As my first philosophy teacher taught me, please define your terms. What is "the 'insurance' scam"?

With Obamacare the government is now setting the prices for supplier and customer. Talk about a "support" program for an industry. We will soon have ObamaEnergy, ObamaTransportation, and ObamaNutrition with required participation under threat of force. At age 57 my Obanacare will be over $1200/month of my $3000/month income with 25% co-pay and $4000 more in deductibles. What do I use to pay rent, food, clothing, 35+% taxes. Obamacare premiums are 40%, co-pays and deductibles another 12%, city, state, county and school and income taxes are 35%+. Do the math.

Yes so the moochers could rake off a percentage of every transaction.

The concept of bartering makes it harder for moochers to participate in every transaction at a rate of 30-50%.

I hate bartering. I get your points though. :) Pay for results with an agreed upon price.
update: by "agreed upon price" I mean between the payer and the payee...not the gov regulators.

That last point is the one! I wrote you a long post, which was off the point at the time to say
I, as an individual, ask question of my doctor[s], as individuals, about any medication they suggest or I learn of. My oncologist, in reply to a report of a symptom, said "There's a text for this, but it's painful and there are so many false negatives that I think you should just take x."
If your doctor doesn't talk like that, fire him. Or pay the price of ignorance.

But still, I'm curious about "break the grip of the Rx companies." as a proposal.

If you're going to use the word "we", then I [as part of we] want to know what it is that you want me to do.

The pharmaceutical industry has a powerful lobby in Washington. They signed onto Obamacare rather quickley because it is business as usual for them. We need an honest look at the FDA and the industry as a whole. How that happens is difficult to say. Congressional hearings would go nowhere. I think people need to start asking more questions of their healthcare providers-Why are you perscribing this? Is it essential? Are there cheaper alternatives?

OK, thanks.

Who is "we"? A group of people cannot write a prescription. Neither can a person without a license. So, more accurately "More prescriptions are written....."

You will always find a doctor who disagrees with what another doctor did - that's what keeps the medical malpractice business going.

The assumption that just because there are numerically MORE prescriptions written in the U.S. does not then prove any point at all. There are more written, and some people think there are more written than are needed. OK, and the sun's shining right now: 3 facts. A state delivered in an outraged tone of voice is not an argument.

I'[ll bring in your original statement here:"break the grip of the Rx companies". On whom? Where? To achieve what? Hunh?

and then, how do we [whoever we are] "address" this issue? What does that even mean? Do you mean debate it? Who has standing? Does one side "win"? What does it win?

Say some more, please - I'm still not clear about what you propose.

Pretty common in New York City. "I'll pay cash. You pay the tax."

I love the Gulch. Wish I could live here.

In the United States today we write more perscriptions each year than the rest of the world combined. Many Docters believe that many of these are not needed. We could reduce the cost of healthcare by billions if we address this issue.

Will you tell me what you mean by "break the grip of the pharmaceutical companies"? It's kinda...sorta...a bit...vague.

Pay for results in all fields.

Back to Doctors... Competition. Open the educational monopoly, let public reputation for successful treatment dictate demand. Like restaurant reviews.

Having a conversation with myself (grin)