Health and Healthcare
A Medicare for All system allows free choice of doctors and facilities.
Medical decisions should be made by patients and their doctors, not corporate accountants.
(Medicare for All)
SOURCE: An American Sickness (2017), Elisabeth Rosenthal
The United States spends almost 20% of its gross domestic product (more than $3T per year) on healthcare [Other developed countries spend approximately half (per person) of what is spent in the USA.]
Based upon the World Health Organization’s assessment of health system performance, the United States ranks #37
In 1993, U.S. insurers spent 95 cents of premium dollars on medical care (known as “medical loss ratio”); the average medical loss ratio is currently closer to 80
Hospitals charge uninsured (a.k.a. self-pay) patients 2.5 times more than they charge insured patients
Medical debt is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S.
Medicare uses 98% of its funding for healthcare and 2% for administrative costs
In the United States, 10-15% of healthcare revenue goes to billing and collection companies and contractors; many of these jobs don’t exist in European countries
Deloitte & Touche is ranked #1 in all areas of healthcare consulting revenue; in 2014, D & T announced revenues of $34B
From 1997 to 2012, the cost of U.S. hospital services increased 149%
Since the 1940s, the 1990s is the only decade that U.S. health spending did not increase faster than the cost-of-living
Since 1990, the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has grown twice as fast as the national economy
The FDA collects $500M in annual fees from pharmaceutical corporations
The AMA spends more than $20M lobbying Congress each year; collectively, the medical industry spends almost $500M annually for lobbying
The U.S. healthcare industry spends $15B annually on advertisingLife, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness requires access to good health care.
Denying healthcare is immoral.
It's just you and your doctor with Medicare for All.
In Canada, hundreds cannot get a quick MRI; in the USA, millions cannot.
(Medicare for All)
http://time.com/money/2995166/why-does-mri-cost-so-much/ Uninsured people and people outside their insurance network often pay full price. …”When it comes to pricey hospital procedures, MRIs come to mind. Sure enough, according to recently released Medicare pricing data analyzed by NerdWallet Health, the average cost of an MRI in the U.S. is $2,611.”
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/planning-paying-diagnostic-procedure/ About MRIs cost….”If you’re uninsured, or will have to pay the full price because you haven’t met your deductible, call the facility’s billing department ahead of time and explain your situation.”
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateashford/2014/10/31/how-much-mri-cost/#313bf0fa8485
In the US…..”it’s harder than you might think to get a price on a medical procedure. I speak from experience, having tried to comparison shop for an MRI over the summer. I have a high-deductible plan—as do an increasing number of Americans under the Affordable Care Act—so the first few thousand in medical expenses are out of pocket. Hence, I have some skin in the game.”Living without health care is an infringement on your right to life.
(Medicare for All)https://cup.columbia.edu/book/health-care-as-a-right-of-citizenship/9780231170130 The mainstream American public now views access to affordable health care to all citizens as a crucial function of just and effective governance https://academic.oup.com/annonc/article/26/10/2193/144592 Annals of Oncology Vol. 26, Issue 10 Oct 2015 Both the European Union and the United Nations recognize health care as a basic human right The United States, Mexico, South Korea, and Turkey are the only member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that do not recognize universal health care as a basic human right.
Americans believe that citizens should be guaranteed health care. Eighty-three percent of Americans say having health insurance is absolutely essential or very important, and 70% say it is important that the nation has universal health care coverage (as in Medicare for Americans 65 years or older)Drug Abuse
A smaller government means less money for drug abuse prevention and rehab.
Drug treatment is cheaper than incarceration.
(Drug Abuse)
https://doc.mo.gov/Documents/mrp/SATPrograms.pdf
PARTNERSHIP FOR DRUG-FREE KIDS:
Sending substance-abusing state prisoners to community-based treatment programs instead of prisons could reduce crime and save billions of dollars, a new study concludes. The savings would result from immediate reductions in the cost of incarceration, and by subsequent reductions in the number of crimes committed by successfully treated offenders, which leads to fewer re-arrests and re-incarcerations, according to the researchers.
Almost half of all state prisoners abuse drugs or are drug-dependent, but only 10 percent received medically based drug treatment while they are incarcerated, according To Newswise. Inmates who are untreated or not adequately treated are more likely to start using drugs when they are released from prison, and commit crimes at a higher rate than those who do not abuse drugs, the article notes.
The researchers built a simulation model of 1.14 million state prisoners, representing the 2004 U.S. state prison population. The model estimated the benefits of substance abuse treatment over individuals’ lifetimes, and calculated the crime and criminal justice costs related to policing, trial and sentencing, and incarceration.
The model tracked individuals’ substance abuse, criminal activity, employment and health care use until death or until they reached age 60, whichever came first. They estimated the costs of sending 10 percent or 40 percent of drug-abusing inmates to community-based substance abuse treatment instead of prison.
In the journal Crime & Delinquency, the researchers found that if just 10 percent of eligible offenders were treated in community-based programs instead of going to prison, the criminal justice system would save $4.8 billion, compared with current practices. If 40 percent of eligible offenders received treatment, the savings would total $12.9 billion.
https://rehab-international.org/blog/drug-rehab-instead-of-prison-could-save-billions-says-report
“Published in the journal Crime & Delinquency, the new research has found that sending offenders with a history of drug and alcohol abuse to an addiction treatment program rather than institutionalizing them in jail or prison is not only the humanitarian choice but it will cut crime rates and save billions of dollars. Billions. In a time when the federal government has a debt in the trillions, it seems unethical to ignore the benefits and cost savings of helping people get the medical care they need rather than incarceration that will only worsen everyone’s problems.”
http://www.bhsbaltimore.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Incarceration-vs-Drug-Treatment-Costs.pdf
“State and national studies have estimated that it costs between $26,390 and $38,383 annually to incarcerate a drug offender in Maryland. Costs for treatment vary by level of care and length of treatment, but even the most expensive treatment is less costly than incarceration. A 2008 study estimated treatment costs ranged from an average of $2,326 for non-methadone outpatient services—and $7,409 per episode for methadone treatment—to $21,404 for therapeutic community treatment.2”
https://luxury.rehabs.com/alcohol-rehab/rehab-instead-of-jail/
“According to the Justice Research and Statistics Association, the effects of drug rehabilitation versus jail time had positive outcomes in the following areas:
57 percent of people receiving drug rehab were re-arrested within a 12-month period compared to a 75-percent rate for those who didn’t receive drug rehab
42 percent of people receiving drug rehab were convicted of a crime compared to 65 percent of those who didn’t receive drug rehab
30 percent of people who underwent drug rehabilitation received a new jail sentence within a 12-month period compared to 51 percent of those who didn’t undergo drug rehab”
http://www.justicepolicy.org/uploads/justicepolicy/documents/04-01_rep_mdtreatmentorincarceration_ac-dp.pdf
From the Justice Policy Institute….“Treatment can be less expensive than a term of imprisonment. Treatment can be cost effective.”Best alternatives to drugs - education, jobs, resources.
The war on drugs costs $51 billion annually. Talk about government waste!
(Drug Abuse)
https://doc.mo.gov/Documents/mrp/SATPrograms.pdf
PARTNERSHIP FOR DRUG-FREE KIDS:
Sending substance-abusing state prisoners to community-based treatment programs instead of prisons could reduce crime and save billions of dollars, a new study concludes. The savings would result from immediate reductions in the cost of incarceration, and by subsequent reductions in the number of crimes committed by successfully treated offenders, which leads to fewer re-arrests and re-incarcerations, according to the researchers.
Almost half of all state prisoners abuse drugs or are drug-dependent, but only 10 percent received medically based drug treatment while they are incarcerated, according To Newswise. Inmates who are untreated or not adequately treated are more likely to start using drugs when they are released from prison, and commit crimes at a higher rate than those who do not abuse drugs, the article notes.
The researchers built a simulation model of 1.14 million state prisoners, representing the 2004 U.S. state prison population. The model estimated the benefits of substance abuse treatment over individuals’ lifetimes, and calculated the crime and criminal justice costs related to policing, trial and sentencing, and incarceration.
The model tracked individuals’ substance abuse, criminal activity, employment and health care use until death or until they reached age 60, whichever came first. They estimated the costs of sending 10 percent or 40 percent of drug-abusing inmates to community-based substance abuse treatment instead of prison.
In the journal Crime & Delinquency, the researchers found that if just 10 percent of eligible offenders were treated in community-based programs instead of going to prison, the criminal justice system would save $4.8 billion, compared with current practices. If 40 percent of eligible offenders received treatment, the savings would total $12.9 billion.
http://www.drugpolicy.org/issues/drug-war-statistics
“Amount spent annually in the U.S. on the war on drugs: $50+ billion. Number of arrests in 2016 in the U.S. for drug law violations: 1,572,579”
https://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/branson-end-war-on-drugs/index.html
“It is time we broke the taboo and opened up the debate about the war on drugs. We need alternatives that focus on education, health, taxation and regulation.”
“If you ignore a serious problem, refuse to debate it and hope it will go away all by itself, you are very naive. The war on drugs has failed. It's time to confront the issue head on.”What would you rather pay for: education or incarceration?
(Drug Abuse)
https://doc.mo.gov/Documents/mrp/SATPrograms.pdf
PARTNERSHIP FOR DRUG-FREE KIDS:
Sending substance-abusing state prisoners to community-based treatment programs instead of prisons could reduce crime and save billions of dollars, a new study concludes. The savings would result from immediate reductions in the cost of incarceration, and by subsequent reductions in the number of crimes committed by successfully treated offenders, which leads to fewer re-arrests and re-incarcerations, according to the researchers.
Almost half of all state prisoners abuse drugs or are drug-dependent, but only 10 percent received medically based drug treatment while they are incarcerated, according To Newswise. Inmates who are untreated or not adequately treated are more likely to start using drugs when they are released from prison, and commit crimes at a higher rate than those who do not abuse drugs, the article notes.
The researchers built a simulation model of 1.14 million state prisoners, representing the 2004 U.S. state prison population. The model estimated the benefits of substance abuse treatment over individuals’ lifetimes, and calculated the crime and criminal justice costs related to policing, trial and sentencing, and incarceration.
The model tracked individuals’ substance abuse, criminal activity, employment and health care use until death or until they reached age 60, whichever came first. They estimated the costs of sending 10 percent or 40 percent of drug-abusing inmates to community-based substance abuse treatment instead of prison.
In the journal Crime & Delinquency, the researchers found that if just 10 percent of eligible offenders were treated in community-based programs instead of going to prison, the criminal justice system would save $4.8 billion, compared with current practices. If 40 percent of eligible offenders received treatment, the savings would total $12.9 billion.
https://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/opinion/branson-end-war-on-drugs/index.html
“A Pew study says it costs the U.S. an average of $30,000 a year to incarcerate an inmate, but the nation spends only an average $11,665 per public school student. The future of our nations and our children should be our priority. We should be helping people addicted to drugs break their habits rather than putting users in prison.”
https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/report-increases-spending-corrections-far-outpace-education
“Over the past three decades, between 1979–80 and 2012–13, state and local expenditures for P–12 education doubled from $258 to $534 billion, while total state and local expenditures for corrections quadrupled from $17 to $71 billion.”
“All states had lower expenditure growth rates for P-12 education than for corrections, and in the majority of the states, the rate of increase for corrections spending was more than 100 percentage points higher than the growth rate for education spending.”
“Even when adjusted for population changes, growth in corrections expenditures outpaced P-12 expenditures in all but two states (New Hampshire and Massachusetts).”
“Over the roughly two decades, between 1989–1990 and 2012–2013, state and local appropriations for public colleges and universities remained flat, while funding for corrections increased by nearly 90 percent.”
“On average, state and local higher education funding per full-time equivalent student fell by 28 percent, while per capita spending on corrections increased by 44 percent.