I'm Part of the Problem

Yesterday, I inadvertently squandered $4000 plus worth of medical resources during a lunch break. That I could do this, gain no benefit, and not even see the bills, is what's right and wrong with American medical care.


I'll tell the story in moment but first consider that none of the politically active reform proposals being debated deal with the absence of market pricing for medical care, that system-wide problem that there is a disconnect between the supplier and the consumer, and this problem is absolutely pervasive. You rarely know the prices of what you are getting, and even when you do, the prices are an abstraction: something to know but not act on, since they don't really affect your premiums as with other forms of insurance.

Doctors don't discuss prices with their patients because the patients don't need to know the cost; their insurance requires they only make a co-payment for each visit and their insurance is responsible for the remainder (after the deductible is met). This disconnect of medical care with its associated costs leads to unnecessary and expensive tests and procedures.