The man said, “…outrageous.”

I would like to draw attention to an article–35 pages, about two-thirds of the magazine– in the March 4th issue of Time entitled “Bitter Pill  – Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us.”  One incident tells of a woman who fell in her back yard and whose only injury was a hairline nasal bone fracture, finally diagnosed after three CT scans which cost $6,538.  The total hospital bill for her six hour stay: $9,400.

 When you have to go to the hospital, you most likely do not have an opportunity to ask what “things” are going to cost, you just let the medical staff take over and hope your insurance, if you have any, is going to cover everything.  And the cost of some of the “things” on your bill over which you have no say?  The article describes them as “outrageous” and “egregious.”  How about: $77 for a box of sterile gauze pads?, $7.00 for one 2×2 inch alcohol pad used to cleanse the skin to draw blood, one 500mg niacin tablet $24.00, one 325mg acetaminophen (Tylenol) tablet $1.50.

One patient, age 52, was in the hospital for 32 days with a hard- to- treat type of pneumonia.  His billing, 161 pages, totaled $474,064.  After payment from his insurance was deducted, he still owed $402, 955. He was charged $84.00 for each liter bottle of saline (salt) solution.  And the salary of the president of the non-profit medical center where he was treated?  $1,244,000.

Here’s the way it works. Non-profit (hah) hospital groups are making huge profits.  Not surprising considering the cost of the care.  In order to maintain their non-profit, tax-free status, revenue must be offset by expenses.  So expenses are created: new wings are added to existing facilities, expensive equipment like MRI machines are purchased–and used at every opportunity at great cost to the patient–and salaries of executives can be in the range of $ 4-5 million per year.

Medical care in the U.S. amounts to 20% ($2.8 trillion) of GDP, twice that of any other country; we spend more than twice as much as the next 10 biggest-spending countries combined.  We have Medicare to thank for holding down at least some of this expense because hospitals are limited by law as to what can be charged to Medicare-eligible patients.

It’s enough to make you sick. But, hopefully not sick enough to go to the hospital.  The author of the report, Steven Brill, offers several ideas for reversing what he calls a “medical gold rush.” One major step would be implementing medical-malpractice reform which could lower costs by billions of dollars each year by reducing often-unnecessary tests and the high cost of malpractice insurance. Write to your congressman. Tell him you want some laws changed. He’ll get right on it.