Just to give you a good idea of what's going on here, read this from NYT:
As Mr. Shopenn notes, most expensive is not necessarily the best. The "pre-existing condition" thing is the biggest dodge the insurance companies use, when they don't just up and cancel your policy because you got sick.
Read the whole article -- the numbers in there are staggering. And it's all about profits, layers of profits from manufacturers through all the middle-men, including the hospital. Hip replacement joints cost about $350 to make, but a hospital will pay between $4,500-$7,500 for it. And then the hospital will turn around and charge two or three times that -- or more. Plus the surgeon's fees and whatever else they can think to tack on. (Like $1.50 Tylenols.)
But we can't have "socialized medicine" -- that will destroy Uhmurrica.
Via Digby, who ascribes a large part of the problem to the industry lobbyists, who are no doubt effective. But there are other factors in play, such as a Congress that's owned in large part by major industry groups, including the health care industry. And their plans for your health care? See this interview with Eric Cantor. We spend $2.7 trillion on health care in this country, and the Republicans want to take the government plans, with their leverage (OK, weak leverage, because the government won't use it) out of the picture. Sweet.
(Of course, it does occur to me that it's not the ACA itself that's the problem for Republicans -- but it's the "signature legislation" of that Kenyan usurper in the White House. Not that they're racists, or anything like that.)
Michael Shopenn’s artificial hip was made by a company based in this remote town, a global center of joint manufacturing. But he had to fly to Europe to have it installed.
Mr. Shopenn, 67, an architectural photographer and avid snowboarder, had been in such pain from arthritis that he could not stand long enough to make coffee, let alone work. He had health insurance, but it would not cover a joint replacement because his degenerative disease was related to an old sports injury, thus considered a pre-existing condition.
Desperate to find an affordable solution, he reached out to a sailing buddy with friends at a medical device manufacturer, which arranged to provide his local hospital with an implant at what was described as the “list price” of $13,000, with no markup. But when the hospital’s finance office estimated that the hospital charges would run another $65,000, not including the surgeon’s fee, he knew he had to think outside the box, and outside the country.
. . .
“Very leery” of going to a developing country like India or Thailand, which both draw so-called medical tourists, he ultimately chose to have his hip replaced in 2007 at a private hospital outside Brussels for $13,660. That price included not only a hip joint, made by Warsaw-based Zimmer Holdings, but also all doctors’ fees, operating room charges, crutches, medicine, a hospital room for five days, a week in rehab and a round-trip ticket from America.
As Mr. Shopenn notes, most expensive is not necessarily the best. The "pre-existing condition" thing is the biggest dodge the insurance companies use, when they don't just up and cancel your policy because you got sick.
Read the whole article -- the numbers in there are staggering. And it's all about profits, layers of profits from manufacturers through all the middle-men, including the hospital. Hip replacement joints cost about $350 to make, but a hospital will pay between $4,500-$7,500 for it. And then the hospital will turn around and charge two or three times that -- or more. Plus the surgeon's fees and whatever else they can think to tack on. (Like $1.50 Tylenols.)
But we can't have "socialized medicine" -- that will destroy Uhmurrica.
Via Digby, who ascribes a large part of the problem to the industry lobbyists, who are no doubt effective. But there are other factors in play, such as a Congress that's owned in large part by major industry groups, including the health care industry. And their plans for your health care? See this interview with Eric Cantor. We spend $2.7 trillion on health care in this country, and the Republicans want to take the government plans, with their leverage (OK, weak leverage, because the government won't use it) out of the picture. Sweet.
(Of course, it does occur to me that it's not the ACA itself that's the problem for Republicans -- but it's the "signature legislation" of that Kenyan usurper in the White House. Not that they're racists, or anything like that.)
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