I really and truly want health care reform in America. My reason is very simple and totally selfish. Health care costs too much money. It is as simple as that. I have heard politicians tell us that they are going to lower costs but, they never talk about the root of the problem. No. No. They tell us that the way they are going to lower costs is to provide a way for more competition between insurance companies or that they are going to stream line the system or that they are going to “get rid of waste” in the system. I have been hearing the “get rid of waste” line from politicians all my life and the only thing I can attest to is that costs just keep going up. All of this is just so much talk. I have said from the beginning that nothing useful will come from the so called health reform bill. All we will see is more bureaucracy and more money leaving our pockets. Anyone with an IQ larger than their shoe size should be able to see that the problem is not “inefficiencies in the system”. No. It is nothing more than unbridled human greed. And, that human greed is all pervasive in the health care system. I cannot think of a single aspect of health care that is not riddled with it.
When we first moved here I checked with the hospital to see what the double occupancy room rate was. I forget now what made me do that. Anyway, at that time, the rate was $350 per day. Mind you, that was more money than the room rate at a Hyatt Regency in New York City at the time. And, you could get a single occupancy hotel room for $35 a night back then here. With two people in a hospital room, the hospital collects $700 per day compared to $35 per day in a local hotel. You tell me. What justifies a 20 to 1 increase to move three blocks from the hotel to the hospital?
I know. Let me guess. The extra money is needed to pay for the nursing staff. But, but, but…… If each nurse takes care of 10 patients, i.e. is assigned to look in on 5 rooms then, the hospital is collecting $3,500 a day from those 10 patients. If the hospital has to hire three nurses to watch over those 10 patients 24 hours a day in three shifts then they have $1166 per shift to spend per day!!!
Now the real bull crap starts right here. The hospital does not hire registered nurses to look in on patients. They actually hire nurses’ aids and they pay them the lowest wages of all. I would be willing to bet a pretty penny that 17 years ago you could have hired a nurse’s aid for about $10 an hour and that would make their expenses $80 per shift plus overhead. I will estimate labor overhead at 50% of wages. With that kind of overhead the cost of having a nurse’s aid work for an 8 hour day would be $120. With three nurses’ aids to man the place 24 hrs a day, it will cost the hospital $360 per day. But, they are collecting $3,500 a day. This is nearly a 10 to 1 mark up on the service provided!!!
It is this way with every service that a hospital provides. Everything is marked up at least 10 to 1 and some things are marked up 100s to 1. We have all heard of a hospital charging $25 for a $.01 aspirin.
Of course, the hospital management will tell you that they have to charge such steep room rates because the cost of the equipment in the room is so darned expensive. Why a modern hospital bed alone could cost upwards of $25,000. But, but, but….. If only 10% of the room rate that I pay is going to pay the staff then, the hospital has $315/day to pay for the equipment. So, that excess builds up to about $1,000 every three days. In the course of a 30 day month, the excess adds up to about $10,000. That means that the $25,000 hospital bed can be paid off completely in less than three months. You could have gold plated bed pans and pay them off in less than 6 months. While we’re at it lets gold plate the plumbing fixtures too.
It is all bull.
And, that is just the bull associated with the basic room rate. Intensive care is even more extravagant.
Hospital pharmacies are notorious for overcharging. If you ask them why a $.01 aspirin cost $25 they will give you some phony excuse like “we charge extra because we have to pay for xyz”. But, that is bull because everything about a hospital is billed at super expensive rates. Everything pays for itself ten times over every few months. Hospitals are nothing more than money machines that gouge patients to extreme levels.
Take an x-ray machine as an example. Lets say it cost $1 million dollars to buy and install. The actual price is irrelevant because the hospital will turn it into a cash cow without shame. The last time I was in a hospital they ordered up x-rays. All told, they took 5 x-rays of me. The bill was $75 each. So, my x-rays generated $375 for the hospital and it only took 10 minutes. People tell me that the x-ray machines run full time in most hospitals for at least 2 shifts. Let’s see. $375 dollars for 10 minutes equates to $2,250 per hour. If that pace keeps up for 16 hrs a day then the x-ray machine generates $36,000 a day in revenue. Over the course of a 30 day month that adds up to $1,080,000!!! The thing is paid off in 1 month!!!!
In a normal business, capital equipment purchases are considered a good deal if the equipment will pay for itself in 18 months or less. That means that the x-ray machine, which I said was running 16 hrs a day full bore, could run for less than one full hour a day and still pay for itself in 18 months. Once it is paid for any additional run time is essentially free. This is a huge scam.
It makes no difference what service a hospital provides, the prices are sky high. And they are supposed to be “not for profit”.
This kind of greed run amuck pervades the entire health care system including and in particular the pharmaceutical manufacturers.
And prices just keep going up. My insurance costs go up almost 20% per year, every year. For what?
The health care system in its entirety is corrupt. Like the school system, the only way to fix it is to throw it out and start over. Until that is done, there will be no meaningful change in the system. There are simply too many vested interest and we have elected officials who are more interested in taking bribes campaign donations than they are in taking care of the electorate.
I wish Obama luck but know that nothing will change.
Regards
P.S. If you take a careful look around you will discover that rampant greed is what has been driving the country for the past 20 to 30 years. It has led to a completely fake economy. The wind has not been completely let out of the real estate/banking/derivatives bubble yet. But, the unwind is on its way and will be on our door step soon enough.
Tags: Health care
