Medical costs in the U.S. - Time Magazine

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:10 am

There is a totally hair-raising, hackle-raising article in this issue of Time magazine concerning the cost of health care in the U.S.

Apparently, we have been preoccupied with who should pay for the outrageous costs without asking the basic question, "Why are the costs so bad?"

Example: A 500mg tablet of Acetaminophen which costs $0.00015 to make is charged at %1.50...a 10,000% markup! One poor lady had chest pains, they rushed her to the hospital and gave her the good news: it wasn't a heart attack, it was indigestion. The bad news? Total bill for the trip: $15,000.00

Almost 70% of the bankruptcies in the U.S. are medical based, and 70% of those people HAD medical insurance! There are 7 medical lobbyists for every senator in Washington.

As one of those people...I AM PISSED OFF!!!!

The whole thing makes me feel sick....but unfortunately, I CAN'T AFFORD THAT!!

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:45 am

I'm with you. Health in the US is starting to come down to how much money a person has. Everything health related has become nothing but profit driven corporations. I don't know what the answer is but something has to be done. I'm seriously thinking National health care is the only thing to reel in the current debacle that is called health care.

I have never figured out why rich people don't want poor people to have health care (at least thats the way it seems). Rich people can still get their private doctors and hospitals.

Not to mention the cost for the elderly that need assisted living. The cost start at $5,000.00 a month and go up from there. We don't take care of the elderly, we bankrupt them.

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:50 am

One of the many things that frustrates me about this situation is that Congress won't allow Medicare to negotiate volume discounts for medications and insists that they pay full retail for all meds. Thus, the cost of meds is more than twice as high in the US for those on Medicare. Congress also will not provide funding to cut down on Medicare fraud, then turns around and calls for gutting Medicare because of that fraud. The lobbyists are getting what they pay for from Congress.

I'm only part way through the full article (36 pages), but it is very frustrating.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:16 am

YZGI;1421620 wrote: I'm with you. Health in the US is starting to come down to how much money a person has. Everything health related has become nothing but profit driven corporations. I don't know what the answer is but something has to be done. I'm seriously thinking National health care is the only thing to reel in the current debacle that is called health care.

I have never figured out why rich people don't want poor people to have health care (at least thats the way it seems). Rich people can still get their private doctors and hospitals.

Not to mention the cost for the elderly that need assisted living. The cost start at $5,000.00 a month and go up from there. We don't take care of the elderly, we bankrupt them.Capitalism, or what ever it is we practice can be pretty grotesque at times.

Ahso! · Post by **Ahso!** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:23 am

Wandrin;1421621 wrote: One of the many things that frustrates me about this situation is that Congress won't allow Medicare to negotiate volume discounts for medications and insists that they pay full retail for all meds. Thus, the cost of meds is more than twice as high in the US for those on Medicare. Congress also will not provide funding to cut down on Medicare fraud, then turns around and calls for gutting Medicare because of that fraud. The lobbyists are getting what they pay for from Congress.

I'm only part way through the full article (36 pages), but it is very frustrating.I had come to the point a while back where this subject became so irritating that thinking about it too much will ruin my day.

The only way to go that's fair for all is a single payer system - period. Even with that, the drug companies and AMA would still find a way to rape the system, but at least I wouldn't care since everyone would have access to standardized care.

What we now have is RETAIL Health Care. Simply absurd.

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:24 pm

There's an interesting chart in the Time article that shows the operating profit and CEO salaries for the top 10 non-profit hospitals in the US. The Uninversity of Pittsburg Medical Center is at the top of the list with $769,700,084 in profit and a CEO salary of $5,975,462. I can only imagine what the profit and CEO salaries are for the hospitals that are not non-profit.

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:03 pm

How is it "non-profit" if they take millions in profit, and then pay it to their employees at exorbitant salaries to claim they "didn't make any money?!!!"

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 3:22 pm

What do you expect when the primary purpose of your medical services is to make profit and they know their customers have no real choice but to pay what they ask for their services. It's not like buying a car where you can decide not to bother.

Patsy Warnick · Post by **Patsy Warnick** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:42 pm

Saint

My hub has been a medical mess for yrs. now - triple by-pass - cancer & another surgery scheduled for this March.

1 - pill cost $65.00...! and needs to fill a script for 90 days. & then perhaps more.?

are you kidding me..!

I was a lobbyist for my hub.

I called the maker of the medicine & received the complete script for free.

are you kidding me..! He was on that pill for 6 months.

we're still in medical debt - that was a great help. I know you understand.

and No - I don't want your sympathy either...just a example:wah:

Who knew you could negotiate..?

Patsy

Scrat · Post by **Scrat** » Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:30 pm

What are we all complaining about? Y'all sound like godless commies!!!

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:01 am

Scrat;1421664 wrote: Y'all sound like godless commies!!!

I wish...they have affordable health care!

YZGI · Post by **YZGI** » Wed Feb 27, 2013 8:10 am

Scrat;1421664 wrote: What are we all complaining about? Y'all sound like godless commies!!!

That sounded like my dad.

Scrat · Post by **Scrat** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 2:13 pm

In Gomel Belarus a friends father had a brain tumor removed. It cost the family $1500 out of pocket. Belarus is still Soviet and the cradle to the grave medical care does have a price but it certainly is workable.

I have to agree with all of you, something has to change. Medicine for profit is not something a civilized country would practice.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:59 pm

If you want to drop healthcare costs to manageable levels you've got to knock out the system that's driving them up so high. Ban this insurance for convenience and only allow catastrophic health insurance. When people have to pay out of their own pockets they tend to pay better attention. It makes me sick when my dentist starts recommending work that I don't really need, but hey, insurance will pay for it, and if I don't get it before the coverage year ends it's like wasting money.

Gov't subsidies and insurance prohibit market forces from working. They are what is driving healthcare costs so high. The healthcare industry is simply charging what customers will pay. When customers refuse to pay so much, they can't charge so much. Simple.

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 7:16 pm

Accountable;1421815 wrote: If you want to drop healthcare costs to manageable levels you've got to knock out the system that's driving them up so high. Ban this insurance for convenience and only allow catastrophic health insurance. When people have to pay out of their own pockets they tend to pay better attention. It makes me sick when my dentist starts recommending work that I don't really need, but hey, insurance will pay for it, and if I don't get it before the coverage year ends it's like wasting money.

Gov't subsidies and insurance prohibit market forces from working. They are what is driving healthcare costs so high. The healthcare industry is simply charging what customers will pay. When customers refuse to pay so much, they can't charge so much. Simple.

I beg to differ. I don't think market forces are truly at play because the health insurance companies primarily market to businesses rather than individuals. They aren't really competing. As a self-employed individual who operates as a corporation, the identical insurance from the same vendor costs me 38% less if I buy it through my one person corporation than it does if I buy it as an individual. Even the sales persons could not explain the difference, although they insisted that it was exactly the same insurance coverage.

As far as reducing coverage to catastrophic only, why would that lower costs? It is to the advantage of the insurance companies to provide preventative health care. If other countries manage to deal with health care issues, what prevents the US from doing so?

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Thu Feb 28, 2013 7:25 pm

Wandrin;1421817 wrote: I beg to differ. I don't think market forces are truly at play because the health insurance companies primarily market to businesses rather than individuals. They aren't really competing. Exactly. They take the market out of the equation. That's my point.

Wandrin;1421817 wrote: As a self-employed individual who operates as a corporation, the identical insurance from the same vendor costs me 38% less if I buy it through my one person corporation than it does if I buy it as an individual. Even the sales persons could not explain the difference, although they insisted that it was exactly the same insurance coverage.You're talking insurance coverage. I'm talking healthcare costs.

Wandrin;1421817 wrote: As far as reducing coverage to catastrophic only, why would that lower costs?Because the insurance companies would be taken out of the equation. They would not be able to block market forces. People would have to pay the costs out-of-pocket. Since they can't pay the exorbitant rates that insurance companies can, providers would have to drop their prices or go out of business. If they went out of business, more savvy entrepreneurs could fill the gaps with innovative solutions.

Wandrin;1421817 wrote: It is to the advantage of the insurance companies to provide preventative health care. If other countries manage to deal with health care issues, what prevents the US from doing so?Freedom. Liberty. Self-determination. Independence. Little stuff like that.

Saint_ · Post by **Saint_** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 9:59 am

The U.S. spends as much as the next ten developed countries combined do on health care. And we get worse results. Could it be that the health lobby spends FIVE TIMES what the military complex spends to lobby? yeah...probably.

Wandrin · Post by **Wandrin** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 10:44 am

Saint_;1421841 wrote: The U.S. spends as much as the next ten developed countries combined do on health care. And we get worse results. Could it be that the health lobby spends FIVE TIMES what the military complex spends to lobby? yeah...probably.

And the lobbyists get what they pay for from Congress. As an example, Medicare is prohibited from negotiating volume discounts on medications from US pharmaceutical companies and must pay full retail for the meds. This is why the exact same meds are twice as expensive in the US as they are in Canada, the UK, or anywhere else in the civilized world. The lobbyists convinced Congress that it is more important that US pharm corps have record profits than it is to have healthy citizens.

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:12 pm

Saint_;1421841 wrote: The U.S. spends as much as the next ten developed countries combined do on health care.
Hyperbole doesn't help an argument.

Health Costs: How the U.S. Compares With Other Countries | PBS NewsHour