r/FluentInFinance • u/The-Lucky-Investor • 13d ago

“Medicare for All” would save the U.S $5.1 Trillion over 10 years Discussion/ Debate

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/11/30/easy-pay-something-costs-less-new-study-shows-medicare-all-would-save-us-51-trillion
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u/ElChuloPicante 13d ago

They can do that. What they can’t do is stand up a service to which they refer their own patients. It’s to prevent things like routing patients to higher-cost, lower-quality, or harder-to-access goods and services. We don’t want doctors submitting prescriptions exclusively to a pharmacy they own, for example.

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u/n3wsf33d 13d ago

Idk other corps are able to horizontally integrate. Seems weird. Seems like we should just be able to submit to whatever pharmacy we want vs the MD making the submission?

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u/ElChuloPicante 13d ago

You can, if it’s in-network, but a huge proportion of the population will just follow prescriber guidance. If a doctor says “you need ten consecutive CAT scans,” most of us don’t know any better. I certainly have zero medical degrees.

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u/Double-Inspection-72 12d ago

These things can't happen because no insurance policy would pay for it. As for your doctor owned pharmacy example insurance companies already do exactly what you were saying. Many insurance companies force you to go to particular pharmacies, that fall under their business umbrella, or face higher prices. But it's ok for them because they have big pockets to lobby the govt.