Hospitals charging thousands a day for the bed, meals and nurses and everything else is extra and itemised. (I read once that a bandaid was charged at 15 bucks in a US hospital.) is a disgrace.
that's because it's not a consumer system. it's 3rd party payer and the consumer never sees the bill or shops for care.
I just feel sorry for you up there having to pay so much for insurance that doesn't cover much.
we do pay a lot. not because it covers to little, but because it covers to much. also, because it's usually through an employer instead of the consumer being able to shop their own insurance. there are many state mandates on what insurance must cover. why am i paying for pregnancy coverage and prostate exams in a group plan? i don't need it!
So your system lowers real wages and drives up the cost of health care. Rich get richer poor get poorer. Theres your fear and consumption again. Have half the country worried about getting sick and they too worried to worry about anything else.
that makes no sense.
So why dint a few Governments combine and research and make cheaper drugs? because its all about money not health.
we have government funded research here. not much comes of it. most breakthrough in treatment come from the private sector. and yes, profit is a great motivator! not just profit on the discovery, but stock investments from the private sector.
defending law suits brought about by releasing drugs too early in their quest for profits.
that's not why they get sued. they get sued because people expect to always have a good outcome. all drugs and procedures carry risk. even aspirin can kill you. the drug companies get sued because we have a court system that does not consider merit, but only considers outcome. reform in this area would help a great deal with cost in all areas of medicine.
I want to know what really happens up there if you get sick, say have a hearta in the middle of a mall, spend 14 days in intensive care, 20 days in CCU, 2 weeks in a ward. You have no insurance, you earn 40 grand a year, the bill is $200,000. Do you have to pay it? Can you pay it off? Can you apply for a grant or something? or did they not even bother with CPR?
you get the care. the hospital eats the bill. we all pay for that, but what we pay is far less than what a government plan would cost us all in care and dollars. i don't think people should be able to walk on a bill. you should pay for what you get even if it's 20 bucks a month. i can't walk out of the grocery store with food just because i need it. there is a great deal of public assistance available both through the feds and the states. many people choose not to take advantage of it. there are people who do not have insurance because they can not pay for it. they are a small number and they could be taken care of by changing insurance laws and make an affordable insurance pool available to them.
