A Truly 'Sick' System

How many of you have read Stephen Brill's article in Time Magazine about what is going on in the healthcare industry?  It details how the hospital system in this country is bilking the American people.  Brill chronicles several patient stories and reports in great detail how hospitals, while claiming to be non-profit, gouge us all to death-literally- with exorbitant prices for every one of their services and supplies.

As I am sure most of you know, insurance, whether it is Medicare or private insurance negotiate rates with hospitals because they actually know what things cost.  Unfortunately, those of us with no insurance or little insurance are presented with bills for care that are so outrageously beyond a reasonable profit margin, that many of our citizens are forced into bankruptcy or forced to pay off bills for years that are unreasonable.

I would urge all of you to take the time to read this article carefully.  It will change the way you think about hospital care.

The picture that emerges from this study is one of an institutional medical system gone rogue.  Incredibly greedy people with stratospheric salaries are running a system with no real accountability.  Charges for everything from simple supplies like gauze pads, blankets, sheets to sophisticated instrumentation are anywhere from 10 to 500 times what they really cost.  Brill details it all and it takes your breath away.

The horror of all this is that there is no compassion for the sick in this story.  When you have to go to the hospital for anything, do you EVER ask what the charges are?  No, of course not.  You are at the hospital because you have injured yourself or your loved one is in an emergent condition with disease or injury.  Are you going to stop and ask what it costs when the surgeon says, " We need to take you to surgery right away to stop the bleeding!"

I don't think so.

So what we have here is a system that favors the well to do.  If you have insurance, you at least have some protection, although with limits set by insurance companies, in todays hospital world your charges can easily exceed the limits and you are on the hook for the balance.  If you have no insurance you are in debt for the rest of your life.  The poorest and least covered among us are paying huge amounts of money because they have no one to negotiate the rates, and the hospital system is brutal in it's pursuit of its profits.

My disgust with this situation is aimed at several groups.  First, the media.  How much have you heard about this problem since that particular issue of Time was released?  Except for one story, I have heard nothing.  This is a shameful national economic crisis and no one is saying anything about it.  Why not?   Probably because the hospital lobbyists are intimidating all our representatives in Congress with threats of withdrawal of support for their re-elections, or threats of withdrawal of consulting agreements or future employment opportunities.  People--sick people--are being fleeced and no one is advocating for them.  Where is our Fourth Estate?

Second, our Congress and Administration have failed to stop this outrage.  Why you may ask?  Do I really need to answer this point?

Third, the people running these systems have exorbitant salaries, most administrators and board member's pay exceeds six figures...that's right, over $1M.  Admittedly this is not an easy job, but where is their real oversight.   It is not hard to see the egregious nature of what their institutions are charging, so why don't they stop it?

The victims here are mostly powerless to stop this.  If you need the hospital, what is your alternative?....the healthcare system in a neighboring country??

This is a terribly depressing scenario.  Real change here will take some legislative muscle and as we know, there is only atrophy in that particular venue.