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10 years ago when my wife was pregnant, a dianostic ultrasound cost $800, took 15 minutes, and the machine looked ancient. A 3D "fun scan" was $150, took 1 hou
by madengr 11y ago
10 years ago when my wife was pregnant, a dianostic ultrasound cost $800, took 15 minutes, and the machine looked ancient. A 3D "fun scan" was $150, took 1 hour, and the machine was state of the art. Go figure.
- Gibbon1 11y agoThing I harp on is that the medical industry is used to just charging whatever they can get away with. Since they have a generally naive and captive customer base, there is generally nothing to keep things real. My small experience with business is that when you have that situation you're set up to totally lose control of your costs. Because a lot of excess expenses are hidden in high margin products and services. Example, you make something for $5600 and sell it for $15,340. Could be that with a small amount of work you could produce the thing for $4200 ea. But because the margin is 'good' no one feels the need.
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y agoActually my experience with the medical industry is that products get "value engineered" to oblivion. They are acutely aware of their margins and are constantly trying to improve them by reducing costs where it doesn't affect performance.
- Gibbon1 11y agoIn some parts of the device industry there is actual competition though.