Healthcare Story

This is a story that HR (our regional public TV network) presented yesterday, and is a curious piece of the Covid-19 story.

If you go and use normal past yearly statistics....since the early part of the Coronavirus 'crisis'....visits to German doctors and hospitals are approximately 60 to 70 percent of what is considered normal. 

There is some suggestion now that the German people are showing signs/symptoms of heart attacks, and simply not seeking treatment....because of the fear of getting the Coronavirus.

Public hospitals are now reporting usage at 60-percent of what was normal.

So there are some questions that probably need to be asked here.

First, will this trend continue?  Could we arrive at January 2021, and find that for the entire year.....roughly one-third of all 'business' (normal)....simply never occurred?

Second, if people do skip visits....will this lessen hospital numbers and hired doctors/nurses are put on furlough?

Third, if you use healthcare insurance less....shouldn't the numbers reflect a lesser need for healthcare and decrease the cost involved?

Finally, will people just put off a lot of issues (knee replacement, cancer signs, etc), and trigger bigger issues in a year or two?