Cutting out all the middlemen

Great post from "Captain Capitalism" about his $38 visit to the doctor. No, that wasn't the co-pay. That was the cost of the visit. As he points out, it was less than an oil change. It's funny how cutting out layers of paper-processors can save money. Everyone who touches your insurance claim needs to take a slice. And so does their boss, and their boss' boss, and every executive. Oh, and the government expects to get their portion of each of  those portions, plus a nice chunk of the overall profits. And not one of those people in the long line of people getting paid actually provides a service to you the patient. Well, except for the doctor, who is increasingly becoming an afterthought. After all, the government is ready to slash "reimbursements" to doctors as a way of controlling the costs of this monstrous new bureaucracy, designed, without irony, to make health care affordable. What would car insurance premiums be if oil changes and other routine maintenance were covered by your auto policy? Your insurance agent's staff would have to increase tenfold at least just to process all the new claims.

We are really about to go off the deep-end here, to the point of no return. No matter what happens in the 2010 elections, this thing will not get taken away. It has to be stopped now, before it's too late.