Out of Control

Medical Industrial Complex

'Really astonishing': Average cost of hospital ER visit surges 176% in a decade, report says

DYI:  If you have been reading my blog increases in cost for the medical industrial complex will come as no surprise.  These companies routinely collude in order to price fix escalating costs moving at breakneck speed from local to regional monopolies.  These companies are in civil and criminal violation laws that were passed 75 to 100 years ago dealing with the robber barons of the Gilded Age.  These acts are: the Clayton, Robinson-Patman and the Granddaddy the Sherman Anti Trust Act.  Due to massive bribes or I should say campaign dollars not just at the Federal level but at the State [and when needed local] politicians from either party will look the other way allowing the collusion to continue.  If true free market principals were put into place [that is what these 3 acts do] prices on average would drop by 75%!  That’s right 75% and that is not a typo.  Or to be more specific depending on the severity of illness prices would drop from 60% to as high as 90%.  Health insurance would only be needed for catastrophic illnesses everything else would be paid out of pocket due to 80% to 90% drop in cost.

Why isn’t this well known?  Not just the campaign dollars the main stream press is paid off as well with all of the nonstop commercials for drugs or for a vast array of medical procedures.  Ever notice your mail box has a slew of appeals from doctors who work for this or that corporation attempting to sell their procedures or services?  Not once have I ever seen an advertisement based on cost.  Competing on price is forbidden among these companies.  They subscribe to the John D. Rockefeller school of thought:  “Competition is a sin!”  Until the general public fully understands how they are being ripped off will anything be done.  Until then the medical industrial complex will continue to swallow up more and more of the economy until this house of cards collapses.

DYI