The immoral American way.

The health care bureaucracy gets you one way or another. Tries to wear you down. By making you jump through hoops. Making you give in. Surrender. And pay up. Rather than fight the bureaucracy. Yes, just pay 'em the exorbitant profits. Because it'll often cost you many times more than that to obtain justice and fairness. The system is rigged. Like the time I was charged $50 for a little strap to wrap around my tendonitis-plagued elbow. The same identical strap at the local drug store would have cost me $8. I protested. Refused to pay the bill. Allowed my blood pressure to soar. Eventually, the community services director at the clinic asked if I'd settle by paying $10. I did. Felt like I had won. But hey, I'd have been better off paying the $50 at the start. Just to avoid the hassle. Now I've got a bill for $86.50. For a tetatnus shot. Medicare paid $30.50. The cost of the serum. But the clinic's charge was $117. Guess that takes into account the cost of administering the shot in my arm. Took all of a half minute. Normally, my supplemental insurance carrier would make up some of the difference. But not in this case. Because new regulations require me to seek reimbursement through my prescription drug provider. And I have to apply directly. By filling out all kinds of paperwork. Yes, going through the rigormarole. Maybe in hopes that I just write a check and not seek reimbursement. Anyway, it all adds up. Some $117 for a $30 serum. And $50 for an $8 strap. That's the little stuff. Just imagine the profit built into the big stuff. When my wife Jeanne was in a rehab center for Alzheimer patients she had a fall and they took her to the emergency room of a nearby hospital. By ambulance. We were billed $800 for the ambulance ride initially. Before the medics knew we had insurance. Good thing we had insurance. Because the ambulance service charged the insurer only $400. A previously negotiated price. But if we hadn't had the insurance, we'd have been obligated to pay the full freight. The $800. Because medical providers don't negotiate with individuals. Only with with the large corporate insurers. It's the system. And little wonder why health care in the USA costs twice that in other industrialized countries with universal health care. And in terms of medical results, the USA lags behind other countries. Ranking 30-something. Good gawd. Shameful. We pay through the kazoo. And what do we have to show for it? Yes, we desperately need health care reform. A major overhaul. When Jeanne fell and broke her wrist some years ago in Germany, the entire bill, for hospital and doctor, was about $500. Imagine what that would have cost in the USA. Yes, thousands of dollars. Because obscene profits are built into everything. That's the American way. The pitiful way. The immoral way. The greedy capitalist way. --Jim Broede