I trust your opinion and input, Joe. How do we fix the problem? I'm self employed, older, had high blood pressure, over weight and loosing..... and I plan on being self employed for the rest of my life. I took my wife to the ER and the charge was $3054.00 for the hospital and the doctor wanted $665. She received a doctor's assessment, 3 xrays, and antibiotic, and a tetanus shot. We were there for an hour and 15 minutes max. I was expecting $500 - $700.
After more than an hour on the phone, covering 3 calls, and telling them this would make a great media event, they finally reduced the hospital charges to $760.00. I'm still waiting to see if the doctor will reduce his charges.
The tetanus shot alone was almost $1000.00. They admitted that we could get the same shot at a doctor's office for $30.00 or $40.00.
So how do we fix this problem?
------------------------
Keith Smith
--- On Sun, 8/29/10,
joe@actionline.com <
joe@actionline.com> wrote:
From:
joe@actionline.com <
joe@actionline.com>
Subject: Re: PLUG-discuss Digest, Vol 62, Issue 31
To: "Main PLUG discussion list" <
plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us>
Date: Sunday, August 29, 2010, 2:45 PM
> Check CostCo for your meds. I've used them several times and they are
> much less than Walgreens.
Walmart is cheaper than either Walgreens or Costco.
But for a short drive to Los Algodones, Mexico just a few minutes from
Yuma, I bought a 6 month supply of one medication that my son needs for
$1.99. For years, he has been paying $60.00 per month for *the exact same
item* ... same bottle, same brand, same source.
For another item for which my wife was paying a $30.00 co-pay for an
employer health-care covered medication, we bought a SIX-month supply for
... 99-cents. No prescription needed.
For her type-1 diabetes, she needed a prescription called Armor Thyroid.
Her doctor would not prescribe it and she could not find any physician in
the US who would write a prescription for it for her. They all insisted
(coerced) her to buy and take a more expensive synthetic ... which DID NOT
WORK well for her at all and gave her all kinds of trouble.
But finally, she found a supplier in India who air-mailed the exact item
that she needed from India ... and when the factory-sealed item arrived,
it had the original mfrs label and "made in Canada" on the label. While
that item is made and sold in Canada, she could not purchase it from a
Canadian pharmacy without a US doctor's prescription, which she could not
get.
I recently paid $3,500 for an MRI (about a 10-minute procedure). On a
recent PBS special, they interviewed several places in Japan where anyone
can walk in off the street and get the exact same MRI for a one-time cost
of $99. No prescription and no insurance required.
Friends, this whole physician/pharmaceutical/medical testing business is,
without any doubt, a scam operation in the U.S. top to bottom.
One word: greed.
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