Wherever govt. has been involved, things don't turn out as expected. And they turn out for the worse.
I think government's heart is in the right place, but generally people's greed (ie, fraud) and government ever expanding programs to where they were never intended are the main problems.
I think you are evading the question. How is government more involved in childbirth than it was in 1982? barfo
The govt. book of regulations has gone from 800,000 pages to millions of pages. You can't regulate a market and expect it to act like a rational market.
There are millions of pages of regulations on childbirth? Hard to believe. And, of course, if you are trying to assign any of the price differential between childbirth in 1982 and 2012 to PPACA, you are barking up a tree that is barely sprouted. There may be government regulations that have increased the cost of childbirth since 1982, but you haven't made the case that there are. barfo
What makes you think the regulations have to be specific to child birth? They could be related to litigation, insurance, hospitals, workplace, and so on. The bill is higher because of the cost of compliance with all the crap you love.
You are just waving your hands and claiming it is the government. How about some actual evidence? barfo
I'm not the one who claimed that the cost of childbirth went up astronomically because of government, so the burden of proof doesn't fall on me. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. barfo
You mean, I'm denying the fable that you want desperately to believe, but apparently have no evidence for. barfo
Barfo, I think some of it is just common sense. When we had our daughter we got a list of all the medical supplies we'd need from the doctor and where to buy it to save a LOT of money. Instructions on how to sterilize our own sheets and other materials we'd need. My daughter wanted to so the same thing and was told by her doctor that almost all what we did was now prevented by the government. We saved probably 75% of the cost of having a child and now that option is no longer available. Another thought is the lack of meaningful tort reform. An OBGYN now pays $80-200 thousand dollars per year for PL insurance. Those costs are directly passed along to parents. Meaningful tort reform would probably drop those rates by 75%. Can someone quote you chapter & verse. yeah, probably, but it'd take a hell of a lot of research. Most of it just plain common sense that's right in front of your nose. That said, there are other factors not related to government. But to be sure, some of it is directly attributable to government. And frankly, I think you know it. You're a bright boy.
http://blog.heritage.org/2010/09/22/red-tape-rises-again-cost-of-regulation-reaches-1-75-trillion/ Red Tape Rises Again: Cost of Regulation Reaches $1.75 Trillion There's your link.
That's useless to your argument, since it isn't specific to healthcare (much less birthing babies). How does that explain the fact that healthcare costs have risen much faster than other sectors of the economy? Answer: it doesn't. barfo
Ok, kudos to you for actually addressing the point and trying to explain why the cost of birth has gone up. However, I doubt your last point, since it is still legal, so far as I know, to have babies at home with no medical oversight whatsoever. Ok, but that doesn't address the root cause. After all, we didn't have tort reform in 1982 either. Unfortunately, as proven here many times, 'just plain common sense' is often wrong. Looking at actual evidence is a better way to decide these questions, even if it is a lot of work. I agree, some fraction of it is attributable to the government. The question is how much. Denny seems to be saying 100%. I doubt that's anything close to correct. barfo
Which is what ACA is neither affordable, nor addresses care, or makes anyone in the business act differently.
http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/health-care-regulation-$169-billion-hidden-tax barfo, you're making it too easy on me. Since you can bribe a govt. official, they'll look the other way when you bill them $600 for a hammer or $1800 for a toilet seat.
