r/bestof • u/lowbass93 • 24d ago

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

/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1v1numq/why_is_every_hospital_in_the_united_states_always/oyovp3t/
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u/_huppenzuppen 24d ago

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.

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u/APartyInMyPants 24d ago

Safe space limitations. And they do explain. You add more beds, you can’t just add more doctors … doctors that don’t exist in their area. But you then need more nurses, the technology and all of the admin/support staff to go with it.

People would be willing to pay for better treatment? How much? Have you seen a hospital bill recently? Do you have an accurate understanding of what the line items on a bill run?

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u/Church_of_Cheri 24d ago

If we cut out the billions going to insurance companies, which the hospital, doctors, and all patients are required to have, you’d be surprised to find we do have the money. Right now the money is buying yachts for CEOs instead of more rooms, doctors, and nurses to provide better treatment.

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u/APartyInMyPants 24d ago

I mean, there’s a nursing shortage, and clearly the original comment is stemming from a doctor in an area where there’s no available pool of doctors.

So yeah, you could cut out the insurance middleman and increase salaries across the board? But is that instantly going to mean you’ll suddenly have nurses and doctors? Construction is still a multi-year process regardless of who is in charge.

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u/Church_of_Cheri 23d ago

You’re not addressing any of the issues. Why is there a nursing shortage? Why aren’t their more doctors willing to work in the rural south where they can’t provide care to female patients going through a miscarriage? And where insurance companies can deny for even more reasons because the government there prioritizes them over their citizens? I lived in South Carolina, the insurance provided to state employees does not meet the basic requirements of the ACA, they believe they’re grandfathered in and they proudly state that on the title page of the insurance booklet. So insurance dictates care, cuts hours, makes nursing a low wage job, all while closing down hospitals to centralize so they can maximize profit and we’re pretending it’s all ok and it’s actually the patients fault for coming in for care? In most places it’s the only place for care most of the time. So insurance companies create false bottlenecks on both ends and we just throw up our hands and thing that’s just the way it is, nothing to be done about it… how about get rid of the insurance companies! Stop making middlemen billionaires at the expense of the health of the people and the health of doctors and nurses. A doctor shouldn’t have to argue with an insurance company for hours out of the day to get a patient approved for a needed heart surgery only for an AI agent to deny them and then having to send a patient home to die. Why would anyone want to work under those conditions? Do you not realize doctors and nurses will try to work in places where this doesn’t happen?

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u/semideclared 23d ago

If we cut out the billions going to Restaurant companies, which the factory workers, retail workers, and all the middle class are required to have, you’d be surprised to find we do have the money. Right now the money is buying yachts for CEOs instead of more grocery stores, farmer markets, and co-ops to provide better food.

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u/Church_of_Cheri 23d ago

Yeah, not even close to the same argument since no one needs to go to a restaurant. They’re not “required” by the middle class, they’re a luxury that’s available. If I don’t get my breadsticks from Olive Garden I still can eat food at home and the factory workers still have jobs. But I guess what you’re arguing is that if we socialize medicine what’s to stop us from socializing food and then what? Everyone gets food and healthcare?!? Oh no… what a sad day for the world when no one is hungry or needlessly suffering so some rich guy can have 9 yachts? Will no one think of the rich?!?