Treat Me Like a Dog: What Human Health Care Can Learn from Pet Care

[felpaluche]

Sometimes pets are better cared for than humans get.

[nphanlon1973]

At least the doctor won't put you down....oh I forgot...death panel.

[eathis12]

The biggest factor in health care costs is the the lawsuits. We give many uneeded testing because the government says they are liable if not. This is actually the same for countries with universal healthcare because they sue anybody they can with private money.

[VideoGuyNC]

NC has a "con" law? HAHAHA! I can believe it! The entire state is a "CON".

[foryourpetssake]

STOP KILLING YOUR PET! You can add years to the life of your pet and reduce many of their health problems, if you know one important fact your veterinarian never tells you. - foryourpetssake . net

[cooperbry]

watch?

v=TdcaLReCG3Y

[Megabyxos]

Go old lady!

[jethrodassam]

What's up with this. I have 4 hospitals within 10 minutes of my house.

[cybervore]

Ok, I actually like and approve of the idea behind this video...I have 2 dogs myself, and they are more precious than life to me...BUT...there is really no comparison here! Until obozo care, I had NEVER been refused or delayed for treatment...now, if I needed a hip replacement like either of my dogs...I would be lucky to find a doctor that was either competent enough or available enough to do it! Thanks to Obozo, our Doctors are leaving the US for more friendly shores!

[Ypipable]

Vets are groovy.

[rabidchevy]

reminds me of a discussion/argument i had with a liberal once. could not explain to her why drug cost are different between humans and animals when i tried to explain that you are purchasing "liability" with human drugs her eyes glazed over with wealth envy and "evil" corporations screwing people over.

[JustBoredEnough]

When obama gets done pets will have more rights.

[El3ctricPenguin]

Fuck Nixon.

[welkinator]

While I agree with the point of view and parallel to human care plz note that almost all animal care costs are out of pocket. If your dog needs a heart/lung transplant YOU pay up front.

This is triage-by-wallet; the very thing that upsets people now about the human health care industry and why it is all so expensive. We are demanding that all people (citizens at the moment but....) have access to ALL tests and ALL procedures REGARDLESS OF COSTS. This is the reason it is all so expensive.

[mrphoo67]

@welkinator That is a down side with having third party payer like insurance and medicare. They make people unaware of cost thus they feel they afford all test and all procedure.

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

@mrphoo67

That's not a problem of insurance per se, but of restricted competition. If insurance companies were allowed to compete more freely, then their efforts to offer the best possible risk pooling would serve to drive down prices. And if political economy wasn't inherently isolated from consumer preference data, then medicare bureaucrats would be able to set terms at the competitive equilibrium.

Remember, the cheapest modern healthcare in history was provided through friendly societies.

[mrphoo67]

@PanzerDivisionBOM Just remember health insurance are their to help manage the cost. people need to pay more out of pocket when it come to health care itself. We really to know full cost of our healthcare. That said your suggestion removing barriers to competition among state lines is defianlly part of the equation.

[PanzerDivisionBOM]

@mrphoo67

Well...

There are greater barriers to entry than the state borders. Last I heard, there was something like 2000 pages of insurance regulation on the Federal level alone, the cost of compliance of which renders new entry into the market prohibitively expensive, but which can be relatively easily absorbed by protected firms. Also, the content of insurance packages must conform to very strict criteria - even if they wanted to, insurance companies probably couldn't follow your advice.

[mrphoo67]

@PanzerDivisionBOM I agree We really need to get rid of all the mandates and regulations put on the insurance company.

[ExecutorJoe]

kind of like heath insurance,

3 of them are in NC. so its like the Gas price gouging. if we could use other insurances like we can do with our cars,(Cross State lines). it would = better prices

[ExecutorJoe]

im in North Carolina, near Brenner's children hospital, and a bit of a drive to Duke Hospital. Both great. Both some of the best in the US.

BUT!!! thats it, no place to run too if i need something ASAP. unlike the Vet, which i can make in 15mins if i honestly drive like a bat out of hell.

we need more local hospitals.

[copperwaxwing]

5 stars favored..keep govenment out of our lives

[JRHowosso]

Wait till the illegals find out that they can get free health care for their pets........... That will shut down the vet hospitals....and drive up costs for paying pet owners....

[JimmyTheNerd]

Vet care is and always will be an out of pocket thing for the owner, never paid for or free. All you are trying to do is spread fear you ignorant bumpkin.

[derfred123]

I agree. As time goes by more and more of Nixon's policies are shown totally anti-free market. My question is why Reagan didn't do away with it...

[PEinHK]

Fuck Nixon, fuck that cracker at 3:55, and fuck every big government busybody out there.

[getnick77]

wow didn't know about this con law stuff I'll be contacting my congressman in the morning

[TAMARLANE]

If you see a stray dog, you can call Animal Control and they come and pick up the dog. Or cat, or whatever. If you see a stray person diving in dumpsters and stuff, the filthy people I call them, you can call but no one cares. No one comes to get them, to help them.

[WAMill3R]

When has forcibly banning competition EVER reduced prices? I think somebody turned up the bullshit meter.

[cooperbry]

Abolish the CONs!

[Libertarianist]

Glad I live in Colorado.

"Health care is too expensive because there are too many hospitals," my aching ass. That's fucking retarded!

[hawkermustang]

Big government sux.

[goingalt]

Crony capitalism sux.

[Raycheetah]

Illegal aliens aren't swarming vet clinics for "free" care, raising costs for paying clients. =^[.]^=

[Apptendo]

FUCK YOU NIXON

[henrycate]

@Apptendo Your language is impolite, but appropriate. As time goes by, Nixon seems more and more like a total economic idiot. The Four Stooges: LBJ, Nixon, Ford & Carter. Boo!

[WAMill3R]

Four stooges sounds too benign. More like the four horsemen.

[BloodiCheeseCake]

It's no wonder healthcare costs rise, these policy makers don't understand economics. Nixon was one of the worst presidents our time. Price controls on gas and limits on hospitals, it's ridiculous.

[mmsayre]

yea, but how can a nations smartest academics control everything and make decisions for everyone in a system like this?

[samuils]

Government stuck their nose in and messed it all up? Nah really? Who would've thunk it

[bateshawn]

cats and dogs have more rights in american than american's do.

if your neibor kicks your ass? no problem!

if your neibor kicks his dogs ass, he is going to prison for life.

basicly!

[ForTehNguyen]

if I was in Canada i'd rather be treated like a pet, they get better healthcare

[gf1605]

@ForTehNguyen

I have to wait three months here in Canada every time I need to see my Rheumatologist for my autoimmune disease, which is at least once a year on a good year.

[default013]

All hospitals should be approved by Obama, and only by Obama. He knows better than you do.

[mrphoo67]

@default013 sarcasm right?



[98nafets]

This is what infuriated me while watching that "health care summit" today. It is the government's fault that our costs so high. They mess with the free market and then claim that the free market failed.

[OtisWild]

Fuckin Nixon, the economic illiterate.. Fuckin RINO POS...

[TheAustrian08]

that's hysterical that you have to convince some politician that you need a hospital. Guess it's too dangerous to let the market decide that...

[trekkerperson]

I have been saying this. Our government regulates and creates the problems with human care and blame the market? When will sheep wake up to reality?

[MooseOfReason]

People get hurt all the time. That alone should fit a "certificate of need."

[nonantianarchist]

How about "if people don't need a hospital, they won't go to the new one, it won't be able to cover its expenses, and it will go out of business, and the only who bear the cost will be the investors who chose to pay for a hospital where there wasn't a demand for hospital services, so they've probably thought through whether there's a need for hospital services before putting up the funds for it." I dunno. Is that too complicated for the average elected official/voter.

[kainniak1]

god this video makes me mad at health care thats y i am trying to move to new Zealand i dont even have a pet and i know where 6 vets are and our city of 106k have 2 hospitals that i can think of off the top of my head, and they are litterly down the street from each other

[nonantianarchist]

But...the pet healthcare system is two-tiered! All the dogs owned by rednecks who don't bring them to the vet aren't getting equal access to healthcare! I propose that we nationalize the veterinary system, and have waiting lists for all veterinary procedures to be performed by state veterinarians. If you oppose this plan, then you hate puppies with large, soulful eyes, you bastards.

[nlolinder]

@nonantianarchist

lol

[Apptendo]

WIN

[nonantianarchist]

Ah, Tricky Dick. So many ways that he reaches from beyond the grave to fuck things up.

[Thorbie]

Seriously. Less hospitals to lower healthcare costs??? Lol. What a joke.

[JohnJ2427]

That just proves that pet care needs more politicians. Otherwise it will keep getting better, and that would be unequal!

[trekkerperson]

HA LOL!

[timderoche]

awesome piece....the irrationality of our system is infuriating!

[JanisXAChambers]

Personally, anything signed by Richard Nixon has to be reviewed and (within reason) destroyed. Healthcare has become this out of control form of monopoly with prices that are utterly unreasonable. They charge for procedures that have been common for years what you would charge for experimental procedures. It's like paying the same price for a E-machine that you would for a new Apple Pro.

[RogueSwordThesco]

Convince them that it's needed?

Why?

Isn't the fact that people come in with money self evident?

[FatherTime89]

decreasing hospitals would lower healthcare costs?

...The only way this would make sense is if all the hospitals were owned by the same person/company. Even then if they wanted each hospital to be self-sufficient then it wouldn't lead to higher costs.

[bs2137]

FYI DC - competition usually brings cost/price down

[cloudberry121]

What you've got to do is have at least one close relative who is a doctor. After that, you get what you need, when you need it. And you are privy to their knowledge on who is the best specialist when you need one.

[lordthawkeye]

Lowering the number of hospitals was going to decrease the cost?

Wow, Nixon really took the 5$ economy class instead of the 10$ one there didn't he?

[RogueSwordThesco]

No, any $5 econ class would have taught him that much

[Chrisnoscrub047]

The State is the ultimate barrier to entry.

[Mastikator]

It took my cat 2 hours to get care, it took my mom half a year.

Granted I live in Sweden and we have universal(ly unavailable) healthcare.

[hoppinglark]

The only problem is that pet owners usually have cash.

That's why we need to expand health savings accounts, like the Whole Foods Inc. health plan.

The patients will have more money and spend it , in his or her own best interests.

[lordthawkeye]

Check prices. Vets have doctors beat there too.

[Chrisnoscrub047]

@hoppinglark I think eliminating the income tax would increase cash in pocket more than expanding health savings accounts.

[nlolinder]

@Chrisnoscrub047

And would increasing cash in pocket - thus available for use for health care - be a bad thing?

[Chrisnoscrub047]

Certainly not.

[hoppinglark]

I'm all for getting rid of taxes on wages.

I was thinking about the difference between employers paying insurance companies and paying employees a benefit that would go into a FSA or HSA

[HolisticPlantHealth]

Yet again a shinning example of absolutely retarded Laws that anyone with common sense and without their hand in the bucket (grabbing for dollars) knows mus be changed but the problem is those in charge of the laws either have or are influenced by the hand in the bucket grabbing away ... And thank the Nixon Era Fucks us yet again.

[furyofbongos]

Take *any* government regulation or initiative and either it's affect will be the exact opposite of it's stated benefit, or its negative side affects far outweigh any benefits.

[furyofbongos]

Yay!! Chalk it up for government!!

You love government don't you. Oh, we neeeeeed it! Who's going to build the roads! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

How much more social destruction will it take to simply entertain the thought that government is a destructive system at its core.

Soon, vets will become more regulated and the same thing will happen as human care.

[XCritonX]

I made a suggestion to Reason TV with this very same idea! Thank you Reason TV for making this video!!!