I'm rather irrated this morning. I took my son to the dematologist Thursday for acne problem.

He was prescribed 3 medications.
1 medication was anti-biodics
1 medication was a cream
1 medication was a face wash.

Total amount billed to insurance ?

$1087.00 + Dr. visit (we never saw) $400 billed.

The appointment was 30 minutes.

IS THERE A PROBLEM WITH OUR HEALTH CARE ?

Let me climb up on my soapbox...

Given the markup % the amount of money changing hands is pretty significant. OF COURSE THERE'S MASSIVE PROBLEMS WITH OUR HEALTHCARE!!!

First thought is that its great you guys have health insurance. How many families could afford that kind of care without insurance?

Understand that Doctors are rewarded on a piecemeal basis. The more tests, procedures, etc. they submit, the more they get paid. How well your Son responds has no bearing on it at all. Did he really need all those treatments? Maybe...probably? Who knows for sure?

The Doc will argue his malpractice insurance (MI) is so expensive (and it is) that he has to charge this much to make ends meet. MI rates are the highest in the US by a wide margin.

Most of the other Western, Industrialized countries who provide health care for all their citizens have significantly lower rates for MI. In many of those countries, Doctors can't recall the last time they were sued for anything.

Docs also have massive debt coming out of College and Med School they justifies their rates. In most of the other coutnries that offer a form of Universal or Socialized
health care, most Docs education is paid for by the Gov't. Its viewed as an investment. Often, the local Gov't will chip in for the Docs working in their areas as another incentive.

US healthcare is the most expensive in the world and we aren't even close to the top in terms of outcomes or access. 37th best overall in the world is a crime for the United States...

Hey, but let's not change healthcare too much. Let's nibble at the edges with tort reform and cross state line talk...

Almost forgot, Insurance Companies in those countries are not allowed to generate a profit on basic health insurance policies. Yes, on supplemental policies for things like plastic surgery or health club memberships, but not basic, nuts & bolts healthcare.

The CEO of United Health Care made 342 Million over a five year period with a high water mark of $124.8M in 2005 alone.

Grrrrr....

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Bill in Dayton

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 11-23-2009).]

[This message has been edited by Bill in Dayton (edited 11-23-2009).]

I can honestly say it is shock to my wife and I. We have what is suppose to be excellent coverage through Aetna.

This would've cost between US$4 and US$6 (registration fee)in Taiwan.

Regards

Taike

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Bo pen nyang.

One of my co-workers said that part of the money is for research and development.

BTW.. we paid $105 co-pays for the 3 medications. Should be $1600 pimple

Some is, but not nearly what you'd think...

Read these for a nice short explanation on how it works:
http://mdcarroll.com/2009/10/25/explaining-research-drug-company-expenditures-part-1/
http://mdcarroll.com/2009/10/26/explaining-research-%E2%80%93-drug-company-expenditures-part-2/


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Bill in Dayton

When I asked the walgreen associate about generic versions they said they automatically give generic if available. The one med, had 7% benzoil peroxide, the walgreen version had 10% and more expensive than the co-pay.

It may be a harsher formula than the one your Doc prescribed...

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Bill in Dayton

Guys, the abuses in the medical and health insurance industries are beyond belief.

I am still taking care of my father-in-law, a late stage Alzheimer's patient. Recently, he went into the hospital for the 9th time this year for dehydration (basically caused by neglect at the VA). I typically don't get a copy of the Medicare bill at all. What I get is a Blue Cross detail telling me who pays what. That means, for anyone with just Medicare, it's basically a liscense to steal.

On this invoice, there were charges for Physical and speach theraphy. He's 93 years old and hasn't been able to walk and talk for over 5 years. As of the 4th day of his stay, the place hadn't found the lost papers sent from the VA. They new NOTHING about him...they were not giving him mechanical soft food and messing up on every level possible. The bills for the theraphy he didn't need were over $800.00. The total bill at full price wasa $19,000.00. The insurance negotiated price was closer to $8,000.00.

I don't want to even get started at the physical, mental and financial abuse rampant in the Nursing Home industry.

It's a national tragedy.


Dan, I hope the $1,600.00 pimple healed.


Russ

This from what they bill themselves as one of the nations top 100 heart hospitals.

So if the government would actually get involved in finding answers to those problems, rather than finding ways to pay for it themselves, we might actually get somewhere. If that guy hadn't got his hundreds of millions, and got $50000 a year instead, and all the cost savings were spread among all of the healthcare bills over those years, how much less would the pimple have cost?

What is the relative cost for food, a house, in Taiwan? I mean, if the pimple had cost $60, it's still 1000% higher than it would have been in Taiwan.