Health Care Cost

I just came from a meeting about health care costs and how the state (Missouri in this case) can’t continue to pick up the tab for uninsured or underinsured individuals. I’ll admit right up front that medical care no matter who picks up the tab is outrageously expensive. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that it costs substantially more than it needs to and more than is justifiable. Yes, more than is justifiable. There are a lot of reasons why it cost more than it should with blame at every level in the medical hierarchy. From the doctor to the hospital, from the manufacturers to the distributors of medical supplies, from the insurance companies to the malpractice attorneys there is plenty of blame to share. The tragedy in all this blame-sharing is that there is one reason common to all levels of the medical care pyramid, greed.
The doctor carries part of the blame because he/she is of the belief that the simple fact that they chose to go to medical school, an admittedly long and arduous process, means they deserve to live in a $250,000 house and drive a $50,000 Mercedes. They don’t. I do not deny that they go through much to get to the point where they can practice medicine; however, it was their choice. No one put a gun to their head, no one blackmailed them into becoming a doctor. They must realize that their obligation to their patients supersedes any right they falsely think they have to a certain monetary reward.
The hospital must realize that they do not have a right to charge a patient for expenses that have nothing to do with direct patient care. When they order medical supplies at a specific price they do not have the right to charge the patient five times that amount for the item claiming that the extra is going for “administrative” costs a one dollar box of bandages should not return the hospital $400 dollars. I have actually seen hospitals charge five dollars for a bandage that can be bought for one dollar for a box of 30 by the average consumer. At the very least this is mismanagement; and at worst price gouging. Whichever way you view it, it is still wrong and must stop.
Manufacturers of medical supplies have no right to charge ten dollars for their widget because it is being sold to a medical supply company, while selling the same item to an office supply store for two dollars. That medical supply company has no right to charge the hospital or clinic fifty dollars for that widget they bought for ten dollars because they must keep track of which widget went to which buyer. It just simply does not cost that much to type a tracking number into a computer database and even less with today’s scanning devices. The only reason both practices continue is because people assume that medical care must be expensive to be good. This belief is a lie perpetrated by the people and the greed of which we are speaking. Medical care must be proper, must be appropriate, must be individualized, but not expensive to be good.
Insurance companies, those that supply medical coverage for individuals or groups and are staffed with actuaries, accountants and countless individuals with a MBA, have no right to tell a doctor which test or treatment he can order for his patient. They have no right to say you can be in the hospital for this many days but no longer, or you can have this medication but not that one. This practice is dictated by the desire to keep cost down because that keeps their profits up and that is their only concern. Since medical insurance companies are making record profits it is easy to see why they wish to continue their dictatorial practices. Their refusal to pay more than their own preset amount (and this is also true for Medicare, Medicaid, MediCal, etc.) causes the health care providers to charge others the amount they feel they are being shorted and driving up cost across the board.
Attorneys have no right to take and pursue “malpractice” cases for no more reason than they know they can force the hospital or doctor’s insurance company to settle out of court and earn them a nice 33% of the settlement for a few hours work on the phone. Medical personnel do make mistakes, they can be careless or unskilled in the task at hand, but not even ten percent as often as what the lawyers would have you believe. The money these lawyers extort from medical facilities and personnel at all levels is no more than a monument to their greed, a greed that is comparable to, and no different than, the blood lust of a psychopathic killer.
As you can see, when the politicians start the song and dance about only so much money available and something must be cut they are cutting from the wrong place. Until all other problems are addressed they have no right to demand that their budget be balanced on the backs of the uninsured individuals. They have no right to tell you that you don’t deserve the same quality of care as does the lawyer that gave five thousand dollars to their campaign. They have no right to tell you that your life is less valuable than that of the insurance agent that never questions their “hail damage” claim. They have no right to decide that you will die at a younger age because of lack of preventive care than does the doctor that makes sure that their Xanax prescription stays current.
Matt Blunt, the governor of Missouri believes that some are less entitled to medical care than others. Ed Emory, the state congressman for my district agrees with him. Their salaries haven’t changed, their per diem accounts are as large as ever, their staff is as large as before and yet people are being turned out of health care facilities and dropped from health care plans to help balance a state budget that carries enough pork to feed all of Europe. These men are not only not representing their constituents properly, they are betraying them. They are no better than the greedy manufacturers charging more because they are selling to a medical supply company. No better than the lawyers who don’t care about the law but only about what they can extort from a hospital or doctor because it’s easier than going to court. No more qualified to decide who is or isn’t worth giving medical care than the leaders of insurance companies making decisions about medical matters of which they have no knowledge or experience.
Next year Mr. Ed Emory State Representative is up for a job evaluation. It’s called an election. With luck and enough persons listening to the facts he will get a failing grade on that evaluation.