Intransparent health care costs

[Walter]

In the US, the very same blood test can cost $19 at one clinic and $522 at another clinic just blocks away - and nobody knows the difference until they get a bill weeks later. Sometimes its cheaper to pay cash than to use an insurance.

For me, this seems like a broken system. Now, journalist Jeanne Pinder says it doesn't have to be this way.

She's built a platform that crowdsources the true costs of medical procedures and makes the data public, revealing the secrets of health care pricing: https://clearhealthcosts.com

 

[dogtowner]

Health insurance led to the upward spiral of costs. Government healthcare sent it through the roof. If it's just numbers on a piece of paper nobody cares. When you paid it yourself then costs stayed under market control.
AMA had a real coup putting this scam together.

 

[Lagboltz]

In the US, the very same blood test can cost $19 at one clinic and $522 at another clinic just blocks away - and nobody knows the difference until they get a bill weeks later. Sometimes its cheaper to pay cash than to use an insurance.

For me, this seems like a broken system. Now, journalist Jeanne Pinder says it doesn't have to be this way.

She's built a platform that crowdsources the true costs of medical procedures and makes the data public, revealing the secrets of health care pricing: https://clearhealthcosts.com

Thank you. I bookmarked it. I hope it becomes wide spread.

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[Walter]

One of the big pharmaceutical companies (revenue 2017: 22.871 billion) announced that it now will sell a generic version of its own best-selling insulin brand Humalog for half off - $137 versus $275.

Wow. That seems generous.

Until you start to research. In 2001, they raised the price from $35 to $275.

In Germany the list price of a vial of Humalog is $55 including taxes and markup fees. Oh my.

 

[dogtowner]

Insulin is a scam. No difference in how its manufactured since they found a way to make it from algae decades ago.
But it's a forced market since people with type 1 diabetes die without it.

 

[Lagboltz]

One of the big pharmaceutical companies (revenue 2017: 22.871 billion) announced that it now will sell a generic version of its own best-selling insulin brand Humalog for half off - $137 versus $275.

Wow. That seems generous.

Until you start to research. In 2001, they raised the price from $35 to $275.

In Germany the list price of a vial of Humalog is $55 including taxes and markup fees. Oh my.

I gave your post a "like" even though I don't like it.

https://www.news4jax.com/health/insulin-crisis-skyrocketing-prices
That’s sending many Americans to Canada, where they pay up to 10 times less per vial. The FDA allows it if it’s for personal use and a three-month supply or less.

“We are now hearing of not just hospitalizations for people who have rationed or run out of their insulin, but now, this year, we are hearing of deaths," Hirsch said.

That's the anti-regulation US for you. I thought Trump was going to do something about that. It is more of a national emergency than his stupid wall.


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[palerider]

Health insurance didn't use to cover everything...you paid out of pocket for routine health care cost and carried a catastrophic policy for hospitalization...health care was not terribly expensive at that time.

Can you imagine what your automobile insurance would cost if it paid for oil changes, tire balancing, new windshield wipers, and engine and transmission problems?

 

[lawland]

This is a very relevant video. Universal healthcare remains a dream.

Contemporary society is as classed as ever, and healthcare is one of the things that clearly indicates as much. Housing is another: those who avail housing subsidy have always been referred to pejoratively. They're excluded from spaces such as parking; terraces; and communal saunas/pools, and are considered welfare leeches. Affordable housing and healthcare are the two most essential markers of civilization and development, no matter the type of government or favored political system (Source: Society: The Basics). For instance, both communism and capitalism have failed to ensure the above (affordable housing and healthcare). I'm not for or against either of these political systems, just pointing out the obvious. Both systems enabled growth, but not development. Perhaps socialism is the missing ingredient in today's advanced capitalist societies: governments need to prioritize housing and healthcare. Though the sad thing is, it will most likely happen at the cost of education. (I'm not a socialist either.)

 

[Lagboltz]

I have been on Medicare for years. It is a great system. One problem for those without Medicare or insurance is that nobody has negotiated prices for you if you have to pay out of pocket. Obamacare has lots of compromises that Medicare does not have. Because of the complexity of multiple insurance providers, health care administrative costs are around 30% of the costs.