Quote:
Originally Posted by PiKA2001
Kevin I don't see how this is going to work for us without a public option. How about Stopping hospitals charging $40 for an aspirin or $300 for an xray of my wrist or me having to pay $30 out of pocket with my insurance picking up $70 for a three minute consultation with a Dr. That might lower costs.
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You have to understand why hospitals charge $40 for that aspirin and $300 for the xray. It isn't just the pill or the film you are paying for. You are paying for the charge for the actual item, the pharmacist who dispenses the pill, the pharm tech who brings the pills to the floor and the nurse who dispenses the pill to you. For an xray, you get a technical and a professional fee so you get charged for the cost of the room and xray equipment, as well as the xray technologist who performs your procedure. Your professional fee is the actual cost of the radiologist reading your film. Your consulting physician fee of $70 may only cover a physician seeing you for 3 minutes, but they have to actually write a fairly long note that covers a strict number of points about your health and physical exam. To do this, the physician will have to review your entire chart which will take 15 minutes to an hour to perform. This will also include taking a medical risk that goes against a fairly high medical malpractice premium carried by this physician. Trust me, there isn't a physician out there that makes $70 for 3 minutes work.
Also, did you go to the ER? That is the most expensive place you can go for medical care, and where the majority of the uninsured people in this country go for their medical care. The majority don't pay for this care, but this loss is turned around in higher costs to people with insurance and to tax payers.
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