kvnchrist Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 And people wonder why I'm for universal single payer healthcare.http://news.yahoo.com/snake-bite-89000-162515519.html According to his bill, the hospital charged a whopping $81,000 for a four-vial dose of the medication.For comparison, Ferguson and his wife found the same vials online for retail prices as low as $750. Why should anyone be expected to pay such drastic prices for healthcare. The pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies and the hospitals are cleaning up on our misfortunes. This guy had to pay $5,400 of his own money and somehow that's ok with everybody. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Hospitals charge seriously inflated prices for any variety of care. Drug prices are inflated by a factor of ten, or more. (much more, in this case.) Supposedly, they do this to cover the losses on folks that don't pay..... Apparently then, MOST folks don't pay..... at least, that is what the hosipitals seem to want us to believe. I agree. It's stupid. Obamacare was supposed to address this issue, but, in typical government fashion, they pass legislation that is supposed to 'fix' something, but only make things worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colourwheel Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) I agree. I have always been for a single payer plan too. But your agreement holds very little weight to put this blame on the ACA... If you look at past incidents seems snakebite venom has always been outrageously over priced in this respect..... If looking at it compared to even the last few years seems this person got a deal in comparison to other cases.... Remember this person in your "example" had to have four-vial dose of the medication as well. Your example the person ended up actually paying only $20,227 because of a contract with Ferguson's insurer. In the end, he paid $5,400 of his own money for his deductible and co-pay.... http://health.usnews.com/health-news/news/articles/2012/04/23/cost-of-snakebite-therapy-may-squeeze-victims-wallets/comments I was bitten on my finger by a copperhead on August 26,2013 in Bristol TN.I was told the CroFab was "expensive" but not told an amount. I believe I got 6 vials with parts of 3 days in the hospital. Assurant Health covered $8000 of a $158,000 hospital bill!I have no idea how I'm going to pay this outrageous bill! July 2013, my bite from a small copperhead incurred emergency room, 2 days in the hospital, and 4 vials CroFab. total bill 56,000 but 45000 was the CroFab. I'm still awaiting the final bill in October! I was bit by a Copperhead on 8-8-13. The hospital (LNRMC in Mooresville, NC), kept me overnight, administered 4 units of anti-venim. Total cost of treatment= $89,226.86.The anti-venim alone was $81,159.16! That equates to $20,289.00 per vial- I think that there is a mark-up going on somewhere... Going to the news about this one; I hope that they like the "free advertising"! These 3 examples I have posted above happened before the healthcare mandate .... If you ask me do we need to fix this? Yes... But this hardly calls for a cry to totally dismantle a law all together that has taken years to just recently implement, one of which has given millions of Americans healthcare for the 1st time ever in their lives... Not to mention there being no evidence of this being the cause of the new healthcare mandate... Edited January 30, 2014 by colourwheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I didn't say this is the fault of the ACA, I said the ACA is only going to make it worse. How? You ask? Well, lets think about this a bit. We are adding millions more people to the ranks of the insured. (supposedly) All these people are now going to want to make use of the their shiny new insurance. The population of health care practitioners is remaining constant, or declining...... So, this implies that demand for their services is only going to rise. What happens in a capitalist society when demand for a product/service goes up, yet supply remains constant, or even declines? That's right. Prices go up. It is unavoidable. It IS going to happen. The ACA did absolutely nothing to address this particular point. Now, let's follow that a bit further up the food chain..... as healthcare costs increase, guess what the price of insurance is going to do? Yep, exactly, it ALSO is going to go UP. I will agree that we needed to do something about health care in america, but, as it stands, the ACA was exactly the WRONG thing to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colourwheel Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) @HeyYou Your premise is assuming that our country has a shortage of emergency rooms, hospitals, and medical facilities which it doesn't... To my understanding of basic economics ...When people are buying or using more don't prices usually go down if anything? I am not suggesting this being the case with medication since pharmaceutical companies have a monopoly on prices. But your argument I don't think quite make sense... if something uncommon becomes more common doesn't mean the supply is shrinking, just means more people are using which usually makes up for the uncommonly high prices... Just because you have a computer built that is worth an uncommon price of $10,000 then all of a sudden the number of people who decided to buy this uncommonly high priced computer jumps up, this factor usually drives the cost down.... the 1st thought of the company isn't going to fabricate a price hike just because more people are using and buying.... That's not how supply and demand works unless you are assuming this is going to lead to a shortage of snake bite venom... Edited January 30, 2014 by colourwheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Erm, prices only go down when supply is greater than demand. When demand is greater than supply, prices go up. That is an economic fact, and the democrats cannot repeal it. The ACA is going to increase demand, but, does nothing about supply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colourwheel Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) Erm, prices only go down when supply is greater than demand. When demand is greater than supply, prices go up. That is an economic fact, and the democrats cannot repeal it. The ACA is going to increase demand, but, does nothing about supply. If there is going to be such a demand that can't be handled the logical thing would be to open up a new facility and create more jobs... There has never been a shortage of pharmaceutical medicines. The only reason why some medicines are so high priced is because of the uncommon use and the cost to manufacture them, not because they have a shortage of them.... You seem to be over looking this.... Edited January 30, 2014 by colourwheel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyYou Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 You are missing what I am saying completely. On purpose? Health care is NOT just drugs. For just about any other service, yeah, opening up another facility would be a viable answer. And yes, it would create more jobs. The problem you run into there though, is that practioners themselves are what is declining. Fewer folks are electing to go into the medical field, spend the time, and money, necessary to become even general practitioners. Look it up. It has been a trend for some time now, brought about mostly by the rapidly rising cost of malpractice insurance, and the litigation happy folks that are just LOOKING for a reason to sue. Not to mention all the lawyers advertising their services for just such an opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thor. Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 Sigh makes me feel so great full that i live in a Country with free health care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DONKENFAP Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) Sigh makes me feel so great full that i live in a Country with free health care. Yeah same. America is really behind the rest of the world in that regard. What surprises me is how many people defend it, they are convinced Obama-care is the road to communism. Edited January 30, 2014 by DONKENFAP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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