The Insanity Of Medical Costs

[Storm56]

Happens on just about every thread on every forum I am on, get over it.

 

[Boondox]

I spent 14 years in the Navy, getting out as a warrant officer PA. I quickly got a job in a regional clinic associated with a very large HMO in southern California. I lasted six months before disgust drove me to grad school and a completely different direction. In the military medicine was driven by what the patient needed and there was considerable altruism among health care leaders. In the civilian world the leaders were not medical professionals, but businessmen and women driven by profit.

The incident that was the last straw for me was a patient with a common infection that any broad-spectrum antibiotic would quickly resolve. The patient was not at all well off, so I prescribed erythromycin which would have cost her $5 at any pharmacy. The clinic director later read me the riot act for not prescribing the latest designer drug that the patient couldn't have afforded...but which got the HMO a kickback from the drug company. I told him that was not good medical care. He shouted back at me "Maybe not, but it's good business!"

I quit that day.

 

[denchen]

There was talk of the US private sector taking over our NHS National Health Service. The word from the average guy in the street is `No Way`

 

[Agvg]

There was talk of the US private sector taking over our NHS National Health Service. The word from the average guy in the street is `No Way`

Suppose you are in the UK, I do belive any such attempts is a magnificent political suicide, Boris talks a lot NHS on twitter so he wants to calm down people. I can't see any argument for a US healthcare system unless you are in the profit side of it.

 

[jasonzee]

Its seem they cant make pills that dont have really bad side effects today. Bit they charge a lot .

 

[Richard]

Why do some people need to inject stuff that has nothing to do with the topic?

Since you brought up injections... (see how I did that!)

I take a monthly shot in the stomach (self injected at that) of Stelera and having looked at my insurance payments the other day, the amount is $22,199.13

Really? I mean, you really need to add the .13 on the end?


Here's the interesting part of this (scam??)..... I have insurance through work. I was downsized prior to this job so told the Doctor we'll just have to see what happens because I was not going to pay that kind of bill....regardless of the outcome. They sent me a free sample for a month (I was only out of work for about 3-4 weeks so they only had to cover one cycle.

During that time frame, I got an invitation from the manufacturer about financial assistance. Curious, I called about it and they said I could apply (and would probably get it)

So I apply and get it. The company that manufacturers/provides the Steleara for me, will themselves, absorb the cost of my co-pay.

Hmmm.... I'm finding this curious but "OK"....

Following year, (this year) I notice that I'm never getting a bill........for ANYTHING....

Long story short, I chose the higher deductible so if I hit it then 100% is covered (I initially chose this because last year, I was heading into some surgery and forgot to change it)

So this year, after about the second week in January, I had no more deductible charges.... called to find out why (I didn't want to get hit with a big unexpected bill) I was told we met the deductible. Putting 2+2 together, I realized it was the Steleara that covered everything.

So this upcoming year, (we just had our time to choose benefits for upcoming year) I called to see if Steleara company will keep paying the deductible (yes) which means we do nothing until I get my first shot.... they pay for it, that gets me to my limit and rest of year is free.

If they're charging $22K per month, it would seem they can afford to do that.


Frankly, I think it's all absurd.......but I'm not stupid.

 

[Jchonline]

LOL, do as the Mexicans and south Americans do.
Cross in on non official borders and we'll house and feed U until you clear immigration.
AND, we don't separate children from their parents.
Canadian immigration actually meets the immigrants and help them with baggage etc. then house and feed them in heated tents while they are possessed.
We even treat any medical issues and help them with language courses should they not be fluent in our official languages.

Actually you are turning people away just like the US. In 2019 the US apprehended 1.1 mil illegal entries. It looks like CA processed around 28,000. Let us send 1.1 million people your way and see how CA does. From what I read it appears the system would collapse.

 

[jjp8182]

USA medical cost are about double other developed countries mainly because of your liability laws anything medical related needs huge insurance cover which needs to be paid by somebody if you had liability laws more in line with the rest of the world it would half your cost and it is not as if the rest of the world has worse outcomes without the ability to sue for every well intended action that in hindsight didn't work out well as a New Zealander travel insurance is quoted in two brackets US travel and the rest of the world the US is about double the price of the other

Yeah, that can happen when blind profit motives, incompetence (and glorification of mediocrity/ignorance), lack of common sense run, and non-listening arrogance rampant -- and especially when combined with a legal system that interprets poorly written laws inconsistently.

It also doesn't help when there's a lack of understanding on what commonly used measurements/tests are actually measuring (e.g. blood pressure, and BMI) and that lack of understanding is codified into laws/regulations that are blindly followed for the reasons in the preceding statement.

That in turn leads to medical/medication induced injuries that can result in lawsuits, which drive up the malpractice insurance costs and the whole cycle repeats.

Really creates a great incentive to not get sick or injured in the first place

 

[hosspuller]

There another side of high med costs in the US. I worked in a regional hospital. In my job I saw paper work for all the dept's work. Basically, Medicare paid 1/3, insurance +self pay paid 1/3 and Medicaid or indigent care was the balance. So, 1/3 of the population (the insured) paid for 2/3 of population that paid little or none of the costs to treat them.

This was after Obamacare went into effect... which was supposed to reduce costs.

 

[fried1765]

Do you really want us?
Back at our last presidential election in 2016 many people were saying that if Hillary Clinton lost, they were moving to Canada. It turns out that it's harder to migrate to your country than they thought, apparently requiring some visible means of support.

Yup...they don't want us....especially if we are 60+
I sold my Summer residence in Nova Scotia just a year ago.
I built it in 2004, when I was 64 years old.
At the time, I consulted with an immigration attorney in Halifax, about getting dual citizenship.
I could prove means of support greater than 95% of the Canadian average.
He told me: "save your money (his 5K fee), you will be denied".