Re:The Student Debt Problem Is Worse Than We Imagined
by bogomipz on Sunday August 26, 2018 @07:00PM
(#17848400)
>"There’s a lot wrong with pricing of healthcare versus its costs, but that spending on it increases faster than inflation isn’t abnormal."
Well yes an increase in consumer prices for health care results in an increase in health care spending as a percentage of GDP. But that's not what I referring to. I was referring to the fact that the price for basic services and components far outstrip the rate of inflation inflation. Here's one example - generic drugs. A generic drug, barring a supply chain disruption should at most keep with pace with inflation. Using an ancient antibiotic such as doxycycline:
"The price that hospitals and pharmacies pay for a bottle of 500 tablets of doxycycline, a decades-old antibiotic, rose to $1,849 in April, from $20 in October 2013"[1].
There are many other such example regarding run of the mill generic drugs.
Here's another example - a visit to see a primary care physician for either a either a yearly checkup or for because one has caught the flu. During an office visit a patience sees a doctor for maybe 5 to 10 minutes and nurse practitioner for maybe another 10 minutes. Maybe the doctor writes a prescription, updates the patients charts or might additionally refer them to a specialist. None of these activities involves cutting edge technology and the routines of such visits haven't fundamentally changed in years. Yet the price of these office visits has risen 14% in recent year.[2]
Lastly the premiums for the same basic health plane HMO, PPO etc have also continued far outstripped despite the fact that copays and deductibles - the out of pocket portion for consumers have risen not decreased. So it's not even though Americans are paying more for increased coverage or paying more for increased quality they are paying more for less.
Well yes an increase in consumer prices for health care results in an increase in health care spending as a percentage of GDP. But that's not what I referring to. I was referring to the fact that the price for basic services and components far outstrip the rate of inflation inflation. Here's one example - generic drugs. A generic drug, barring a supply chain disruption should at most keep with pace with inflation. Using an ancient antibiotic such as doxycycline:
"The price that hospitals and pharmacies pay for a bottle of 500 tablets of doxycycline, a decades-old antibiotic, rose to $1,849 in April, from $20 in October 2013"[1].
There are many other such example regarding run of the mill generic drugs.
Here's another example - a visit to see a primary care physician for either a either a yearly checkup or for because one has caught the flu. During an office visit a patience sees a doctor for maybe 5 to 10 minutes and nurse practitioner for maybe another 10 minutes. Maybe the doctor writes a prescription, updates the patients charts or might additionally refer them to a specialist. None of these activities involves cutting edge technology and the routines of such visits haven't fundamentally changed in years. Yet the price of these office visits has risen 14% in recent year.[2]
Lastly the premiums for the same basic health plane HMO, PPO etc have also continued far outstripped despite the fact that copays and deductibles - the out of pocket portion for consumers have risen not decreased. So it's not even though Americans are paying more for increased coverage or paying more for increased quality they are paying more for less.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/business/officials-questi...
[2] http://www.healthcostinstitute.org/report/2016-health-care-c...