December 11, 2024 • 33 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's that time, time, time, time, Luck and Load.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Michael Very Show is on the air.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
The US is the first time in the history of
the world where a government was organized with a constitution
laying out the rules that the individual was supreme and dominant.
And that is what led to the US becoming the
greatest country ever because it unleashed people to be the
best they could be, unlike it had ever happens. That's
(00:37):
American exceptionalism.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Our resolve is unbroken and our purpose is unchanged to
delivery government that serves the American people better than ever before.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
To win with every single facet. We're going to win
so much you may even get tired of winning. And
you say, please, please, it's too much winning.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
We can't take it anymore.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
Mister President, It's too much, and I'll say, no, it
is it. We have to keep winning. We have to
win more. We're gonna win more. We're gonna win so nice.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You never think that.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
You never did that would ever get together again the.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Laugh again.
Speaker 6 (01:22):
It is a tall, crowd city build on rocks stronger
than oceans, wind swept god lift and teeming with people
of all kinds living in harmony and peace. A city
with pre ports that hunged with commerce and creativity.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
And if there had to.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Be city walls, the walls had doors, and the doors
were open to anyone with the wills and the heart
to get there. That's how I saw it and see
it still.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
And we will restore and renovate our nations once great cities,
making them safe, clean and beautiful again. And that includes
our nation's cap.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
That we get together again about it.
Speaker 7 (02:15):
Under my planing, incomes will skyrocket, inflation will vanish completely,
jobs will come roaring back, and the middle class will
prosper like never ever before.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And we're going to do it very rapidly.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I will bring back the American dream.
Speaker 8 (02:34):
It's a good day in America. Christopher Ray has resigned.
It's good to remember that Christopher Ray was believed by
many Republicans to be a guy who was for truth
and justice and honor, and he turned out to me
fearlessly as bad for America and Trump Americans as anyone.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Just be careful.
Speaker 8 (02:52):
There's a lot of wolves in sheep's clothing. But he
sees the riding on the wall. He does, and I
I really hope Christopher Ray gets his come uppance and
resigning will not be enough for that. That's all I'm
going to have to say about that today.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
With great humility, I am asking you to be excited
about the future of our country.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Be excited. Be excited.
Speaker 8 (03:22):
One of the things that becomes abundantly clear when you
study how the deep state works is that you realize
that sex is.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
The weakness.
Speaker 8 (03:36):
Of most men, and that when you need to compromise
someone and own them even more than money, you compromise
them with sex. This is as old as mankind. The
idea of using a woman as to lure someone, a general,
(04:07):
a leader, a president, and then you've compromised them to
get information or to blackmail them. It's going on in
our country, and it's been going on, and we've had
a series of very high profile cases that are exposing this.
(04:29):
Of course, you have Epstein and the cover up of Epstein.
I mean, it's just grotesque what they've done in front
of us, right. Why can't you release the list? We
all know some of the names on that list. You
going to this island and look at the powerful people
and what they're up to. That wasn't Jeffrey Epstein being
(04:51):
a nice guy. That's the Chinese running that thing. And
compromising Americans. Well, how about the Diddy party? And now
you find out that jay Z was involved in all
that Allegedly. The lawyer that's bringing a lot of those
(05:12):
cases is a friend of the show, Tony Busby. He's
based here in Houston, and he's now dragged jay Z
into this. And in the past you would have thought,
oh it isn't. Now do you doubt for a moment.
Larry Johnson, a former NFL star, was on Jason Whitlock's podcast,
(05:35):
which is called Fearless. I think Whitlock does a good job,
and Larry Johnson claims to have been at a party
with jay Z's wife, Beyonce when children were brought in
and I'll just let you hear what he had to
(05:57):
say in his own words.
Speaker 9 (05:59):
When Jay was going after b B was a very
young woman. Now, I did a rock up word photo
shoot in Colorado, and I think it was during the
winter time of six or seven, and Naomi Campbell was there,
Actress Jamie King.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Was there, Jay was there.
Speaker 9 (06:16):
B was there, and he rented this house and we were
supposed to do this rap party for.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
This photo shoot.
Speaker 9 (06:22):
We rented this house and we were watching Lebron play
and after the game it had to have been like
ten or eleven o'clock, so we getting ready to party.
Mind you, it's all adults. There was a thirty year
old or fourty year old teenage Latin girl that was there,
and I think she had to leave because she had
school and she had to do homework. But she brought
her mother with her, so it was no funny business
(06:43):
going on, which I could respect that. So when eleven
o'clock hit, we turned on the music, we started drinking,
and then out of nowhere came these young children. I
don't know where they came from, for a rap party
at eleven o'clock at night, drinking ale music in us
dancing wild like I don't know where these kids came from.
And then I happened to sit down because I was
dancing with one of the assistants, and I sat next
(07:04):
to this child, and the child sat next to Beyonce.
So I hear bees say something about doesn't this look sexy?
Or isn't it sexy? In my mind and mind you,
I'm not awakened as I'm awakened now, so in my
mind I'm like, what did she just say? And then
I didn't pay no attention to it, and then you know,
obviously the liquor took hold of me and I had
to leave. So I said by to everybody and left,
(07:25):
but those kids remained. I don't know if those kids
were for from the photo shoot themselves, but the fact
that these kids came around adults during drinking hours or
parting hours was already alarming to me. So when I
hear something like this happens, I could I can't really
discount and say, oh, he could never do this, because
I'm hearing the stories. I'm seeing it with my own eyes,
(07:48):
and I've been in situations where something don't sound or
look right, and it's usually involving children.
Speaker 8 (07:55):
Maybe he's overreacting, maybe he's out to inject himself into
the Maybe none of this even happened, But my goodness,
it's not that nothing's ever happened. I mean, what we
know of what happened at Epstein alone, now we know
what's beyond dispute.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
With Kanye West.
Speaker 8 (08:19):
I mean, this guy might be the Minister of oil
for this country at this rate. I can't believe he
just said that happens that Michael Varry Show. There's a
lot of people will tell you they don't pick their
nose or they won't admiss.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Now I'm not saying we should run around talking.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
About it.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Or farting.
Speaker 8 (08:40):
People will deny they fart or masturbation.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Or any number of other things. And it's kind of
one of those things.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
And there's so.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Much depending on the culture where you are. There's so much.
Speaker 8 (09:00):
Anxiety and so many emotions that go into there, so
many secrets that are kept, so much shame, everything that
goes into all this.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Mental health problems. Does that matter, same deal?
Speaker 8 (09:14):
And because of this, people who want to control other
people will use whatever they need to do to do that,
whether that's powerful men who want to have sex with
(09:38):
young ladies or for that matter, of young men, and
so they give them money to do it, or they
offer them a career advancement, or they drug them and
do it against their wishes. Well, that is disturbing in
and of itself, that that's happening. It's also criminal, highly criminal.
(10:00):
Also overlay into that, if one percent of the allegations
against Sean Combs also known as Diddy, also known as
Puffy and any number of otherness, if even one percent
of it is true, and then you bring in the
parties that he had, and how many people are now
(10:20):
stepping forward and.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You find out that.
Speaker 8 (10:24):
People have been saying these things for years and they
were just sort of ignored and dismissed.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Whether it be Kat.
Speaker 8 (10:31):
Williams now Jamie Fox has a comedy routine where he
makes a reference to that, and you know, you don't
know to what extent he's joking or not, because it
sure seems like he's suggesting that maybe his near death
experience was related to all of this. But now you're
getting into the court of law and you're noticing that
(10:55):
there are a lot of very powerful people who were
at these parties and if not engaged in these activities,
very likely around these activities and perhaps engaged in them.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And you start wondering, you know, think about this for
a moment.
Speaker 8 (11:13):
You have a company Christmas party and Susie from accounting
has too much to dream and maybe she liplocks with
Tom from the warehouse.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
The next day. Everybody in the company knows about it.
They're no secrets.
Speaker 8 (11:32):
How have these things been silenced for so long?
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And now we find out there.
Speaker 8 (11:41):
Are documents out there, there were complaints, there were people
who were thirteen fourteen fifteen, who did tell the cops,
whose parents did take them to the cops. It's as
if there is a grand conspiracy to bury all of this.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Why and that tells you this is about more.
Speaker 8 (12:05):
Than just the sexual act, that it would suggest that
this is about control.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
These are very influential people. Now, I'm not saying that.
Speaker 8 (12:20):
This is the sort of thing that causes people to
have to come out and endorse Kamala Harris years later,
But isn't it odd that everyone implicated did seem to
have sort of their hostage video moment where they're blinking,
I'm being tortured while they say Kamala Harris must be
our president. Well, who would have an interest in that?
(12:41):
So Larry Johnson, a former NFL player, went on Jason
Whitlock's podcast and he tells this story. Here he is
talking about the use of children two and sex with
children to shame you and thereby control you.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Again.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
I don't know if Larry Johnson's making this up. I
don't know if any of this ever happened. I don't
know what his reason for saying it is. But you
have so many people coming forward now to tell these stories.
If you're making things up like this, you are subjecting
yourselves yourself to billionaires with big legal teams that can
(13:24):
bankrupt you with defamation and libel claims. You'd better be careful.
And these people are coming forward, how many people aren't
coming forward because they are scared of that anyway.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
This is what he said.
Speaker 9 (13:37):
We all know how shameful it is to be messing
around with a child, no matter what the age. And
they know that the majority of the people in this
country or in this world do not sit by and
when not let anybody abuse children. So that's more of
a shame thing they can control you with now sacrificing
(13:58):
somebody that's personal. You know, not many people can can
add those or connect those dots of who did what
and who did this.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
But it happens.
Speaker 9 (14:09):
But when it comes to sexual deviancy, as you said,
it's more of a we don't want the whole world
to know what you've really been up to, so you
have to do what we say do. And I think
that's how they move. And like you said, I think
they's like putting a worm on a hook they see
who bite. They're not going to come up to you
and say, hey, you like like five year olds. They're
(14:31):
not going to do that because you look at them weird,
or you might just punch them in the mouth. But
they'll put you in situations where if young children are around,
they'll move you into it. It may it may not
be a five year old, but they'll start at a
nineteen year old at a party. It'll go from a
fifteen year old at a party. Then you show up
at somebody's private home and residents and it's like a
nine year old. And then they keep going to see
(14:52):
how far you can go. And I don't want to
imagine it, but I know they go on as far
as they can go until they get into animals. And
I know when it comes to sexual demancy and it
comes to us, there is no backstop to that until
you reach an animal. And that's where if we talk
about the days of Noah, that's exactly where sexual devincy
(15:12):
ends up.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
It ends up with animals.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And you may say, well, that's crazy. Where's all this
coming from.
Speaker 8 (15:20):
What if I told you twenty years ago that the
next big push is going to be men dressed as women,
and then what if once that was normalized, it was
going to be and you will be required to say
you're attracted to them or else you're an evil person.
What if I was to tell you that government would
(15:41):
pay or their sex relation, that tampons would be put
in the boys locker room, I mean the boy's bathroom.
What if I had to tell you that doctors would
tell you that they can breastfeed even though science proves
they can.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
What if I was to tell you that they're going
to dress.
Speaker 8 (15:57):
Them up and make them a major members of the
governmental administration. What if I was going to tell you
that you're not allowed to protest when our soldiers dress
as women and make videos and the whole world can
see this.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Crazy?
Speaker 8 (16:13):
I mean, look, yeah, I understand it sounds crazy. A
lot of stuff does. We're going to talk about the
cost of health care and why it's so much coming.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Up the Michael Berry Show, and some of you.
Speaker 8 (16:28):
Know because I talk about my personal life on the air,
it's all I got to talk about, and I share
how I interact with the policies and politics that we
talk about, because at the end of the day, these
aren't academic discussions.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Right.
Speaker 8 (16:43):
If the government takes over our health care, that's going
to affect you. And just because you're young and healthy
and haven't needed health care yet or recently. You don't
realize that, and you see it as some sort of
arcane or ethereal resustential discussion.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
But that's not.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Where it is for me.
Speaker 8 (17:05):
I have a brother who died of the clot shot,
A perfectly able bodied law enforcement officer with over thirty
years who died of the clock shot January twenty twenty two.
My father is eighty four, and since he was twenty
years old and had to be discharged from the Coastguard
(17:26):
on his deathbed with a severe case of diabetes and
they didn't know how to treat it back then, they
sent him home to die, and he read and experimented.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
And here we are.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
He's eighty four and still alive, still battling diabetes by
the day.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
He is.
Speaker 8 (17:43):
In constant contact with doctors, and many of them have
told me your dad knows more about diabetes than diabetes
doctors do, because in an era before we had proper insulin,
he was managing his blood sugar that's unheard of. And
he still has his vision in all ten of his
fingers and toes well. He's a man of great self
discipline and the willingness to experiment on himself and get
(18:06):
enough sleep and not drink, and you know, do the
things that are necessary. And then, of course my mother,
five years younger than him. My father was supposed to
go first, and my mother would nurse him until the
end of his life. And she up and passes on us.
And she ended up having als that basically just eventually
(18:27):
took over her body and left her unable to breathe.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Her lungs just wouldn't function, and it was a horrible, horrible.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Way to go.
Speaker 8 (18:36):
She died in hospice at our home. I have been
in and out of hospitals just with these things so
many times over the last few years that I have
come to learn a lot about the medical care system.
You know, I had a minor stroke on August first,
(18:58):
twenty sixteen. You know, we've all had our medical issues.
I'm much better now about taking care of my health
and getting my checkups and all that. But the policy
issue of how we deliver healthcare in a marketplace of
people trying to heal you and provide wellness and prevent
(19:20):
all these things, it's gotten. It's all messed up, and
I don't think people really even understand why it's all
messed up, and so today I would like to step
back from the news of the day and address this.
There is a fellow who has been highly recommended when
(19:41):
I bring these questions up, named Charles Silver. He is
the McDonald Endowed Chair of Civil Procedure at the University
of Texas at Austin School of Law.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (19:54):
If he was there when I was there in the
mid nineties. I don't know him, but his wor has
been widely widely discussed, particularly his book Overcharged, Why Americans
Pay too Much for Healthcare. Professor Silver, welcome to the program.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Thank you, Michael, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 8 (20:18):
I must first ask you if you were on faculty
from ninety three to ninety six when I was there.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I was.
Speaker 10 (20:27):
I started teaching at Texas in nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 8 (20:30):
Oh well, okay, well, I was a Lino Graulia acolyte
and I was the first crop. There were two of
us that were sent to England to get an LLM degree,
So I was kind of checked out after my second year.
Once I had my offer, I was kind of checked out.
But I'm sorry that I never met you. I had
(20:54):
a wonderful experience at the University of Texas School of Law.
It's a great university law school, and I am the
better for it. So I think a lot of you
for being on factory there. It's a great institution. Let's
thank you.
Speaker 10 (21:08):
I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you when you
were a student.
Speaker 8 (21:11):
Indeed, the book overcharged Why Americans pay too much for healthcare?
If somebody says, Michael, I'm going to come back and
listen on the podcast later, but give me the one
minute answer, and then let's get granular and dig into this,
what's the one minute answer as to why we pay
too much for healthcare?
Speaker 10 (21:34):
The one minute answer, we rely far too heavily on
third party payment arrangements, which means insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid,
Trycare Va, whatever they happen to be, instead of paying
for health care directly, the same way we pay for
pretty much everything else.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Food, cars, housing.
Speaker 10 (22:00):
You know, we pay for the vast majority of things directly,
meaning we pay for them ourselves, and we don't have
the problem of excessive spending or inflation or costs, or
hidden bills or surprise bills or phony charges.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
All that works really well.
Speaker 10 (22:17):
The one exception is the healthcare sector, where we rely
very very extensively on third parties to pay for things,
and that just screws everything up.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Now, the other thing is we have.
Speaker 10 (22:29):
Way too much governmental involvement in the healthcare sector. There
are lots and lots of regulations that make things worse
for consumers. By and large, the regulations have the purpose
of protecting the producers, not the consumers. So we should
do a lot less in that way.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
You did that.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You were technically finished at fifty eight seconds.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
You added an addendum to the end that I will admit,
I will it is admissible in this case. But you
achieved the fifty eight seconds. I'm quite impressed that you
did that. So let's start drilling down on these things.
I got a minute left in this segment, but I
have dedicated some time to talk about this because I
(23:19):
think a lot of people are frustrated, especially when they
start getting all these bills and they go to emergency
room and the place is packed, and then they can't
get in to see a doctor, and then they wonder,
you know, why does something cost ten thousand dollars that
took twenty minutes.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
It just there's nothing else that requires this.
Speaker 8 (23:40):
It all seems so frustrating to people, and I would
like to drill down and get into the actual reasons
why this works. Let me start by prefacing, and we'll
get to this in the next segment, because I don't
want to have to cut you off. I want to
(24:00):
first talk about what if we were to do a
zero based budget, we were to go back to John
Locke's state of nature, and let's start all over and
have a cash only.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Health delivery system.
Speaker 8 (24:15):
Let's do away with insurance, and let's talk about who
the winners and losers out of that would be. And
more importantly, if I'm if I'm a consumer of health services,
because I don't believe that healthcare is a right. If
I'm a consumer of health services, would this be better
or worse for me? So hang tight right there. Our
(24:36):
guest is Professor Charles Silver. I encourage you to read
the book Overcharged, Why Americans Pay Too Much for Healthcare?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Coming up. This is the.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
Michael Berry Show, locked and loaded.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Load it.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Almost at the end.
Speaker 8 (25:01):
I've given him a moment to consider, Professor, what if
we go back the book is Overcharged Why Americans Pay
too Much for Healthcare? What if we did away with
all insurance and we went cash only. How would that
change things?
Speaker 10 (25:16):
It would change a lot of things for the better,
but some things for the worse. So a lot of
things would be better, you know, we wouldn't have to
worry about things like surprise medical bills where you don't
even know what something is going to cost when you
get the service delivered. There's actually a very large retail
health sector. So if you want to get laser by surgery,
(25:39):
for example, you have to pay for that yourself because
it's not covered by insurance typically, But you know what,
it's actually very affordable and the price for laser surgery.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Are you ready for this?
Speaker 10 (25:51):
The price has substantially declined since Lasik was developed, and
it's gotten much better too. There are new forms of
lasik and all that has happened because there is no
overlay of insurance. Where in the healthcare sector, except in
the private payment sector, can one find prices that have declined.
(26:14):
You know, there are no hospital services that I'm aware
of that cost.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Less now than they used to.
Speaker 10 (26:20):
But in the private sector where we purchase cosmetic surgery.
I mentioned lasik. There's also the Surgery Center of Oklahoma,
which takes operates on a cash basis, But there are
lots of services that people can buy directly, and those
things that part of the market works incredibly well with.
As I said, we don't have surprise bills. Everybody knows
(26:41):
that they're going to pay before the service is delivered,
and nobody gets billed for more than the price. The
prices are posted, we don't have to have a you know,
in the hospital sector, we have this federal transparity rule
transparency rule that hospitals routinely ignore that's supposed to require
them to post their price. But in the retail sector,
(27:02):
we don't have that, and everybody posts their prices anyway.
So a lot of things would work better if we
did that, But the one thing that would work worse
would be emergencies where you're facing a risk of a
catastrophic cost that you know, people just can't afford to
bear on their own.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
That's where insurance has a role to play. Catastrophic costs.
Speaker 8 (27:27):
Yeah, Professor, I have long advocated that we should. If
people would understand, for instance, I only have liability insurance
on my vehicles, and people so you have to no, no,
I pay cash for my vehicles. The only reason people
are over insured in most cases is because the person
holding the loan wants you to have insurance for more
(27:49):
than the value of what they're of what they've loaned
you money for in case the thing get gets burned
down or trash. They want their money once. You don't
have to do that. In my opinion, I'm a safe driver.
I've never met an insurance claim. In my opinion, it's
a bad business deal. So what I tell people to
do is get catastrophic health insurance so when it hits
(28:12):
fifteen thousand and up, it's good. And then pay cash
and you'll be shocked how many doctors will discount what
you get and they're happy to have the cash. I
go to a doctor named Mary Tally Boden for all
my upper respiratory stuff, and she's a cash only doctor,
which is you know a lot of people are going
to and you go in and you make your payment
(28:32):
and it's insanely cheap, and then there's no documentation. Later,
there's no insurance letter arrives.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Do we pay this?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
No, we wait to pay this.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
She's happier, she doesn't have to have a bunch of
billiing clerks. You literally pay the same way if you
bought yogurt there. I think this is the answer.
Speaker 10 (28:48):
Professor, Well, I agree with you because I go to
a doctor who works on the same basis. So my
doctor I pay a monthly subscription fee too that I
can go as many times as I want. You know,
I don't need to go all the time, fortunately, but
if I need to go, she usually can see me
either that day or the next day, and I get
(29:12):
some tests performed in house at no charge. And it's
a great working arrangement.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Like you, I don't get it.
Speaker 10 (29:21):
I don't worry about my insurance company, you know, not
paying for something.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So I think I agree with you.
Speaker 10 (29:27):
The cash payment is a very good approach for basic healthcare.
Speaker 8 (29:34):
So let's have a little history lesson. Professor Charles Silver
is our guest. The book is called Overcharged, Why Americans
pay too much for healthcare. Let's go back to wherever
the starting point is you want it to be, nineteen
fifty or nineteen seventy. Where did it start going wrong?
Because we all know it's wrong. Now, where did it
(29:54):
start going wrong? Oh, that's easy.
Speaker 10 (29:57):
It started going wrong in the mid nineteen six these
when Medicare and Medicaid came online. In my book, I
show how doctors and hospitals fees changed after Medicare and
Medicaid took effect in nineteen sixty five. And basically, both
of those statutes initially let doctors and hospitals charge whatever
(30:20):
they wanted for services, and so not surprisingly, they started
raising their rates immediately. I mean, really immediately after the
enactment of those programs, we were beset with health care
inflation that exceeded the real growth rate of the GDP,
and we have been struggling with healthcare inflation ever since.
(30:43):
But everything about the arrangement is wrong. I mean, who
in their right minds let's people who are selling things
set their own prices without any market constraints. I mean,
that's a recipe for disaster, right, And then, of course
that couldn't last forever. Government eventually did get into the
price setting business in Medicare and Medicaid. But of course
(31:05):
we all know that government price setting is terrible. It
never works properly. It's really hard to set good prices,
to set prices accurately, and moreover, the government really doesn't
have the right set of interests, you know, I want,
it's not just the price that matters to me. It's
the convenience, right, How long do I have to wait
(31:25):
to see my doctor? How friendly is my doctor? How
good is my doctor? There are all these things. Different
doctors should have different prices, and markets can work all
that stuff out, but governments just are notoriously unable to
do that, and so as a result, we've had this
terrible system. And because it's so terrible, it's constantly in
(31:48):
need of patching. I mean, every time I turn around,
there's a new bill, a new proposal being put on
the table for some kind of regulation to fix a
problem that only exists because the government created it.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
It's never going to be fixed. It's impossible to fix it.
Speaker 10 (32:06):
We really need to just scrap these arrangements and go
back to a simple cash based system for fundamental care,
and then things will start. It will immediately be out
of the spending crisis. The prices will moderate because hospitals
and doctors and drug companies and all that will have
to deal with the realities of the limited budgets of consumers.
(32:30):
They'll also have to face competition. That's hugely important. You
know one I mentioned the retail health sector. You know,
one of the reasons lasia is cheap is because there
are a lot of laser providers and any ophthalmologists can
enter the field who wants to, So there's a lot
of competition, and competition is good for consumers. So we
(32:50):
need to get rid of these competition frustrating regulations.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Let's increase the supply.
Speaker 10 (32:57):
Let you know, foreign doctors who can pass American exams
come in and treat people. We need to just open
the floodgates for providers because we have this artificially created shortage.
You know, that's one of the waves that doctors and
hospitals have increased their revenue. It's by preventing new entrants
(33:18):
from coming in and out competing. So we have to
get rid of all that stuff.
Speaker 8 (33:23):
Professor Charles Silver at the University of Texas School of Law,
my alma mater, is our guest. His book is Overcharged,
Why Americans pay to dang much for healthcare? I added
the dang, but I think we all feel it more.
With Professor Silver coming up to
It's that time, time, time, time, Luck and Load.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Michael Very Show is on the air.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
The US is the first time in the history of
the world where a government was organized with a constitution
laying out the rules that the individual was supreme and dominant.
And that is what led to the US becoming the
greatest country ever because it unleashed people to be the
best they could be, unlike it had ever happens. That's
(00:37):
American exceptionalism.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Our resolve is unbroken and our purpose is unchanged to
delivery government that serves the American people better than ever before.
Speaker 5 (00:47):
To win with every single facet. We're going to win
so much you may even get tired of winning. And
you say, please, please, it's too much winning.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
We can't take it anymore.
Speaker 5 (00:59):
Mister President, It's too much, and I'll say, no, it
is it. We have to keep winning. We have to
win more. We're gonna win more. We're gonna win so nice.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You never think that.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
You never did that would ever get together again the.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Laugh again.
Speaker 6 (01:22):
It is a tall, crowd city build on rocks stronger
than oceans, wind swept god lift and teeming with people
of all kinds living in harmony and peace. A city
with pre ports that hunged with commerce and creativity.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
And if there had to.
Speaker 6 (01:40):
Be city walls, the walls had doors, and the doors
were open to anyone with the wills and the heart
to get there. That's how I saw it and see
it still.
Speaker 4 (01:51):
And we will restore and renovate our nations once great cities,
making them safe, clean and beautiful again. And that includes
our nation's cap.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
That we get together again about it.
Speaker 7 (02:15):
Under my planing, incomes will skyrocket, inflation will vanish completely,
jobs will come roaring back, and the middle class will
prosper like never ever before.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And we're going to do it very rapidly.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
I will bring back the American dream.
Speaker 8 (02:34):
It's a good day in America. Christopher Ray has resigned.
It's good to remember that Christopher Ray was believed by
many Republicans to be a guy who was for truth
and justice and honor, and he turned out to me
fearlessly as bad for America and Trump Americans as anyone.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Just be careful.
Speaker 8 (02:52):
There's a lot of wolves in sheep's clothing. But he
sees the riding on the wall. He does, and I
I really hope Christopher Ray gets his come uppance and
resigning will not be enough for that. That's all I'm
going to have to say about that today.
Speaker 4 (03:09):
With great humility, I am asking you to be excited
about the future of our country.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Be excited. Be excited.
Speaker 8 (03:22):
One of the things that becomes abundantly clear when you
study how the deep state works is that you realize
that sex is.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
The weakness.
Speaker 8 (03:36):
Of most men, and that when you need to compromise
someone and own them even more than money, you compromise
them with sex. This is as old as mankind. The
idea of using a woman as to lure someone, a general,
(04:07):
a leader, a president, and then you've compromised them to
get information or to blackmail them. It's going on in
our country, and it's been going on, and we've had
a series of very high profile cases that are exposing this.
(04:29):
Of course, you have Epstein and the cover up of Epstein.
I mean, it's just grotesque what they've done in front
of us, right. Why can't you release the list? We
all know some of the names on that list. You
going to this island and look at the powerful people
and what they're up to. That wasn't Jeffrey Epstein being
(04:51):
a nice guy. That's the Chinese running that thing. And
compromising Americans. Well, how about the Diddy party? And now
you find out that jay Z was involved in all
that Allegedly. The lawyer that's bringing a lot of those
(05:12):
cases is a friend of the show, Tony Busby. He's
based here in Houston, and he's now dragged jay Z
into this. And in the past you would have thought,
oh it isn't. Now do you doubt for a moment.
Larry Johnson, a former NFL star, was on Jason Whitlock's podcast,
(05:35):
which is called Fearless. I think Whitlock does a good job,
and Larry Johnson claims to have been at a party
with jay Z's wife, Beyonce when children were brought in
and I'll just let you hear what he had to
(05:57):
say in his own words.
Speaker 9 (05:59):
When Jay was going after b B was a very
young woman. Now, I did a rock up word photo
shoot in Colorado, and I think it was during the
winter time of six or seven, and Naomi Campbell was there,
Actress Jamie King.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Was there, Jay was there.
Speaker 9 (06:16):
B was there, and he rented this house and we were
supposed to do this rap party for.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
This photo shoot.
Speaker 9 (06:22):
We rented this house and we were watching Lebron play
and after the game it had to have been like
ten or eleven o'clock, so we getting ready to party.
Mind you, it's all adults. There was a thirty year
old or fourty year old teenage Latin girl that was there,
and I think she had to leave because she had
school and she had to do homework. But she brought
her mother with her, so it was no funny business
(06:43):
going on, which I could respect that. So when eleven
o'clock hit, we turned on the music, we started drinking,
and then out of nowhere came these young children. I
don't know where they came from, for a rap party
at eleven o'clock at night, drinking ale music in us
dancing wild like I don't know where these kids came from.
And then I happened to sit down because I was
dancing with one of the assistants, and I sat next
(07:04):
to this child, and the child sat next to Beyonce.
So I hear bees say something about doesn't this look sexy?
Or isn't it sexy? In my mind and mind you,
I'm not awakened as I'm awakened now, so in my
mind I'm like, what did she just say? And then
I didn't pay no attention to it, and then you know,
obviously the liquor took hold of me and I had
to leave. So I said by to everybody and left,
(07:25):
but those kids remained. I don't know if those kids
were for from the photo shoot themselves, but the fact
that these kids came around adults during drinking hours or
parting hours was already alarming to me. So when I
hear something like this happens, I could I can't really
discount and say, oh, he could never do this, because
I'm hearing the stories. I'm seeing it with my own eyes,
(07:48):
and I've been in situations where something don't sound or
look right, and it's usually involving children.
Speaker 8 (07:55):
Maybe he's overreacting, maybe he's out to inject himself into
the Maybe none of this even happened, But my goodness,
it's not that nothing's ever happened. I mean, what we
know of what happened at Epstein alone, now we know
what's beyond dispute.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
With Kanye West.
Speaker 8 (08:19):
I mean, this guy might be the Minister of oil
for this country at this rate. I can't believe he
just said that happens that Michael Varry Show. There's a
lot of people will tell you they don't pick their
nose or they won't admiss.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Now I'm not saying we should run around talking.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
About it.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Or farting.
Speaker 8 (08:40):
People will deny they fart or masturbation.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Or any number of other things. And it's kind of
one of those things.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
And there's so.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Much depending on the culture where you are. There's so much.
Speaker 8 (09:00):
Anxiety and so many emotions that go into there, so
many secrets that are kept, so much shame, everything that
goes into all this.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
Mental health problems. Does that matter, same deal?
Speaker 8 (09:14):
And because of this, people who want to control other
people will use whatever they need to do to do that,
whether that's powerful men who want to have sex with
(09:38):
young ladies or for that matter, of young men, and
so they give them money to do it, or they
offer them a career advancement, or they drug them and
do it against their wishes. Well, that is disturbing in
and of itself, that that's happening. It's also criminal, highly criminal.
(10:00):
Also overlay into that, if one percent of the allegations
against Sean Combs also known as Diddy, also known as
Puffy and any number of otherness, if even one percent
of it is true, and then you bring in the
parties that he had, and how many people are now
(10:20):
stepping forward and.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
You find out that.
Speaker 8 (10:24):
People have been saying these things for years and they
were just sort of ignored and dismissed.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Whether it be Kat.
Speaker 8 (10:31):
Williams now Jamie Fox has a comedy routine where he
makes a reference to that, and you know, you don't
know to what extent he's joking or not, because it
sure seems like he's suggesting that maybe his near death
experience was related to all of this. But now you're
getting into the court of law and you're noticing that
(10:55):
there are a lot of very powerful people who were
at these parties and if not engaged in these activities,
very likely around these activities and perhaps engaged in them.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
And you start wondering, you know, think about this for
a moment.
Speaker 8 (11:13):
You have a company Christmas party and Susie from accounting
has too much to dream and maybe she liplocks with
Tom from the warehouse.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
The next day. Everybody in the company knows about it.
They're no secrets.
Speaker 8 (11:32):
How have these things been silenced for so long?
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And now we find out there.
Speaker 8 (11:41):
Are documents out there, there were complaints, there were people
who were thirteen fourteen fifteen, who did tell the cops,
whose parents did take them to the cops. It's as
if there is a grand conspiracy to bury all of this.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Why and that tells you this is about more.
Speaker 8 (12:05):
Than just the sexual act, that it would suggest that
this is about control.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
These are very influential people. Now, I'm not saying that.
Speaker 8 (12:20):
This is the sort of thing that causes people to
have to come out and endorse Kamala Harris years later,
But isn't it odd that everyone implicated did seem to
have sort of their hostage video moment where they're blinking,
I'm being tortured while they say Kamala Harris must be
our president. Well, who would have an interest in that?
(12:41):
So Larry Johnson, a former NFL player, went on Jason
Whitlock's podcast and he tells this story. Here he is
talking about the use of children two and sex with
children to shame you and thereby control you.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Again.
Speaker 8 (13:04):
I don't know if Larry Johnson's making this up. I
don't know if any of this ever happened. I don't
know what his reason for saying it is. But you
have so many people coming forward now to tell these stories.
If you're making things up like this, you are subjecting
yourselves yourself to billionaires with big legal teams that can
(13:24):
bankrupt you with defamation and libel claims. You'd better be careful.
And these people are coming forward, how many people aren't
coming forward because they are scared of that anyway.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
This is what he said.
Speaker 9 (13:37):
We all know how shameful it is to be messing
around with a child, no matter what the age. And
they know that the majority of the people in this
country or in this world do not sit by and
when not let anybody abuse children. So that's more of
a shame thing they can control you with now sacrificing
(13:58):
somebody that's personal. You know, not many people can can
add those or connect those dots of who did what
and who did this.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
But it happens.
Speaker 9 (14:09):
But when it comes to sexual deviancy, as you said,
it's more of a we don't want the whole world
to know what you've really been up to, so you
have to do what we say do. And I think
that's how they move. And like you said, I think
they's like putting a worm on a hook they see
who bite. They're not going to come up to you
and say, hey, you like like five year olds. They're
(14:31):
not going to do that because you look at them weird,
or you might just punch them in the mouth. But
they'll put you in situations where if young children are around,
they'll move you into it. It may it may not
be a five year old, but they'll start at a
nineteen year old at a party. It'll go from a
fifteen year old at a party. Then you show up
at somebody's private home and residents and it's like a
nine year old. And then they keep going to see
(14:52):
how far you can go. And I don't want to
imagine it, but I know they go on as far
as they can go until they get into animals. And
I know when it comes to sexual demancy and it
comes to us, there is no backstop to that until
you reach an animal. And that's where if we talk
about the days of Noah, that's exactly where sexual devincy
(15:12):
ends up.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
It ends up with animals.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
And you may say, well, that's crazy. Where's all this
coming from.
Speaker 8 (15:20):
What if I told you twenty years ago that the
next big push is going to be men dressed as women,
and then what if once that was normalized, it was
going to be and you will be required to say
you're attracted to them or else you're an evil person.
What if I was to tell you that government would
(15:41):
pay or their sex relation, that tampons would be put
in the boys locker room, I mean the boy's bathroom.
What if I had to tell you that doctors would
tell you that they can breastfeed even though science proves
they can.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
What if I was to tell you that they're going
to dress.
Speaker 8 (15:57):
Them up and make them a major members of the
governmental administration. What if I was going to tell you
that you're not allowed to protest when our soldiers dress
as women and make videos and the whole world can
see this.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Crazy?
Speaker 8 (16:13):
I mean, look, yeah, I understand it sounds crazy. A
lot of stuff does. We're going to talk about the
cost of health care and why it's so much coming.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Up the Michael Berry Show, and some of you.
Speaker 8 (16:28):
Know because I talk about my personal life on the air,
it's all I got to talk about, and I share
how I interact with the policies and politics that we
talk about, because at the end of the day, these
aren't academic discussions.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Right.
Speaker 8 (16:43):
If the government takes over our health care, that's going
to affect you. And just because you're young and healthy
and haven't needed health care yet or recently. You don't
realize that, and you see it as some sort of
arcane or ethereal resustential discussion.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
But that's not.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Where it is for me.
Speaker 8 (17:05):
I have a brother who died of the clot shot,
A perfectly able bodied law enforcement officer with over thirty
years who died of the clock shot January twenty twenty two.
My father is eighty four, and since he was twenty
years old and had to be discharged from the Coastguard
(17:26):
on his deathbed with a severe case of diabetes and
they didn't know how to treat it back then, they
sent him home to die, and he read and experimented.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
And here we are.
Speaker 8 (17:37):
He's eighty four and still alive, still battling diabetes by
the day.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
He is.
Speaker 8 (17:43):
In constant contact with doctors, and many of them have
told me your dad knows more about diabetes than diabetes
doctors do, because in an era before we had proper insulin,
he was managing his blood sugar that's unheard of. And
he still has his vision in all ten of his
fingers and toes well. He's a man of great self
discipline and the willingness to experiment on himself and get
(18:06):
enough sleep and not drink, and you know, do the
things that are necessary. And then, of course my mother,
five years younger than him. My father was supposed to
go first, and my mother would nurse him until the
end of his life. And she up and passes on us.
And she ended up having als that basically just eventually
(18:27):
took over her body and left her unable to breathe.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Her lungs just wouldn't function, and it was a horrible, horrible.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Way to go.
Speaker 8 (18:36):
She died in hospice at our home. I have been
in and out of hospitals just with these things so
many times over the last few years that I have
come to learn a lot about the medical care system.
You know, I had a minor stroke on August first,
(18:58):
twenty sixteen. You know, we've all had our medical issues.
I'm much better now about taking care of my health
and getting my checkups and all that. But the policy
issue of how we deliver healthcare in a marketplace of
people trying to heal you and provide wellness and prevent
(19:20):
all these things, it's gotten. It's all messed up, and
I don't think people really even understand why it's all
messed up, and so today I would like to step
back from the news of the day and address this.
There is a fellow who has been highly recommended when
(19:41):
I bring these questions up, named Charles Silver. He is
the McDonald Endowed Chair of Civil Procedure at the University
of Texas at Austin School of Law.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
I don't know.
Speaker 8 (19:54):
If he was there when I was there in the
mid nineties. I don't know him, but his wor has
been widely widely discussed, particularly his book Overcharged, Why Americans
Pay too Much for Healthcare. Professor Silver, welcome to the program.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Thank you, Michael, pleasure to be here.
Speaker 8 (20:18):
I must first ask you if you were on faculty
from ninety three to ninety six when I was there.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
I was.
Speaker 10 (20:27):
I started teaching at Texas in nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 8 (20:30):
Oh well, okay, well, I was a Lino Graulia acolyte
and I was the first crop. There were two of
us that were sent to England to get an LLM degree,
So I was kind of checked out after my second year.
Once I had my offer, I was kind of checked out.
But I'm sorry that I never met you. I had
(20:54):
a wonderful experience at the University of Texas School of Law.
It's a great university law school, and I am the
better for it. So I think a lot of you
for being on factory there. It's a great institution. Let's
thank you.
Speaker 10 (21:08):
I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you when you
were a student.
Speaker 8 (21:11):
Indeed, the book overcharged Why Americans pay too much for healthcare?
If somebody says, Michael, I'm going to come back and
listen on the podcast later, but give me the one
minute answer, and then let's get granular and dig into this,
what's the one minute answer as to why we pay
too much for healthcare?
Speaker 10 (21:34):
The one minute answer, we rely far too heavily on
third party payment arrangements, which means insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid,
Trycare Va, whatever they happen to be, instead of paying
for health care directly, the same way we pay for
pretty much everything else.
Speaker 2 (21:56):
Food, cars, housing.
Speaker 10 (22:00):
You know, we pay for the vast majority of things directly,
meaning we pay for them ourselves, and we don't have
the problem of excessive spending or inflation or costs, or
hidden bills or surprise bills or phony charges.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
All that works really well.
Speaker 10 (22:17):
The one exception is the healthcare sector, where we rely
very very extensively on third parties to pay for things,
and that just screws everything up.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Now, the other thing is we have.
Speaker 10 (22:29):
Way too much governmental involvement in the healthcare sector. There
are lots and lots of regulations that make things worse
for consumers. By and large, the regulations have the purpose
of protecting the producers, not the consumers. So we should
do a lot less in that way.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
You did that.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
You were technically finished at fifty eight seconds.
Speaker 8 (22:55):
You added an addendum to the end that I will admit,
I will it is admissible in this case. But you
achieved the fifty eight seconds. I'm quite impressed that you
did that. So let's start drilling down on these things.
I got a minute left in this segment, but I
have dedicated some time to talk about this because I
(23:19):
think a lot of people are frustrated, especially when they
start getting all these bills and they go to emergency
room and the place is packed, and then they can't
get in to see a doctor, and then they wonder,
you know, why does something cost ten thousand dollars that
took twenty minutes.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
It just there's nothing else that requires this.
Speaker 8 (23:40):
It all seems so frustrating to people, and I would
like to drill down and get into the actual reasons
why this works. Let me start by prefacing, and we'll
get to this in the next segment, because I don't
want to have to cut you off. I want to
(24:00):
first talk about what if we were to do a
zero based budget, we were to go back to John
Locke's state of nature, and let's start all over and
have a cash only.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Health delivery system.
Speaker 8 (24:15):
Let's do away with insurance, and let's talk about who
the winners and losers out of that would be. And
more importantly, if I'm if I'm a consumer of health services,
because I don't believe that healthcare is a right. If
I'm a consumer of health services, would this be better
or worse for me? So hang tight right there. Our
(24:36):
guest is Professor Charles Silver. I encourage you to read
the book Overcharged, Why Americans Pay Too Much for Healthcare?
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Coming up. This is the.
Speaker 8 (24:49):
Michael Berry Show, locked and loaded.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Load it.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Almost at the end.
Speaker 8 (25:01):
I've given him a moment to consider, Professor, what if
we go back the book is Overcharged Why Americans Pay
too Much for Healthcare? What if we did away with
all insurance and we went cash only. How would that
change things?
Speaker 10 (25:16):
It would change a lot of things for the better,
but some things for the worse. So a lot of
things would be better, you know, we wouldn't have to
worry about things like surprise medical bills where you don't
even know what something is going to cost when you
get the service delivered. There's actually a very large retail
health sector. So if you want to get laser by surgery,
(25:39):
for example, you have to pay for that yourself because
it's not covered by insurance typically, But you know what,
it's actually very affordable and the price for laser surgery.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Are you ready for this?
Speaker 10 (25:51):
The price has substantially declined since Lasik was developed, and
it's gotten much better too. There are new forms of
lasik and all that has happened because there is no
overlay of insurance. Where in the healthcare sector, except in
the private payment sector, can one find prices that have declined.
(26:14):
You know, there are no hospital services that I'm aware
of that cost.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
Less now than they used to.
Speaker 10 (26:20):
But in the private sector where we purchase cosmetic surgery.
I mentioned lasik. There's also the Surgery Center of Oklahoma,
which takes operates on a cash basis, But there are
lots of services that people can buy directly, and those
things that part of the market works incredibly well with.
As I said, we don't have surprise bills. Everybody knows
(26:41):
that they're going to pay before the service is delivered,
and nobody gets billed for more than the price. The
prices are posted, we don't have to have a you know,
in the hospital sector, we have this federal transparity rule
transparency rule that hospitals routinely ignore that's supposed to require
them to post their price. But in the retail sector,
(27:02):
we don't have that, and everybody posts their prices anyway.
So a lot of things would work better if we
did that, But the one thing that would work worse
would be emergencies where you're facing a risk of a
catastrophic cost that you know, people just can't afford to
bear on their own.
Speaker 2 (27:23):
That's where insurance has a role to play. Catastrophic costs.
Speaker 8 (27:27):
Yeah, Professor, I have long advocated that we should. If
people would understand, for instance, I only have liability insurance
on my vehicles, and people so you have to no, no,
I pay cash for my vehicles. The only reason people
are over insured in most cases is because the person
holding the loan wants you to have insurance for more
(27:49):
than the value of what they're of what they've loaned
you money for in case the thing get gets burned
down or trash. They want their money once. You don't
have to do that. In my opinion, I'm a safe driver.
I've never met an insurance claim. In my opinion, it's
a bad business deal. So what I tell people to
do is get catastrophic health insurance so when it hits
(28:12):
fifteen thousand and up, it's good. And then pay cash
and you'll be shocked how many doctors will discount what
you get and they're happy to have the cash. I
go to a doctor named Mary Tally Boden for all
my upper respiratory stuff, and she's a cash only doctor,
which is you know a lot of people are going
to and you go in and you make your payment
(28:32):
and it's insanely cheap, and then there's no documentation. Later,
there's no insurance letter arrives.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Do we pay this?
Speaker 1 (28:40):
No, we wait to pay this.
Speaker 8 (28:41):
She's happier, she doesn't have to have a bunch of
billiing clerks. You literally pay the same way if you
bought yogurt there. I think this is the answer.
Speaker 10 (28:48):
Professor, Well, I agree with you because I go to
a doctor who works on the same basis. So my
doctor I pay a monthly subscription fee too that I
can go as many times as I want. You know,
I don't need to go all the time, fortunately, but
if I need to go, she usually can see me
either that day or the next day, and I get
(29:12):
some tests performed in house at no charge. And it's
a great working arrangement.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Like you, I don't get it.
Speaker 10 (29:21):
I don't worry about my insurance company, you know, not
paying for something.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
So I think I agree with you.
Speaker 10 (29:27):
The cash payment is a very good approach for basic healthcare.
Speaker 8 (29:34):
So let's have a little history lesson. Professor Charles Silver
is our guest. The book is called Overcharged, Why Americans
pay too much for healthcare. Let's go back to wherever
the starting point is you want it to be, nineteen
fifty or nineteen seventy. Where did it start going wrong?
Because we all know it's wrong. Now, where did it
(29:54):
start going wrong? Oh, that's easy.
Speaker 10 (29:57):
It started going wrong in the mid nineteen six these
when Medicare and Medicaid came online. In my book, I
show how doctors and hospitals fees changed after Medicare and
Medicaid took effect in nineteen sixty five. And basically, both
of those statutes initially let doctors and hospitals charge whatever
(30:20):
they wanted for services, and so not surprisingly, they started
raising their rates immediately. I mean, really immediately after the
enactment of those programs, we were beset with health care
inflation that exceeded the real growth rate of the GDP,
and we have been struggling with healthcare inflation ever since.
(30:43):
But everything about the arrangement is wrong. I mean, who
in their right minds let's people who are selling things
set their own prices without any market constraints. I mean,
that's a recipe for disaster, right, And then, of course
that couldn't last forever. Government eventually did get into the
price setting business in Medicare and Medicaid. But of course
(31:05):
we all know that government price setting is terrible. It
never works properly. It's really hard to set good prices,
to set prices accurately, and moreover, the government really doesn't
have the right set of interests, you know, I want,
it's not just the price that matters to me. It's
the convenience, right, How long do I have to wait
(31:25):
to see my doctor? How friendly is my doctor? How
good is my doctor? There are all these things. Different
doctors should have different prices, and markets can work all
that stuff out, but governments just are notoriously unable to
do that, and so as a result, we've had this
terrible system. And because it's so terrible, it's constantly in
(31:48):
need of patching. I mean, every time I turn around,
there's a new bill, a new proposal being put on
the table for some kind of regulation to fix a
problem that only exists because the government created it.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
It's never going to be fixed. It's impossible to fix it.
Speaker 10 (32:06):
We really need to just scrap these arrangements and go
back to a simple cash based system for fundamental care,
and then things will start. It will immediately be out
of the spending crisis. The prices will moderate because hospitals
and doctors and drug companies and all that will have
to deal with the realities of the limited budgets of consumers.
(32:30):
They'll also have to face competition. That's hugely important. You
know one I mentioned the retail health sector. You know,
one of the reasons lasia is cheap is because there
are a lot of laser providers and any ophthalmologists can
enter the field who wants to, So there's a lot
of competition, and competition is good for consumers. So we
(32:50):
need to get rid of these competition frustrating regulations.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
Let's increase the supply.
Speaker 10 (32:57):
Let you know, foreign doctors who can pass American exams
come in and treat people. We need to just open
the floodgates for providers because we have this artificially created shortage.
You know, that's one of the waves that doctors and
hospitals have increased their revenue. It's by preventing new entrants
(33:18):
from coming in and out competing. So we have to
get rid of all that stuff.
Speaker 8 (33:23):
Professor Charles Silver at the University of Texas School of Law,
my alma mater, is our guest. His book is Overcharged,
Why Americans pay to dang much for healthcare? I added
the dang, but I think we all feel it more.
With Professor Silver coming up to
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