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I'm in general agreement with this piece today in the NYT by Paul Krugman:
Elizabeth Edwards has cancer. John McCain has had
cancer in the past. Last weekend, Mrs. Edwards
bluntly pointed out that neither of them would be
able to get insurance under Mr. McCain’s health care plan.
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Personally I think that the concept of health insurance is what has
caused the skyrocketing costs in the first place. People no longer saw
nor cared what they were being charged because someone else was paying
the bill so the market forces controlling costs were removed. It's the
cost of BS we all pay. <br>
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For example - four years ago I took my 9 yr old daughter to the ER at 3
am because she had a nosebleed that started at 9pm and hadn't stopped.
We waited 3 hours, then saw a Dr for 10 minutes who crammed what looked
like a small tampon up her nose and sent her home. My cost was $75 for
the ER visit. When I later looked up the detailed billing out of
curiosity, I saw that the Dr charge was $440 for the 15 minutes and the
"tampon" cost $1200! Plus there was another $300 worth of supplies and
such. I called and asked the hospital about this obvious error and they
said that yes, the bill was correct, the "medical device" they put in
her nose was "medicated". I was supposed to return in 3 days to have it
removed which would have been a $25 co-pay office visit ($120 in
insurance), but just to spite the system, I pulled the thing out myself
with no trouble at all and the bleeding was obviously gone.<br>
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I have no idea why nobody wants to address this issue. If Drs are in
such short supply, maybe allowing more into medical school or
allowing practicing nurses to do more would be in order and help to
drive some of these costs down. I think that the free market isn;t
working because the market is not free.<br>
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