Medications are always more expensive in a hospital. Because, the hospital has to pay the pharmacist, the pharmacy tech, the nurse, the HUC, the physician, and the individual in charge of creating and updating the drug information and data within the electronic medical record, as well as, the person that monitors the EMR. All of those people keep medication errors from occurring in hospitals that have such systems. When you walk into the ER, a series of rather incredible events has to take place to guarantee your safety and well-being during your hospital stay. Demanding that hospitals charge less when many break even or are even in debt as I type is clearly not the answer.
A hospital charges what it does to hopefully break even on all the essential services it provides. The best nurses, staff, and doctors along with the best technology, laboratory, and new drug access do not come cheap. In fact, the hospital I work at is quoted as being one of the best in the nation and it is reducing the quality of the health insurance is provides to its employees due to financial constraints.
drj077
In a supply&demand economy, once services are priced out of reach demand goes down as supply increases. The companies either become more effecient and bring prices back down to affordable levels, or price themselves right out of existence.
The problem with applying this model to health care is that it is often not an option to the person involved. If you have a bone protruding from your arm, you can't just ignore it and consider health care a privilege that can be forgone.
Because of the always-on demand, there's no reason for hospitals, hospital equipment manufacturers, drug makers, etc., to control costs. People are going to pay whatever they have to to get fixed.
If any other service had increased in price the past 20 years the way the health-care sector has, it would be out of business right now. It's a sloppy system, with an unfair burden on the American People because we pay for the Research and Development for the rest of the world, simply because the rest of the world has price controls in place.
It certainly needs fixing.
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