As an economist, I know the US health care system delivers mediocre results at a higher price than other countries. I try to keep my cool as I run the numbers. "Just the facts, Mam," as Joe Friday used to say. Then I read something like this and I lose my professional cool:[Sean] was “sweating and shaking with chills and pains,” Stephanie recalls. “He had a large mass in his chest that was … growing. He was panicked.” . . .
Nonetheless, Sean was held for about 90 minutes in a reception area, she says, because the hospital could not confirm that the check had cleared. Sean was allowed to see the doctor only after he advanced MD Anderson $7,500 from his credit card.
Speaking as someone whose wife is a doctor, whose finances are regularly impacted by payments on $200k worth of student loans, who has designed for two medical device manufacturers and who has a close friend in charge of benefits at one of the most famous hospitals in the world: I'd fucking love to see the entire nightmare come crashing down around their shoulders.
This article is one of those great Articulations. Simple language yet damning arguments, calm, and I absolutely love the translation the journalist provides when discussing the itemized hospital bills -- also, you say
>crashing down Are we talking end of Fight Club, the credit card buildings crash, cue Where is my Mind?Dozens of midpriced items were embedded with similarly aggressive markups, like $283.00 for a “CHEST, PA AND LAT 71020.” That’s a simple chest X-ray, for which MD Anderson is routinely paid $20.44 when it treats a patient on Medicare, the government health care program for the elderly.