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$11,000 for a plastic valve. Unreal. No wonder hospitals are always stretched to the limit when they're being gouged like this. Think of it this way, a hospita
by jagger27 7y ago
$11,000 for a plastic valve. Unreal. No wonder hospitals are always stretched to the limit when they're being gouged like this.
Think of it this way, a hospital could buy 10 valves or hire a physician for a year. Are these valves typically re-used? Are they going through them faster because they don't want to risk infecting other people?
- tathougies 7y agoPart of the cost is certainly regulatory / insurance underwriting approval, isn't it?
- TheOtherHobbes 7y agoAnd the rest is pure profit.
- thrill 7y agoIf it was that profitable there'd be dozens of competitors.
- al3xandre 7y ago... or there was and they consolidated to increase profits since antitrust is rarely enforced these days
- 0_gravitas 7y agoNot if the barrier to entry is high enough (and then also assuming there is zero collusion)
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y agoIt's also that entrenched, as well.
- awb 7y agoUnless there are patents involved.
- betaby 7y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture
- Turing_Machine 7y agoYes, it is. Medical devices have to be FDA approved (or the equivalent in other countries) and that costs LOTS of money. On top of that, you have to account for the potential lawsuit if your 3D-printed knockoff respirator valve fails and someone dies.
- AnthonyMouse 7y ago> On top of that, you have to account for the potential lawsuit if your 3D-printed knockoff respirator valve fails and someone dies. Where does this meme that companies get sued for parts made by completely independent third parties come from? The most obvious reason that wouldn't be true is that without a patent on the part or similar, companies generally have no right to prevent third parties from making replacement parts for their equipment. It would be pretty silly to impose liability for something they have no control over.
- Turing_Machine 7y ago> Where does this meme that companies get sued for parts made by completely independent third parties come from? "Meme"? Where does your your that malpractice lawsuits are just "memes" come from? Because I can assure you that they exist in the real world. As do massive fines for using equipment that hasn't been FDA approved.
- enriquto 7y ago> On top of that, you have to account for the potential lawsuit if your 3D-printed knockoff respirator valve fails and someone dies. In that case, the alternative was a few people over there going to die by slow asphyxiation, so the 3D-printed knockoffs were a really good thing, even if some of them failed.
- UnpossibleJim 7y agoExcept, that the 3D printer plastic might not hold up to the medical grade plastic and might cause system wide infections that hadn't been accounted for culminating in a brain or spinal infection that leaves a person in a coma for the rest of their painful life while the family watches. The family then Sue's malpractice, doctor's lose their medical license and hospitals lose millions which could go to treat patients. Hypotheticals can go both ways.
- rbanffy 7y agoLet's say it did cost a million to certify the valve. That's covered in the first 100 valves sold. From then on, which should be like after a week, every single dollar is profit.
- Narkov 7y agoIt's not $11,000 for a plastic valve. It's $11,000 for a plastic valve and the many thousands of hours of R&D, testing, validation, certification and risk.
- tomrod 7y agoLovely. Duplication of fixed costs lead to natural monopolies. Sounds like there is room for intervention.
- notRobot 7y agoStill too much.
- Narkov 7y agoWhat are you basing that on? How much was spent on development that $11,000 is too much? $100k, $1m, $1b ?
- Turing_Machine 7y agoMaybe you (or someone) should go into the respirator business and undersell them on price?
- chance_state 7y agoSounds like that's already happening with a new price of "free" and they're not happy about it.
- gameswithgo 7y agosomeone just did and they are getting sued
- jagger27 7y agoAnd risk getting sued by extremely well funded corporations protected by broad scope patents. It may well be the case that it is prohibitive to get proper regulatory approval to sell such a device.
- Ididntdothis 7y agoI wouldn’t feel too bad for the hospitals. They are happy to mark up prices by an outrageous amount. My company does medical devices. One device goes for around 20k to the hospital. I have heard that the hospital often charges 80-100k for the device plus the cost for doctors and facility which is often another 50k or more.
- cosmiccatnap 7y agoConsidering your company probably makes them for <5k I'd say it's sad all around
- ma2rten 7y agoI doubt that's the case in Italy.
- jagger27 7y agoI don't feel bad for hospitals, I feel bad for the patients in hospitals who suffer because of the greed of private companies.
- negrit 7y agoIn the US yes, thanks god not every country has 3rd world healthcare.
- rbanffy 7y agoThe third world finds this comparison rather offensive.
- oliwarner 7y agoThis was an Italian hospital, not an American one. Devices and drugs are dispensed at cost, or lower, and that number often comes out considerably less than the public list price. Either which way, typical healthcare profiteering is not going to end well here. There is simply too much on the line to allow people to block or threaten progress.
- zokula 7y agoLate stage capitalism