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Monday, February 25, 2019

What's Wrong w// HealthCare?

By: Joel Luedke

Loaded question and one that is not simply answered. They do say that "money is the root of all evil" and unfortunately the more I learn about healthcare and the insurance industry, it appears that is the case. If you know a doctor you may think they make pretty good money and you're not wrong in that assumption, but are they overpaid?

I would argue that your general physician is not. The CEO of some of the top medical clinics in the world, yes the world make somewhere between $2.8 and $4.8 million dollars a year (isn't much when you look at $30+ million a year for a quarterback...). For most people those numbers seem high but when you look at what a physician can do for you, I would argue they are justified.

Here is where I struggle though. What about the insurance companies. In 2017 health insurance CEOs earned $342.6 million dollars in salary. These individual salaries could go all they way up to $83 million dollar a year....for what? How has your premium been lately? Has your deductible gone down?

I would argue this could be the root of a lot of the problems in healthcare. Everyone deserves to make a living but for companies that in theory their business model is to help people with health insurance how much sense does it make for them to make 10's of millions of dollars and that doesn't trickle down to help the everyday insurance holder. While insurance can help you in the really bad times does it offer everything it could?

The healthcare system as we know it will be bound to collapse under the weight of increasing rates and hospitals billing more for services in order to cover their expenses it has to burst at some point. There isn't a simple solution but being proactive in your own health and potentially looking at other practitioners might be the next best step. We will try and do our part to get everyone there.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Nothing grinds my gears more than to think that pro athletes make more than doctors/physicians... AND that naturopathic, alternative or holistic medicines are not covered by insurance...

Aside from my own fitness biz, I work in a chiropractic office for scoliosis patients. Insurance will not cover any of our patients costs (if they do, it 1/18th of what they pay to get the treatment). Why? Because it isn't a conventional way to treat even though more times than not, they see results...

Total Athletic Therapy said...

We couldn't agree more. We have no issue's with physicians (or pretty much any qualified and solid practitioner) making good money for the work that they do. We struggle with insurance companies that yes do provide a service and one that is beneficial but the vicious circle we are in of reimbursement and rising costs of care seem like it is going to have to break at some point. For an industry that isn't tangibly giving us something and is more providing investment and moving numbers and papers around, salaries in the 10's of millions seems quite unbelievable. I don't know what the math would exactly work out to but if you dropped the $83 million salary to even $10 million that would go pretty far in dropping premiums and deductibles.

Such a unique and potentially devastating system.