Do you know why postage cost are so high for us ?

[Rat]

I was complaining to my local post master a few months back how the cost of postage over the last 10 years has gone up so much he explained why and I was shocked.
Ever wonder why Chinese companies can send items for free shipping even very low-cost items where it would cost more to send it than what's it worth. I was told years ago that the PRC was subsidizing shipping for its own companies how wrong was I it's our governments that are paying for Chinese companies shipping so wrong in so many ways.

This is why we pay so much for postage locally and internationally in Australia, Canada, US, UK, Germany and all the other westerner world? It's because we pay the shipping cost for China. Think of the millions if not billons of parcels every postal service around the world has to move for free they just pass the cost onto us. It's an old UN agreement from back in the 1970's with the western world to cover the cost of mail for third world countries so poor countries can still send mail. Which is good for the poor countries. The problem is China is the world's second biggest economy and still scams the UN by corruption and bullying to stay listed as a third world county (Developing counties) and we are paying the cost for it with local business' going broke, loss of jobs and high postage fee's.

Later

 

[bykfixer]

The UN is not our friend.

 

[Poppy]

@Rat,
I sent your post to my Congresswoman, asking if it was true.
If it's true, I want to bring it to her attention.

Bitching among ourselves will get nothing done.

EDIT:
Congresswoman Sherrill sits on the House Armed Services Committee and the new House Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

 

[Eric242]

It is true. I learned about it a decade ago and couldn´t stop shaking my head ever since whenever this topic comes up.

 

[turbodog]

Yup, true. Effects on daily lives compared to far more things which can actually be changed? Tiny.

As far as that goes, when the US (for example) competes with any country w/ single-payer healthcare we are at a disadvantage due to insurance costs.

Want to change the world? Lobby for single PAYER healthcare in the US. Demand it. Please note my emphasis and consider it's meaning before getting pissed.

 

[bykfixer]

What's that got to do with the UN and postage?

 

[LuxLuthor]

What's that got to do with the UN and postage?

Nothing. It's just Turbodog's issue. As a practicing physician, I have mixed opinions on single payer, although generally Medicare works pretty well...but...it's headed for insolvency in 7-8 years. In reality, because insurance companies inserted their stupid asses into the health care system, it is now a very complex issue how to have it work better. Certainly all those healthcare dollars going into the unrelated massive health insurance corporate offices and profits makes zero sense.

 

[Monocrom]

The UN is not our friend.

Never was.

 

[Poppy]

Nothing. It's just Turbodog's issue. As a practicing physician, I have mixed opinions on single payer, although generally Medicare works pretty well...but...it's headed for insolvency in 7-8 years. In reality, because insurance companies inserted their stupid asses into the health care system, it is now a very complex issue how to have it work better. Certainly all those healthcare dollars going into the unrelated massive health insurance corporate offices and profits makes zero sense.

It's more like the medical profession will go insolvent.
They'll just keep paying physicians less and less.

I was stunned that all they paid my surgeon for doing my hip replacement was something like $1,700 That's in 2022 dollars.

 

[turbodog]

...

I was stunned that all they paid my surgeon for doing my hip replacement was something like $1,700 That's in 2022 dollars.

Question... how many actual hours between office, surgery, followup, etc were spent by doctor?

I think medical is going to get worse before it gets better. Reimbursement rates from gov't need to increase. Boomers' population bubble is going to push the system to its limits, from a capacity standpoint and economic also.

That said.. of the several doctor I have as clients... cost savings never come from their mouths. Efficiency increases? Not interested. Keeping their pay up at the expense of raises for office staff? Yes please.

The system is so broken that I honestly don't think it's possible to reform it (in enough time).

 

[LuxLuthor]

Question... how many actual hours between office, surgery, followup, etc were spent by doctor?

I think medical is going to get worse before it gets better. Reimbursement rates from gov't need to increase. Boomers' population bubble is going to push the system to its limits, from a capacity standpoint and economic also.

That said.. of the several doctor I have as clients... cost savings never come from their mouths. Efficiency increases? Not interested. Keeping their pay up at the expense of raises for office staff? Yes please.

The system is so broken that I honestly don't think it's possible to reform it (in enough time).

Physicians have given up since healthcare is now controlled by insurance company bean counters who don't know poop about patient care. There was not a single practicing physician consulted in the lobbyist writing of Obamacare which is a disaster.

There is also no interest in being cost effective because lawyers have ruined being able to manage a patient without copious testing to cover your butt. Frivolous lawsuits are out of control, and just a couple of baseless filed suits can get your malpractice insurance rates so expensive or even cancelled altogether, making you uninsurable and not able to practice. It's not worth trying to be cost efficient anymore.

Most offices now are owned by hospitals or corporation, and physician salaries and office staff are set by those institutions. It's an ignorant comment to claim physicians are interested in keeping their pay up at the expense of raises for office staff. They are all negotiated separately.

 

[jtr1962]

Short version is try to stay healthy so you remain functional until you die in bed when you're very, very old.

 

[LuxLuthor]

Short version is try to stay healthy so you remain functional until you die in bed when you're very, very old.

Pretty good advice. Do your best to stay out of hospitals as they are dangerous places.

 

[jtr1962]

Pretty good advice. Do your best to stay out of hospitals as they are dangerous places.

With both my parents I got a first-hand look at our medical system. As bad as it is now, I know it'll only be worse when it's my time to get Medicare. I half jokingly tell people my bicycle is my health insurance.

Every doctor I've ever talked to says the same thing about hospitals. So does my brother. He's a pharmacy technician. When my mother needed to be hospitalized back in May, he specifically told them NOT to take her to his hospital.

 

[Monocrom]

With both my parents I got a first-hand look at our medical system. As bad as it is now, I know it'll only be worse when it's my time to get Medicare. I half jokingly tell people my bicycle is my health insurance.

Every doctor I've ever talked to says the same thing about hospitals. So does my brother. He's a pharmacy technician. When my mother needed to be hospitalized back in May, he specifically told them NOT to take her to his hospital.

Woodhull?

 

[Poppy]

Question... how many actual hours between office, surgery, followup, etc were spent by doctor?

I don't know.
I was unconscious during surgery.

Between the initial and two follow-up visits, about an hour. Also about a ten minute phone call follow-up.
Certainly there was paperwork done before and or after the visit.
He also had four employees in the office each time I was there. As far as I know they performed unbillable services.

I think that in the past MRIs were paid at a rate of about $1,200. Now I think they get about $800 and Medicare pays less.

Hospitals may charge $100 for an aspirin. And they are expected to do so to make up for the under reimbursement of other services.

Yeah, the system is broken, and it is caused by the insurance industry.

 

[jtr1962]

Woodhull?

Flushing Hospital. She ended up at NY Presbyterian Queens.

 

[bykfixer]

So is there a resaon postage is so high in here somewhere?

 

[Poppy]

LOL yeah but you have to look hard to find it.

 

[jtr1962]

So is there a resaon postage is so high in here somewhere?

Well, the post office does deliver meds, so why not talk about medical care in this country?