07-03-2019, 02:56 PM
(07-03-2019, 02:22 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Price fixing isn't necessarily the answer. Better government involvement not just in regulation but in research and investment could help with the costs we are seeing. There are a lot of variables that contribute to these prices and they don't require price fixing.
That would help with the cost of pharmaceuticals and medical devices such as hip joints, but not much else.
Take my shoulder surgery for a torn labrum and rotator cuff. After insurance, my portion was over $2000 for the surgery and over $2000 for the doctor to do the surgery. What you suggest wouldn't reduce the greatest portion of my bill at all.
The really cool thing was the MRI was wrong (or the interpretation of the MRI was wrong, rather) and nothing was torn and I didn't need the labrum or rotator cuff repaired.
The total was obviously more than than $4000 because that doesn't include the anesthesiologist's fees or the price of the anesthesia meds. Or any of the office visits before and after or the physical therapy visits or the adjuvant PT therapies like iontophotesis.
