Quote:with that thought or mindset, then retirement planning shouldn't be part of an employers responsibility either...It's important to keep in mind, that things like health insurance and retirement planning are actually benefits provided for by the employer and not a right...

 

I believe that the problem with the healthcare system is that the hospitals and related medical facilities are pricing procedures and testing with unregulated guidelines...I was in SC in 2002 when i woke up with blood on my pillow and down the side face coming from my ear on a weekend...I went to the ER and they supplied me with ONE pain pill and a prescription for the exact pill in a 30 day quantity, and told me to see my regular doctor asap. When I got my prescription filled it was like $12 for a 30 day supply...When I got the bill from the hospital, they had charged me $26 for ONE pill...The medical industry needs to be looked into and revamped...I hate to say regulated because I'm not in favor of government controlling business, but things like that should not go unchallenged or allowed...

 

Hospital fee schedules are based on prices provided by the Center For Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Those prices are based on the Relative Value Unit structure where each procedure is priced based on three expense factors: labor, overhead, and malpractice. Health care facilities don't just pull numbers out of the air, they create their fees based on the CMS schedule.

 

In your particular anecdote, the cost to you for your pain pill is the cost of having a specific prescription delivered to you in the Emergency Department of a first world health care facility, the most expensive form of health care that exists in the world. The best way to curb this, aside from the individual market I already mentioned, is to create an intermediary care facility, like modern Urgent Care, that keeps non-life threatening cases out of the Emergency Room. That system wasn't really in place in 2002, but it's becoming more common as hospital systems invest in "ER Avoidance Programs" to lower their own costs. My own system is affiliated with a large Urgent Care network and we're currently developing agreements with several specialists to be "immediate care providers" who will accept same day referrals from PCPs that would normally go to the ER. Anytime we can provide care in a setting other than the ER it's a win in the "cost reduction" column, which really is good for everyone.

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