brucehopperjrmd's posterous

Defining "medical expense" in order to quantify "medical loss ratios" is the next level of "reform". This is merely a game to maximize money insurance companies can hold onto. And the stakes are huge. 1.7% of administrative fees = $500 million. Think of all the real healthcare we could use that money for. This is long tail stuff. The system is so magnificently bloated that even small percentages equal vast sums of money. Smells, to me, like a "bubble" similar to Wall Street. Notice the game-players and rule-makers are insurers, legislators, and regulators but not physicians and patients. So, essentially, the people largely responsible for exploding healthcare costs are going to make new regulations to "protect the consumer". Don't think so. Keep in mind, this banter will do NOTHING at the patient-doctor level except make it more difficult to spend time with, listen to, and develop professional, longitudinal relationships so that we front-line primary care physicians can authentically CARE FOR our patients. http://amplify.com/u/5vu2