To Your Health

My last mailing consisted of a copy of a letter sent to the New Have Register in which I mentioned the “possibility” that our health care is “over-priced.” This isn’t my first letter that has been rejected by the Register, but I don’t think it was the quality of writing when compared to some of my letters that have been printed there. My strong suspicion is that the editorial department is afraid of offending the medical community.

This hasn’t been the case with insurance and pharmaceutical companies, two of the four groups that comprise our health care system. They have been excoriated by voices in the media including the Register. Why are hospitals and doctors, the other two components, treated with such deference?*

In the case of hospitals, I’ve mentioned a friend whose insurance company was charged $2,000 for an hour in the recovery room following a colonoscopy. Even if half the cost of this “service” was to compensate for freebies in the ER, a thousand would still be excessive. In 2005 I was denied release from a hospital until I’d signed a waiver for refusing a pacemaker that an outside cardiologist later assured me was unnecessary. This leads to the question of why hospitals have stopped admitting personal physicians to check on their patients. The cost of medical care, hospitalization in particular, has risen well above inflation. I doubt that the labor and materials required cost that much more, certainly not enough to justify these prices.  

My most recent of several experiences with “questionable” charges by doctors was a $2,200 bill for a blood test and reading by a hematologist, a process that took fifteen minutes from beginning to end. It’s my understanding that price fixing is the rule in medical procedures, with occasional discounts as doctors see fit, and I think that’s proper. A system that encourages people to look for cheaper doctors leaves a lot to be desired. But if medical expenses are too high it follows that these fixed prices might also be. I find reports that some doctors are refusing to treat patients at Medicare prices disturbing and revealing, another example of the pervasive “everyone for himself” attitude.  

I have no specific solution to suggest. But to me an inescapable conclusion is that the price of health care makes a stronger argument for more government rather than less.

* To complete the picture I should acknowledge the existence of indirect beneficiaries of our insurance money. Start with lobbyists and work up from there.