> Dan Minette <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >[not sure who wrote]
> > SImply put, the weakest area of the American > health system is > > preventative care. Poorer people with chronic > conditions can end up > > with repeated emergency hospital treatment for > conditions which are > > manageable with drugs which, while not cheap, are > >far cheaper than repeated hospital admitance. > OK, let's try to do an experimental test on this. > Drug coverage was just > added to Medicare. To the extent that your > hypothesis is true, we would see > a drop in hospital costs that correspond to the > increase in prescription payments. The major problem with the current added coverage is that _by law_ the gov't can't negotiate with the pharmas for drug pricing...which will not lower health care costs at all overall, just shift it back to the taxpayers ultimately. <snip> > Since I have said I support universal health care, > the obvious conclusions > from the above statement is that we need a radical > retooling. Yes; it needs to be metamorphosed, not just tweaked here and there. Debbi Still In May Posts, Oh Dear Maru ____________________________________________________________________________________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l