>>>These MD's are getting hundreds of thousands per year in kickbacks at the expense of the poor schlubs who have to pay the premiums, the taxpayer or both.
>>>These are the ones being caught.
>
>The issue in the US is that it's illegal to pay or receive kickbacks for channeling business to one lab. The risk that this could raise prices is theoretical: your citation doesn't show this is what caused US healthcare to be so expensive or even that it increased the cost of services for the bad apple physicians' patients.

Is it THE reason?
Of course not.
But, how it could possibly not increase cost to the payor?
This is cost that adds no value.
You've often correctly pointed out that insurers add cost but no value to health care.
Enough said.


>
>But here's a reality check: health systems all over the world have physicians who refer their patients to providers and labs. In some jurisdictions it's NOT illegal to channel all business to one provider in exchange for benefit. Sometimes one provider even gains a monopoly and all others are driven out of business. Yet every single one of those jurisdictions has cheaper care than the US.
>

Wow!
That's almost matches the logic our legislators applied when, while considering whether or not to prolong the assault weapons ban, noted that homicides had not decreased while the ban had been in place and repealed it.


>> Another took $250K for referring to pain specialists- so are you saying the patients didn't realize they had no pain and didn't need to be seen at all?

John, John, John!!!

It's arithmetically impossible that that $250K did not add cost that had no value.



>Meanwhile the US businessman who bribed 39 physicians for unspecified amounts, himself took $100 million additional revenue, allowing him to live like a king according to your citation. Why aren't you accusing businessmen of being responsible for expensive care in the US? Because you have a chip on your shoulder.
>

He's going to jail.



>>Yeah, I know - "these are just the ones who have been caught" and there's implication in the article that fraudulent claims could be tens of billions- but it's no use asking the prosecutor how many crooks there are out there,

He told you.
He can't answer that because his people are overwhelmed prosecuting the ones he's already found.

In the interest of full disclosure I must note that the political appointee quoted was appointed by one of the most cynically corrupt politicians ever to hold office in the US, Chris Christie.

Paul Fishman, the US attorney involved, however, has a good record


>
>The good news is that more and more physicians are taking salaried positions where they'll have no financial interest in their facility's referral decisions or billing. By your logic, that should reduce cost markedly with physician fingers out of the till and everything will be peachy.

Wow!
We agree!