Quote:there is no way to have free market hospitals..I do know that most hospitals do operate on a very thin margin, but I still believe that marking pills up that much is nothing more than a "because I can" analogy and motivated by pure greed

 

First, yes, it's entirely possible to have free market hospitals, just not in our current regulatory environment.

 

Second, if you understand the thin margin then how can you claim they're gouging you? If revenue minus expenses isn't a positive number then they don't stay in business. Not to mention that 60% of American community hospitals are non-profit anyhow, so no share holders are making money on those greedy transactions (only 15% are for profit). BTW, that 60% of the industry has a profit margin of 2.2% for 2013 (margin for all hospitals was 3.1%). If the margin is 2.2% and they are "gouging" you then what do you call the retail clothing industry that has a margin of 48%? A 3% margin isn't indicative of "greed" by any measure. 

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