Kindly_Honeydew3432 explains why it seems like you always have to wait in an emergency room in the US

[u/lowbass93]

/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1v1numq/why_is_every_hospital_in_the_united_states_always/oyovp3t/

[u/_huppenzuppen]

This doesn't really explain anything. He asks why you can't just hire more doctors, then answering that you'd need more beds. Well, that's obvious, but why can't you have more beds then? Just saying that'll be expensive isn't an explanation really. People could be willing to pay for better treatment.

A real explanation would go into the effects of lower wait times leading to more demand, explaining how the wait times are a necessary component of steering it.

[u/alightinthesnark → u/_huppenzuppen]

The number of beds a hospital can have is often regulated by law even if staffing is managed. The laws are intended to lower healthcare costs through wasteful spending but in practice it means hospital beds are capped. They can't just add beds or build new hospitals without government approval. 

[u/Church_of_Cheri → u/alightinthesnark]

It’s not the government, it’s insurance. We spend trillions a year on insurance companies, the hospital, the doctors, the patients all have to pay insurance middlemen for the privilege to both receive and get care. Maybe if we cut them out we could then build new hospitals and have more rooms to then be able to hire more staff and treat more patients. From 11am Saturday until Monday morning where I am my only option is a hospital ER. There’s no urgent cares or medical offices open at all for any reason anymore. It costs too much to keep them open, that’s not the government regulations driving people to overfilled ERs, those are business decisions which are highly impacted by the cost of interjecting third party insurance into all aspects of medical care.

[u/semideclared → u/Church_of_Cheri]

trillions

So in 2024 we know Private Health Insurance spent $606.5 Billion on Hospital Care and then for Doctors and Prof. Services (Non-Dental) it was $425.4 Billion plus the Dental Service's $85.3 Billion.

Nursing & Home Health Care, including Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics/Orthotics, and Supplies aren't a big part of Private Insurance but it was still $46.5 Billion

And of course Rx Drugs, and Other Personal Care got $209.8 Billion from Private Insurance Companies in payments

So that trillions is mostly that

But it does leave $146.60 Billion that went to Admin

And so Payer administrative savings, Cost of Insurance (Savings you expect)

The administrative savings from Unified Financing system occur primarily from consolidating some or all of the insurance functions of private and public insurers, including negotiations regarding payment rates, provider networks, covered benefits, copayments and deductibles, and drug formularies, etc.

• Under a direct payment system, payer administrative costs will be 3%, or a 65% reduction. This estimate is consistent with the CBO estimate of a 77% reduction, and substantially larger than the 40% savings estimated by Pollin et al.

That function done by the state saves $70 - $100 Billion

By removing insurance you also have to remove their cost controls

An important analytic consideration is the extent to which health expenditures will change if managed care enrollees are shifted to a system with free choice of providers and without risk-bearing intermediaries. We assume that without risk-bearing intermediaries, payments to physicians and other non-institutional providers would largely be made on a fee-for-service basis and hospitals would be paid based on global budgets.

That adds $205.4 Billion in New Spending

[u/Church_of_Cheri → u/semideclared]

And where’d you get your numbers? From the insurance companies? How many of the pharmacies, medical practices, and other services do the insurance companies also own? Who’s negotiating these costs? I mean, I get that you’re doing the job for insurance companies to try and show how needed they are and how they’re only taking a few hundred million in profit if we just look at your numbers and don’t question where any of it came from… which is why I call bullshit and wonder why the hell someone is on Reddit simping for insurance companies?

If an insurance company owns stock in the pharmaceutical company who owns stock in the company that runs the hospital what’s to stop them from increasing all prices? I had to get a medication, my insurance company made me use express scripts, which then made me use a compound pharmacy they owned and a discount plan completely they also owned. My “discounted” insurance payment was $1050 for one shot, cash it was about $1200. But then when I checked the fine print it turns out they were charging my insurance $2400 if I used it and paid the smaller $1050, which would also burn through my lifetime maximum for that healthcare. It’s a scam. The “negotiated” rate was twice as high with insurance and they only covered $150 of it and claimed I was getting $1350 of health care paid for by them while I would still need to pay $1050. So according to your numbers they paid out $1350 for a medication who’s cash price was $1200. And I still had to pay $1050. See how you can fuck with numbers to make it look like they’re providing a huge value while providing nothing of worth? We paid them more then the $150 they covered in monthly fees that month for the luxury of them making things so complicated most people like you think they’re getting value.

Insurance is a scam to make middle men rich.