The cost of medical services could be cut if only..
For example, just today... My primary dentist emailed with records to another dental office... one that extracts teeth... That dentist spoke to me briefly and said the tooth must come out... O.K.. fine.. Thought that was why I was here? "Oh no sir, we have to make an appt. to extract the tooth... Check for today - $295.. The medical folk have us all by the check book and they know it.
Robert Brooks
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Welcome to the world of medical profit extraction.
Pharmacy benefit managers have created an industry out of skimming from prescription payments. Patents are evergreened to prevent generics from being made ( i.e. “we changed this tiny plastic piece on the Epipen so our patent is good for another 20 years”). Hospital systems force doctors to see more and more patients in a day (when was the last time you didn’t feel rushed out of the office?) while also buying up the competition to create local monopolies. Insurance companies create preauthorization policies designed to maximize denials and reduce “costs,” i.e. the healthcare they are paid to provide. Nursing homes charge more than any three of us are paid to neglect Grandma at understaffed facilities.
It’s all driven by one simple fact: the vulture capital types have realized that healthcare demand is inelastic, that patients will give whatever they own to stay alive and out of pain. Healthcare is a great financial investment.
Charles McCullough