[ExI] Tools for improving health care in the USA, now

[Post Futurist]

 the cost for angioplasty varies from $9,000 to $204,000? Quite a spread-- $195,000.




I recommend Bailey's article in full...
Markets, Not Mandates
http://www.reason.com/news/show/135081.html

...but I especially wanted to quote two
 paragraphs and the included links to useful resources for improving your health care (if you live in the USA), without having to wait for reforms:

> Competition would also transform the medical information market, making it radically transparent.
<http://finance.senate.gov/healthsummit2008/Statements/Regina%20Herzlinger%20Testimony%20_pages%20227-246.pdf>

> In fact, baby steps toward transparency have already begun. Angie's List
<http://www.angieslist.com/AngiesList/myangie/>

> now allows consumers to submit reports about their experiences with physicians. Sources of information for medical comparison shopping would proliferate, just as there are now dozens of publications devoted to comparing
 the features and prices of cars, computers, guns, and vacations. A core of savvy shoppers in the medical market will mean better price and quality comparisons for everyone.
> 
> Wondering what shopping in a competitive medical market might be like? Check out the admittedly clunky California government's common surgeries and cost comparison website.
<http://www.oshpd.ca.gov/commonsurgery/>

> Browsing reveals that the cost for heart valve replacement varies from $72,000 to $368,000, and the cost for angioplasty varies from $9,000 to $204,000. Other websites, such New Choice Health,
http://www.newchoicehealth.com/Home>

> enable consumers to go shopping for relatively routine procedures like colonoscopies, laparoscopic hernia repair, and MRI scans. Prices for colonoscopies in
 Washington, DC, for instance, vary from $580 to $1,386, hernia repair from $974 to $2,519, and abdominal MRIs from $936 to $1,960.



-------------------------------------
Max More, Ph.D.
Strategic Philosopher
Extropy Institute Founder
www.maxmore.com
max at maxmore.com
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