There was a review in the NY Times about Moore's latest movie Sicko and it generated some conversation between a very good friend of mine who is a doctor.

I don't think he'd mind if I shared one of his recent experiences:

"I have not seen the Michael Moore movie yet, but I am sure that is an accurate review. Michael Moore slants things in the direction he believes and that makes money for him, but the problems he outlines are quite real. I see examples of the outrageous waste in our health care system literally every day. Yesterday I saw a patient of mine that I fit in extra because she had a bleeding mole on her face. This was about a 8 mm raised lesion that was partially torn loose from her cheek, and was bleeding off and on. It clearly needed to be removed, although I don't think it was cancerous. So I injected numbing medicine after cleansing it, removed it easily with a scalpel, and cauterized the base with a solution to stop any bleeding. My charge for doing what any medical person with common sense and an ounce of empathy would do, was $77. But then I found out that she had been calling a dermatologist she sees for 3 days and could only get an appointment in 10 weeks to see him (he sees about 70 patients a day and makes many times more than me and yet still would not fit her in). She was told by his office to then go to the Emergency Room if she couldn't wait. The doctor in the ER saw her, did several blood tests she did not need, checked her legs for blood clots because she mentioned one leg was sore (she didn't need this test either), dictated a 2 page single spaced typewritten note of an exam that included everything except any mention of her skin and the mole, and told her to call her primary doctor (me) to be seen in 2-3 days.

The wasted cost of the ER visit that did absolutely nothing to take care of a problem that I managed in 15 minutes time for $77 was $1200! But instead of rewarding me for squeezing her in my schedule and providing inexpensive, quality, compassionate care (she was going on vacation in 4 days and certainly couldn't go like she was), America rewards the incompetent bungling ER doctor and hospital. If I charged even $5 more than the $77 fee that medicare allows, I could be convicted of Medicare Fraud and charged $10,000 per incident and spend up to one year in jail. Needless to say, the hospital and ER doctor will be paid in full for their bill. Also needless to say, noone is going into my speciality, but plenty of doctors every day are going into Emergency Room or Hospital medicine.

Fixing the American medical care problem could have been largely accomplished (or at least well on its way) years ago by simply changing our reimbursement system to favor even partially the primary care doctor, rewarding competency, and punishing incompetency. I am not a genius, but I can assure you this is true. I am not clairvoyant either to tell the future, but I can assure you no one in authority or power will do anything about this. I will solve this problem for myself in about 2-3 years by retiring, and do everything I can to stay healthy and hope to not be a patient inside a hospital or Emergency Room as long as I live.

For a physician who actually still enjoys what he does every day for people to be able to tell such a story, and make such a statement, is a damning indictment of our health care system in America. It is a problem that continues to worsen yearly. I have no respect for our health care leaders and find no credibility in what they declare about our system of medicine. Michael Moore is not the problem in American Health Care."

 

Healthcare has become an insurance system just like in Body shops.

For (an actual) example: Go in and pay cash for your repair and it will be $125. File on your insurance and they charge over $700 for the same thing.

It used to be that insurance companies rewarded the consumer who found misteaks in their hospital bills, now they don't care. In a recent hospital stay for my wife there were over 40 charges for procedures and medicines that never happened but when we called the insurance company they said the hospital and doctor was allowed to charge for those things.

Huh??????

They nickel and dime us but shovel it away to the docs and hospitals?

 

I have not seen the movie, but I will, because Moore usually makes me laugh and get outraged simultaneously.

As for the health care system, it is broken. When Hilary said it in 93, she was villified. It was broken then, and now it's 14 years later, and it's just gotten worse.

I won't get into ins. cos and the Federal gov't and how they treat patients, but your friend was spot on with the insanity that we saw with Nancy's father, Ins. Cos., Medicaid and Medicare. It's a travesty.

 

I work at a hospital and although I am on the geek squad (I'm a systems analyst in IT) I interact regularly with the clinical staff and get plenty of opportunities to observe the hospital's business, clinical, and medical records operations. Our hospital is owned by the city and county, not a for-profit corporation. But we are 100% self funded. We get no financial support from the taxpayers of the city and county.

Yes, there is plenty of waste in the industry. Yes, the insurance companies are partially to blame, as is the physician community. And of course government regulations create a huge financial burden on health care. Fact is, there is plenty of blame to go around.

There are many ways to

 

This does not help matters either. IMHO

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active
ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues ofLife Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. In ourindependent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some
of the most popular drugs sold in America. The data below speaks for itself.

Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin: 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306

Lipitor:20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasc:10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid:30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac:20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin:50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%

Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril:20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809

Zithromax:600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor:40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft: 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%

Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought
everyone should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on.
It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they
can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night,
Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit,
did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found
in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as
much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo.....three thousand
percent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of
drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly
lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription
drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills.
The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent,
they would only cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. What
the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may
have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or
not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice,
and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for
the generic drugs.
I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its
online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the
online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients.

I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for
60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could
have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid
$72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.

I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type
store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there,
as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door
that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (this is
true)

Sharon L. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S.Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov

 

This does not help matters either. IMHO

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active
ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues ofLife Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United States contain active ingredients made in other countries. In ourindependent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make, we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some
of the most popular drugs sold in America. The data below speaks for itself.

Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin: 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306

Lipitor:20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasc:10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid:30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac:20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin:50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%

Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril:20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809

Zithromax:600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor:40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft: 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%

Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought
everyone should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on.
It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they
can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night,
Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit,
did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found
in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as
much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo.....three thousand
percent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of
drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly
lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription
drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills.
The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent,
they would only cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. What
the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may
have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or
not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice,
and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for
the generic drugs.
I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its
online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the
online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea in chemo patients.

I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for
60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could
have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid
$72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.

I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type
store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there,
as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door
that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (this is
true)

Sharon L. Davis
Budget Analyst
U.S.Department of Commerce
Room 6839
Office Ph: 202-482-4458
Office Fax: 202-482-5480
E-mail Address: sdavis@doc.gov

 

I hear ya. I hear ya.

 

Come and visit Canada;all those candies are free,over here...

 

RC-

I'm not doubting your methods as far pricing out the ingredients for the medications listed above.

I do think however, that you need to factor in labor/advertising/marketing/liability insurance etc on the medications.

Keep in mind, after I believe 5, 7 or 10 years, any company can make a "generic" Celebrex-so why shouldn't a drug maker make as much profit per pill as possible?

I can't think of any other product that you or I buy that in "X" number of years, you can buy a generic copy of.

 

And,what if,you are poor,(no $$...) old,and sick...???
Do they let you die,like a dog...(would not even,let a dog,die like this...)