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Look at markup costs of electronic medical devices and it is staggering.
It may cost the manufacturer 5 dollars to make but they ratchet it up to say 100 dollars. Then the distributor marks it up a few hundred. Then the insurance industry adds a few more hundred to charge the government with through medicare.
I think it should be legal for any person to walk into a hospital and sell generic medicine and generic surgical tools to give to the patients that will need it at 1/10 the cost. Capitalism at work.
"It may cost the manufacturer 5 dollars to make but they ratchet it up to say 100 dollars. Then the distributor marks it up a few hundred. Then the insurance industry adds a few more hundred to charge the government with through medicare."
Being you have such access to what things cost in the medical filed, how about sharing with us the RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT costs of the mentioned equipment and drugs?
Nationalize the health-care system, which would entail owning and operating acute and chronic treatment centers (hospitals, clinics, etc.) and turning all employees and previously-private doctors into public employees. Of course, taxes would go up a lot.
"Nationalize the health-care system,"
With Uncle Sam's record with running a medical system as small as the VA, now in the hell do you think they could run the ENTIRE COUNTRY?
I really wonder about some people!
"and turning all employees and previously-private doctors into public employees."
Just what we need, more people like those that work at DMVs
and your very own government (FDA) wont even touch those "supplements" or even bother to test them....
begs the question why
Exactly. If you do your research you will find that often times supplements are all you need - not the expensive medicines that big pharma tries to sell you. I am on blood pressure medicine but only after I checked out all other options -- there really weren't any - so they have me for the BP medicine, but nothing else at this point.
Do you have any idea what percentage of UK residents have private health care? It's around 10 percent of the population total.
Yes have "any idea"
"How many people have private health insurance in UK?
As the UK offers affordable public healthcare to all residents via the NHS and HSC, there is often no pressing reason for people to buy private health insurance for themselves and their families. In fact, only some 10.5% of the population, just under 4 million people, opted for private medical insurance."
Do you have any idea what percentage of UK residents have private health care? It's around 10 percent of the population total.
Yes have "any idea"
"How many people have private health insurance in UK?
As the UK offers affordable public healthcare to all residents via the NHS and HSC, there is often no pressing reason for people to buy private health insurance for themselves and their families. In fact, only some 10.5% of the population, just under 4 million people, opted for private medical insurance."
"It may cost the manufacturer 5 dollars to make but they ratchet it up to say 100 dollars. Then the distributor marks it up a few hundred. Then the insurance industry adds a few more hundred to charge the government with through medicare."
Being you have such access to what things cost in the medical filed, how about sharing with us the RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT costs of the mentioned equipment and drugs?
Ahhh, so you seem to know how many hide the price from the public so the consumer does not realize he is being ripped off. In capitalism the consumer is entitled to know the price and services he is purchasing before any work is done and allowed to negogiate prices before any work is done. That does not happen in this country.
Private investigators would go to hospitals to enquire on the final prices for medical devices and they were blocked at every turn, so they took other measures to find the prices via inside people from the originating company to the hospital.
Our country is full of scam artists, shysters and moneychangers that will do anything for money and they infest many companies, DC and the finance sector.
One if the endless scams we see in the pharma industry is to rebrand drugs that reach the end of their patent life.
Like H1Bs, business have abused these privaledges beyond what they were intended for.
It would best if we ended H1Bs and put an end to drug patents. They have noone to blame but themselves for it ending.
"One if the endless scams we see in the pharma industry is..."
No ONE is FORCING you to buy those drugs. You don't like the price DON'T BUY IT!
"is to rebrand drugs that reach the end of their patent life."
I don 't blame them.
Do you how much it costs in research and development to CREATE many drugs? It is in the 10s of MILLIONS.
They need to recoup THAT cost BEFORE they start making a profit.How about how long to get FDA approval?
"It usually takes about 10 years for a drug to be developed and approved for prescription. Many people would like to take the newest medicine as soon as it is proven to work."
"Many people would like to take the newest medicine as soon as it is proven to work. However, even after a drug has been successful in a Phase III trial, it still may take six to 12 months before that drug is approved for prescription."
I am a veteran, and very fortunate to have healthcare thanks to the VA. Prior to that, I am self employed and had to buy
insurance privately. When Bush jr. was in office, back in 2008 I called around to buy insurance for my son and I. It was
so strange. I was buying insurance from the most reputable healthcare insurer, and they had to do a back round check on me and make me state that I had never sought mental health services. I had not, but I asked why. Their back round check had to be completed before they could sell me insurance, in order to ensure for themselves that I had not indeed sought mental health services! In addition of course to not accepting anyone with pre existing conditions. I ended up buying a CATASTROPHIC policy, because it was all I could afford. It came with a lovely 3k deductible, which totaled 6k for my son and I. I ended up cancelling it after a year because they literally raised the price of the policy twice. Fortunately now I am able to use my VA system instead.
I am very healthy and I take no prescriptions. 3 years ago, I came down with a mysterious and very dangerous condition that was extremely rare. So rare, that doctors assumed it was an ulcer. My body started to shut down because my stomach was wrapped and tied in a knot. I was not getting any nutrition but my stats were okay because I had such
great health previously. My local VA summoned an ambulance and I ended up at my local hospital. A scope was finally
done and the intestine blockage was discovered. The hospital was being fully reimbursed by the VA for my healthcare
and they knew it.
At that point, an IV was keeping me alive. All I could do was lay in bed and constantly vomit stomach bile. That hospital
had me in a tiny room shared by a woman with pneumonia. There was only a bedside table and curtain separating us. I was trapped there for 3 or 4 days. Nobody cleaned the room's bathroom once. I was allowed to lay in a dirty bed and given vomit bags to fill up. Then something really strange happened. Someone came to see me to tell me that "The best" surgeon possible was coming in to speak to me, and that I "Better be nice to him"??? So eventually this surgeon visits and tells me that he is going to cut thru my upper rib cage via my chest to operate on my stomach. He tells me that the recovery will be brutal because of the bone cut. Then my miracle came..........
The VA sent an ambulance to take me 80+ miles to the nearest VA hospital. I was terrified, because all the Google reviews for the Dallas VA were awful. I honestly believed that I was going to a third world hospital. As soon as they wheeled me thru those doors, I noticed how nice and spacious the interior of the VA hospital was. A medical intern greeted me and my new room was huge and spotlessly clean. I was X rayed, showered off and given a series of injections that felt like life was being injected back into my veins. I was settled into my comfortable bed, and I felt so relieved.
The VA staff was from every third world country imaginable and the care was top notch, plenty and done on a timely basis. The bathroom was cleaned at least three times a day. Best of all, my new surgeon gave me the happy news that I would only have to have a few tiny incisions in my belly to correct the problem. I was very puzzled, and asked the surgeon why the other surgeon told me he would have to cut open my chest???? My surgeon didn't know. The surgery went off without a hitch, and I was finally able to recover. I refused any pain relief offered and walked the halls in order to regain my strength. The surgery was great and my stomach is just fine. I was released and sent home soon after.
A friend with knowledge of hospital policy explained that the first surgeon at the first hospital was contracted and had the right to refuse service. Apparently this was why I was instructed to be nice to him. The surgery that he planned to do was considered old and archaic, what they did back in the 1950's. The VA gave me minimally invasive surgery.
I went back to the Dallas VA for a checkup and I wrote the director a personal thank you letter. I was so grateful. I wrote a card of thanks to all of the amazing staff and I just tried my best to let the Dallas VA know how grateful I was and how much I understood just how much they do and how well they do it all. I also look at people from third world countries much differently now, for they were the people who showed mercy upon me when I felt like I had none. In the private hospital, a white nurse that was obviously overwhelmed would barely speak to me or offer any sort of help while I was allowed to lay in my own vomit for days. At the Dallas VA, a French speaking nurse aide from Cameroon with skin black as night, tenderly held my hand in the middle of the night and prayed for me and assured me that God was with us. The attending medical student who admitted me was from Afghanistan. The nurses who brought me back with proper care upon my arrival were from India and Pakistan. My surgeon was Thai. The ward nurse was a trans woman. I will gladly take them all, as whitey nurse and surgeon in my local hospital could not care less if I lived or died.
I look at the VA, health insurers, health care and immigrants in a much different light now.
"I am very healthy and I take no prescriptions"
Then how do you get health care from the VA?
"they had to do a back round check on me and make me state that I had never sought mental health services. I had not, but I asked why. Their back round check had to be completed before they could sell me insurance, in order to ensure for themselves that I had not indeed sought mental health services"
Try getting auto insurance if you have record of crashing cars.
Or homeowners insurance if your house has record of "claims".
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