Topic: American Health care: $10,169 for a blood test? (Read 2529 times)

in which you can get the blood test for free ....and you can't do so in the US, which shows how broken is the american healthcare system is

I wouldn't mind if they left the GOP out since I know most of the GOP would have to vote NO to satisfy their own base.  What is disgusting is that Blue Dog Democrats who might have at least kept some semblance of fiscal responsibility with the bill just decided to let the Scarecrow (Pelosi) write some garbage - Pelosi made out handsomely with the Solyndra-esque handouts for her day spas under the medical procedure facade.

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/05/17/1-in-5-of-latest-obamacare-waivers-went-to-nancy-pelosis-district/

$10,169 would be more than the median annual income in some developing economies. 

The GOP was not even consulted with when the ACA was being debated. The democrats were only looking after their liberal base and cut them out of the picture completely because they had a super-majority in both bodies of congress. Ironically, now the AARP is against Obamacare as they can now see how bad of a law it is.

AARP lobbied for the ACA (supposedly on behalf of seniors) to the tune of $41.6 million dollars

AARP sells secondary insurance that amends Medicare coverage.

AARP sells their coverage through United Health - one of the biggest insurers in the US.

Obama and his cabinet met with AARP on 24 occasions while the ACA was being debated.  He never met with 1 single non-lobbyist employed physician.

ACA passes and AARP is not rolling in kickbacks from selling UH policies as AARP policies - but it's all legitimate 

Because the customer isn't directly paying it.

Check this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/how-much-does-an-appendectomy-cost-somewhere-between-1529-and-186955/2012/04/24/gIQAMeKMeT_blog.html

At one hospital in California, an appendectomy costs $186,955. This can be done for $1,500 in Belarus or $3,000 in Thailand.

Appendectomy is a very simple surgical procedure and it takes less than 90 minutes to perform it. The average hospital stay is 2 to 3 days. Now the question is why the hospitals are charging $200K for just 90 minutes of medical procedure?

As long as half of Americans think that any government intervention in healthcare is socialism we will never be able to even have an open honest conversation regarding universal healthcare. Obamacare is a pathetic compromise that does almost nothing to improve our current healthcare system

I am curious if that law was lobbied for by healthcare providers to protect their own profits. I also take issue with the government pandering to such special interests, however, that is a whole separate debate

People do not pay $10k for the test.  Insurance companies are billed $10k for the test.  The policy holder gets stuck holding the bag if the insurance doesn't pay.

personally I would love to see insurance companies destroyed.  I love capitalism.  I hate crony capitalism where people can bribe officials to make sure their business suceeds while others fail.

If you walked into Quest or Labcorp and offered $25 cash they would draw the lipid panel.  Or you can just buy the mail in kits.

If America went full socialized the cheating companies will sleep with the politicians legally and have monopolistic ownership over healthcare industries - only a tad bit worse than what we have now.

$10,169 for a lipid test seems absurd. I can't imagine any insurance company just paying that without looking into the charge.

Why do you believe that? Why do you have to pay for others expenses?

How do you think public services are paid?

I believe a socialistic system is the right way for such services as healthcare/emergency services and water etc. People definitely shouldnt be paying 10k for a bloodtest. How can anyone actually be expected to pay that much?

The US does this in some areas since not all common public service are nationalized, particularly with fire-fighting service. In some areas, people effectively pay a kind of "fire insurance," and if you pay, firefighters will fight fires threatening your house. If you don't, they might bring a truck to sit around and make sure it doesn't spread to fine, paying customers. You could pay for "fire insurance" or pay at point of use. Some states will reimburse local property taxes for the poor (or those who otherwise have little to no state income tax liability) which usually pay for these kinds of services, but many don't, and in cases where they don't, these are non-progressive fees, which are pretty unusual in the US.

Anyway -- since none of this is nationalized and the US has very rich and very poor communities which rarely integrate too much, you will find lesser public service in rural, and especially poor areas. I'm assuming this is relevant to point out since I'm thinking you say taxes and mean them to be what're effectively progressive annual fees, so the poor can expect a certain standard of public service. It's very nuanced in the US, varying state by state and town by town (and county by county, too, if the town isn't independent -- and some towns will form financial agreements with each other, so maybe two or a few towns will come together to fund a public school system which serves all of their towns), but the US does federally fund a small portion of most local public services, and many states try to enforce minimum standards of funding regardless of local wealth, too... but no local government could operate any kind of fire or police force, or have any kind of meaningful education system on federal or even state dollars alone, so it does still largely come down to whether or not the people of a town are poor or wealthy with regards to the quality of their public services; very, very few public services in the US are particularly "progressive."

ETA: As an aside - everything looks more unified and federalized than it really is because federal and state block grant systems are functionally like systemic government-to-government blackmail. They hold funds hostage until community services do this, this, and that -- and the federal government will hold funds hostage from states until they do this, this, and that. Nobody wants to lose the money, of course, even if it doesn't make up the bulk of revenues, so they go along with it.

If they are paid by taxes, they aren't free. Do you think that we aren't already paying for police and fire services? We are, but instead of paying for them voluntarily, and only for what we spend, the government steals us to pay for everyone.

In most European countries, Healthcare is viewed as an essential public service, alongside the police and fire brigade, coastguard and military, etc..
All these are paid for through taxes, not at point of use.
Do you think you should have to pay for police services? How about fire services?

Free? How?. Do you want doctors to work for free, as slaves? Or with "free" do you mean charging others for it, no matter if they agree or not?

Maybe, but I think people should just visit surrounding areas when they have an issue to get an idea of what and how different places charge. I've found it's a downright stupid idea to ever go to a hospital for anything except maybe cancer or organ failure. Every hospital and hospital-owned clinic I've gone to charges obscene amounts for everything. There are independent clinics here in Nowhere, though, which charge a very reasonable amount - less than my independent GP's office, actually. They bring in hospital doctors on rotation who do clinic duty more as a public service, though they're paid and the clinic's self-funded. A sprained ankle cost ~$80, while at a hospital, this is ~$1200. An ancient can of varnish exploded in my hands when helping a relative move, and some got into my eyes, but the clinic gave me a, frankly, generous invoice for $20 for a thorough examination. I have BCBS insurance, but the co-pay and deductibles after it's known I'm using insurance are higher than just paying everything in cash in most instances, and it's still much cheaper to go to the clinic paying in cash than the hospital with insurance even for bigger issues. In general, I'd guess if someone's organs are all still contained within themselves, they're conscious, and they don't need extremely complicated or rare treatment, they should probably avoid hospitals if possible and'll be rewarded with a bill for pennies on the dollar, relatively. OTOH, the hospital around here publishes the number of uninsured people who skipped out on their bill in annual reports they mail to all residents like it's part of their community service, so... *shrug*

In the varnish case, too, I was actually fully reimbursed by my relative's home insurance company quickly and with no fuss (they insisted I file a claim since they're moving, anyway).

What happens in USA is precisely because of government interventionism. They subsidize health care by giving tax incentives.

American healthcare is a joke. Healthcare should be fundamental human right and free for everyone. Nobody should be paying for healthcare in a civilizied society.