The real reason why health care reform has stalled is because too many people are getting rich.
Why Health Care is Organized Crime
by Natalie Hopkinson
The irony is that the government is paying for their stinking doctors—only at a much higher moral and financial cost. Taxpayers have shelled out more than $150,000 and counting for Mary’s care—all for a cancer that could have easily been prevented and treated with a routine doctor’s visit.
Truth is, America is a wealthy country and can afford to pay for health care. The sad fact is that the inefficiencies and vagaries of the current system are the stuff that American-style capitalism thrives on. The status quo is making a lot of people rich; the doctors, the drug companies, the lawyers, the lobbyists are all getting paid.
My neighbor Mark puts it best: “The problem with our health care system is that it’s organized crime.” Indeed, medical scans that would cost Mary $1,350 out of pocket, companies are billing the government for $3,000. Two anti-nausea pills alone cost $400; a post-chemotherapy injection to boost blood cells runs the government $7,000 a pop.
Many of the drug companies are based here in the U.S., and they get away with charging these exorbitant prices for their products because they can. In places such as Canada and Europe where there is a public health care system, the government is able to negotiate lower costs for the same drugs.
Not so here in the U.S., where the hodgepodge health care system is like the Wild Wild West, creating boom times for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.
Read the Full Essay @ The Root
Why Health Care is Organized Crime
by Natalie Hopkinson
The irony is that the government is paying for their stinking doctors—only at a much higher moral and financial cost. Taxpayers have shelled out more than $150,000 and counting for Mary’s care—all for a cancer that could have easily been prevented and treated with a routine doctor’s visit.
Truth is, America is a wealthy country and can afford to pay for health care. The sad fact is that the inefficiencies and vagaries of the current system are the stuff that American-style capitalism thrives on. The status quo is making a lot of people rich; the doctors, the drug companies, the lawyers, the lobbyists are all getting paid.
My neighbor Mark puts it best: “The problem with our health care system is that it’s organized crime.” Indeed, medical scans that would cost Mary $1,350 out of pocket, companies are billing the government for $3,000. Two anti-nausea pills alone cost $400; a post-chemotherapy injection to boost blood cells runs the government $7,000 a pop.
Many of the drug companies are based here in the U.S., and they get away with charging these exorbitant prices for their products because they can. In places such as Canada and Europe where there is a public health care system, the government is able to negotiate lower costs for the same drugs.
Not so here in the U.S., where the hodgepodge health care system is like the Wild Wild West, creating boom times for the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.
Read the Full Essay @ The Root
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