Fixed Markets: Unjusted Hospital Costs

In a free market, buyers and sellers are the ones who decide a fair market price. If demand is high, and supply is low, the price goes up. And if demand is low, and the supply is high, then the price usually goes down. But what happens when the demand is immediate and the buyer is in a lot of pain? Or even worse, what happens when the buyer is completely unconscious?

Bankruptcy. That’s what happens. More than 60 percent of American bankruptcies come from medical bills. The high cost of healthcare is certainly one of the hottest topics in American politics, but most people focus on the monthly cost of insurance instead of the price of the treatment itself. All you have to do is make an unfortunate trip to the emergency room, and its almost certain you’ll come away with a very poor taste in your mouth.

There is no bargaining. There is no “buy two, get one free.” There’s really no discussion about price at all. The demand is simply there. There isn’t any need for the supplier to negotiate their worth. They have the patient in a very vulnerable position, and as SEVERAL reports from Stanford, Universities of Minnesota and California indicate, hospitals seem to have no problem shaking down the sick.

One ER charged a patient over 24 thousand dollars for a sprained ankle, while another one charged just 4 dollars. And a headache set some patients back by nearly 18 thousand dollars, while others cost as little as 15 dollars. Some emergency rooms make a habit out of charging insurance companies 30 DOLLARS for ONE aspirin pill! That’s 15 HUNDRED times MORE expensive than what it would cost at a drugstore. Insurance companies are supposed to be the ones to fight for lower costs, and its in their best interest to do that, but they just can’t be there for every situation.

And it’s not just emergency room visits either. Thousands of patients going into surgeries with one doctor, come out with two or more! The New York Times reported about a patient who woke up from a planned neck surgery with a 117 thousand dollar bill from an assistant surgeon who he never even met. Eventually, his insurance company sided with him and picked up the tab, but was that extra assistant ever really necessary? And if he was, did he really do 117 thousand dollars worth of work in that operation? Granted, doctors and nurses do some of the best, hardest and most important work in our society, and they are certainly deserving of a good paycheck. But healthcare in this country is anything but affordable. And before it can become affordable, it needs to become accountable.