they can. If they want to pay less, then can. If insurance companies don't want to participate, they are free to do so. Contrary to your assertions and those of your so called "conservative' fellow, there is a lot of choice in Obamacare. Obamacare is far from the Orwellian nightmare you have ascribed to Obamacare.

Unfortunately for you and your so called "conservative" fellows, the truth still matters. Obamacare has been the law of the land for 4 years now and not one of the many dire disasters Republicans have predicted has occurred...not a single one.

 

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Obamacare is largely a Republican Party invention, with the basic framework laid out in 1993 in opposition to the Clinton administration's proposals:

and some of the details filled in by Mitt Romney's administration as governor of Massachusetts: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_health_care_reform

But several of the problems the liberals predicted have come to be (or remain) severe - such as millions of people doing without basic health care because they can't afford it, continued erosion in the quality of medical services delivered, bureaucratic implosions in places, and the consequences to the society and economy therefrom.

 

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