Comments on: Government Price Controls Strike Again

By: Medicaid strains ER more than uninsured | Patient Power

Medicaid strains ER more than uninsured | Patient Power — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:23:22 +0000

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By: drmatt

drmatt — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:30:30 +0000

Never said it was better than “all” commercial insurance. What I am saying is Catron alleges that Govt insurance is bad all by itself, it is but not worse than all other private insurance as he alleges. This a platform for an arguement that govt run insurance can’t work, but if you use that platform than you have to say that private insurance doesn’t work either. Broad generalizations wont move us forward and dont represent the problems.

By: Rich

Rich — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 13:31:00 +0000

Well, Ok, medicaid pays for tylenol and condoms, so strictly speaking, you are correct, it is better than all commercial insurance.

By: drmatt

drmatt — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:03:50 +0000

oops, and my point was this. You can’t call it “price control” nobody controls the “price” except the provider, you can charge what ever you want, you can charge a million dollars to remove a toenail. It is payment control, and all insurance companies do payment control, so painting the govt insurance as terrible for it’s “price” control is wholly inaccurate and again pushes us all to argue and debate unreal points and positions. Say it like it is, not how it will support your arguement.

By: drmatt

drmatt — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:00:10 +0000

Yes I am sure. There are things that medicaide pays for that some private insurance companies don’t, not paying at all is less than medicaide. Also, medicaide is impossible to talk about, you talk about NJ medicaide, the article is about CA medicaide, I talk about NH medicaide, they are vastly different………vastly. They have evolved in the politacal atmosphere and tax structure of each individual state, sufice to say it is not good insurance but after that we can’t really discuss it at all as a whole.

By: Rich

Rich — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 01:08:45 +0000

DrMatt -

Are you sure? There are private payers that pay LESS than medicaid?

Less than Medicare I have seen. None less than medicaid.

But the point of the piece answers your own question - in that state, medicaid was the lowest payer of any plan, including “No plan”.

By: drmatt

drmatt — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 21:05:12 +0000

First, medicaide is state funded and mandated which means this represnts 1/50th of the potential information. Second,as a practicing doctor, many of the private insurances didn’t pay much better and some worse, so the private sector’s record on paying for heath care over all is no better, finally, payment fixing isn’t price fixing, price fixing is when an industry (such as the phone companies, or the oil industry) collude to set a price, thus the term price fixing, when the payor choosed what they are going to pay (which all the insurance companies do) it is payment or reimbursement control, you really should work on your terminology before you title your pieces, or is it just for the “support my point shock value”?