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Healthcare professionals are expensive since they require significant preparation. But there is fishy stuff going on too... 1 liter sterile bag of saltwater f

Healthcare professionals are expensive since they require significant preparation. But there is fishy stuff going on too... 1 liter sterile bag of saltwater for intervenous use in American hospitals is charged at over $300, not considering the cost of the procedure, which can total $500. The pharmaceutical industry also does some sort of disservice to society by inflating prices so much. Then, some money stays at the insurance companies instead of going to actually improving healthcare itself.

ersii 10y ago
That said, even single-payer systems as the ones in Western Europe can have this exact same problem. Like when Region Stockholm / Stockholm County (Responsible for Health Care and Public Transport) in Sweden bought supplies like support socks for 6000 SEK/pair (~645 USD) [1]. I'm guessing - but I do not think it's a good thing when people who make the purchasing and oversight of things are far away from the actual practitioners. It leaves a lot of room for different kinds of shenanigans, fraud and sub-optimal choices. I think that applies regardless if you're for Private or Public health care. [1] http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/stockholm/landstinget-kopte-strumpor-for-6-000-kronor http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/stockholm/landstinget-kopte...
douche 10y ago
For one operation I had, I was given a turkey sandwich to eat in the recovery room before they would let me leave. Two slices of wonder-bread, one slice of turkey. $36 on the itemized bill that was sent to my insurance. It's nuts.
ReallyAnonymous 10y ago
High charges of low cost items are because of the amount of free care hospitals provide. I'm a physician in South Carolina and I take care of a tremendous number of fully employed people with no health insurance. Those of us with insurance pay for those without by paying higher costs. This gentleman would have probably received the same treatment in the US (at least at my facility) and received a $300,000 bill, of which he would probably never pay (bc he cannot). That artificial aortic graft sewn in probably cost the hospital $1500. It doesn't receive that for free. Nor does it expect the 7-8 people in the operating room or the post operative care to work for free. My hospital has an operating profit of less than 1% mainly because it provides so much free care. All I have to do to take care of a patient is declare it an emergency and there is no stopping of whatever care I feel is necessary to care for the patient, e.g., a newly diagnosed cancer patient. This, I believe, is true throughout the USA. And most of the people I take care of have jobs, but no insurance. Ask how many people that clean hotel rooms have insurance. How about people that work call centers? That, plus monopolist practices of the pharmaceutical industry and you have high costs. And if you want physicians to make 100k - 150k, don't expect me to work 80+ hours a week, not including call. Attorneys give me $500 / hr for consultations, but in my real job I make $80 / hr, but just work a ton more hours a week (no overtime bonus, tho). I don't get sick days. I don't get vacation days. When I don't work, I don't get paid. When I was in private practice, when I didn't work, I not only didn't get paid, but still had to pay rent / malpractice / insurance / electric / employees which was about $5000/week for me. So taking a week off cost me lost revenue and $5000/week. Medicare pays $600 for taking out a gallbladder. Do the math to see how many have to be done to take care of the bills.
- partycoder 10y ago
  Thanks for the explanation. How would you improve this system? Do you think universal healthcare would help?
  - ReallyAnonymous 10y ago
    I think universal healthcare would definitely improve the system. So in the US, healthy, employed by big corporation people, pay about $17k / year for family healthcare. Then, when they turn 65, they join medicare and the insurance companies laugh bc they received premiums for 40 years and then when people need services, they don't pay. Imagine if medicare started receiving payment at age 20. By the time someone turned 60 the return on investment / interest would more than pay for their care. Insurance companies don't want the average american to know that. I think that either 1) offer medicare plan for anyone, regardless of age and discount based upon years of contributions or 2) make insurance companies allow individuals to pay medicare rates once they turn 65 if they've participated for, let's say, 15 years. I'm almost 50 and have used less than $400/year since 21. Yet, I pay $4400 for a $6000/deductible plan. So I've given my insurance companyn $100k at least in my lifetime. But when I turn 65, all my care will be covered by medicare. Trust me, I know what symptoms to say and may have multiple bad symptoms from age 62-64 and undergo lots of tests, instead of medicare paying for preventive tests. The system is broken, but so is politics, so nothing will change. Even Trump ran under the pretense of allowing us to buy pharmaceuticals overseas, allow purchase of insurance plans across state lines, make hospital costs transparent ---> all that would lower costs, but apparently, they won't happen.. Just like with the democrats. The US healthcare system is controlled by the pharmaceuticals, suppliers, and hospitals and nothing soon, other than a Bernie Sanders, will change it. The 3 competing hospitals in my area, serving less than 1million people have a CEO cost of more than $7 million! So across the US, I would imagine that total CEO cost is in the billions. I don't have solutions, only depressing facts.........

ersii 10y ago

That said, even single-payer systems as the ones in Western Europe can have this exact same problem. Like when Region Stockholm / Stockholm County (Responsible for Health Care and Public Transport) in Sweden bought supplies like support socks for 6000 SEK/pair (~645 USD) [1]. I'm guessing - but I do not think it's a good thing when people who make the purchasing and oversight of things are far away from the actual practitioners. It leaves a lot of room for different kinds of shenanigans, fraud and sub-optimal choices. I think that applies regardless if you're for Private or Public health care. [1] http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/stockholm/landstinget-kopte-strumpor-for-6-000-kronor http://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/stockholm/landstinget-kopte...

douche 10y ago

For one operation I had, I was given a turkey sandwich to eat in the recovery room before they would let me leave. Two slices of wonder-bread, one slice of turkey. $36 on the itemized bill that was sent to my insurance. It's nuts.

ReallyAnonymous 10y ago

High charges of low cost items are because of the amount of free care hospitals provide. I'm a physician in South Carolina and I take care of a tremendous number of fully employed people with no health insurance. Those of us with insurance pay for those without by paying higher costs. This gentleman would have probably received the same treatment in the US (at least at my facility) and received a $300,000 bill, of which he would probably never pay (bc he cannot). That artificial aortic graft sewn in probably cost the hospital $1500. It doesn't receive that for free. Nor does it expect the 7-8 people in the operating room or the post operative care to work for free. My hospital has an operating profit of less than 1% mainly because it provides so much free care. All I have to do to take care of a patient is declare it an emergency and there is no stopping of whatever care I feel is necessary to care for the patient, e.g., a newly diagnosed cancer patient. This, I believe, is true throughout the USA. And most of the people I take care of have jobs, but no insurance. Ask how many people that clean hotel rooms have insurance. How about people that work call centers? That, plus monopolist practices of the pharmaceutical industry and you have high costs. And if you want physicians to make 100k - 150k, don't expect me to work 80+ hours a week, not including call. Attorneys give me $500 / hr for consultations, but in my real job I make $80 / hr, but just work a ton more hours a week (no overtime bonus, tho). I don't get sick days. I don't get vacation days. When I don't work, I don't get paid. When I was in private practice, when I didn't work, I not only didn't get paid, but still had to pay rent / malpractice / insurance / electric / employees which was about $5000/week for me. So taking a week off cost me lost revenue and $5000/week. Medicare pays $600 for taking out a gallbladder. Do the math to see how many have to be done to take care of the bills.

partycoder 10y ago
Thanks for the explanation. How would you improve this system? Do you think universal healthcare would help?
- ReallyAnonymous 10y ago
  I think universal healthcare would definitely improve the system. So in the US, healthy, employed by big corporation people, pay about $17k / year for family healthcare. Then, when they turn 65, they join medicare and the insurance companies laugh bc they received premiums for 40 years and then when people need services, they don't pay. Imagine if medicare started receiving payment at age 20. By the time someone turned 60 the return on investment / interest would more than pay for their care. Insurance companies don't want the average american to know that. I think that either 1) offer medicare plan for anyone, regardless of age and discount based upon years of contributions or 2) make insurance companies allow individuals to pay medicare rates once they turn 65 if they've participated for, let's say, 15 years. I'm almost 50 and have used less than $400/year since 21. Yet, I pay $4400 for a $6000/deductible plan. So I've given my insurance companyn $100k at least in my lifetime. But when I turn 65, all my care will be covered by medicare. Trust me, I know what symptoms to say and may have multiple bad symptoms from age 62-64 and undergo lots of tests, instead of medicare paying for preventive tests. The system is broken, but so is politics, so nothing will change. Even Trump ran under the pretense of allowing us to buy pharmaceuticals overseas, allow purchase of insurance plans across state lines, make hospital costs transparent ---> all that would lower costs, but apparently, they won't happen.. Just like with the democrats. The US healthcare system is controlled by the pharmaceuticals, suppliers, and hospitals and nothing soon, other than a Bernie Sanders, will change it. The 3 competing hospitals in my area, serving less than 1million people have a CEO cost of more than $7 million! So across the US, I would imagine that total CEO cost is in the billions. I don't have solutions, only depressing facts.........