I lost the thread. I was trying to reply to your post about Bamicare. You put a lot of thought into it and I can agree with you in places, but I need to read it again. WhernaHekkIzzit?

Point 1: was that with obamacare, we now have two gigantic administrative bodies - government/insurance companies processing claims; and this upon the already large grouping of staff administering the VA medical system as well as the Medicaid and Medicare systems. At a closer to home level, medical offices in my youth (GP,s) usually consisted of a MD, a Nurse, and a receptionist/billing lady.  We now have legions of billing (coding staff) at the MD office level, a separate billing dept. for the medical group, a billing specialist at the Medicare/Medicaid or insurance office and if you have more than one insurance, another set or two of billing and or coding specialist.
Point 2: the real reason for the cost increase is aging population; once you hit 45 or so, the costs grow exponentially.  I once read that over 60% of medical costs occur in that last few days or month of life, as extraordinary (read expensive) efforts are employed to keep us  alive.
The longer life span (especially after retirement) means more money drained but no added by each individual.  It is also the time when diabetes etc start really doing harm and thus increases the costs.

I suggested perhaps we will need to start a wheel chair senior Hunger Games, or perhaps an annual decimation of the nursing home population.
(Yes, I do have some resistance to either as I am now 70).

Trippah wrote on 12/23/16 at 06:58:52:


I am on your tail, old man, but I'll never catch you  
With 64 years realized next month, I remember going to "clinics" to get medical attention.
I remember it like an "urgent care" office.
You could get a bone set, or stitches, etc.
We also had our regular doctor too, but that was of non urgent matters.

I have asked why can't we have these types of facilities where they attend and teach at the same time?
A med student can learn at NO COST if they have the aptitude and obedience, get their degree, then commit to so many years working in public medicine before going private.
It would spread out the possibilities to more students, as these clinics can be in small and rural areas, and it would provide coverage to folks in these areas too....
A win, win, at a much reduced cost of BIG hospitals, BIG cities, folk having to travel there, etc....

Folks could have a choice, public care, or private care, let everyone decide their own medical issues, not a one size fits all, except the aristocrats    

Goes to show ya, don't remember ever seeing an urgent care facility up to Boston way, where I lived.  Took all three to different hospitals (emergency rooms) for dislocated shoulder, bruised rib and loose tooth with swollen jaw.  Three different injuries due to their active life styles.  While the MD was looking at the third child, a social worker came over and started enquiring why so many different hospitals.  I explained why each situation was near a different location..it finally dawned on me she was checking out a possible child abuse scenario.  I got mad for a moment and then thanked her for their careful review.  So I never got to see urgent care until recently..go figure.