Recently, I came down with an umbilical hernia (a distinct bulge in my navel). The pain from this was occasionally severe, and one day I decided to go to the emergency room at the hospital where I work. They told me that the hernia was not an emergency, despite the pain, and therefore they could not do anything unless it became "strangulated". In the meantime, I would have to go to a specialist and get referred for surgery. I was in the emergency room for no more than thirty minutes, they did nothing except draw two vials of blood, and check my vital signs. An MD talked with me for five minutes during this process. I repeat: they did not treat me at all. Total bill: $275.00. The MD sent me a bill as well, this one for $600.00 dollars. Neither the hospital nor the MD informed me that I would not only be charged for the emergency room visit, but also for the MD's brief consultation with me. An interesting side note here is that had I not been an employee of the hospital, the bill for the visit would have been $1,200. 00 (plus the 600 for the doctor to talk to me for five minutes). Who makes $3,600.00 an hour? Why, doctors, of course. How is it that this MD felt justified in charging me 600 bucks for seeing me for five minutes, and did nothing? I don't have medical insurance (but I will next month during open enrollment).
Having experienced this gross overcharge, I started thinking about our medical system here in America, about how many can afford to pay cash for medical services. Insurance is the only practical solution to the burdensome cost of medical care. Why? Granted that nurses and doctors should be paid well, but $1,800.00 for thirty minutes of their time? That's how much I would've had to pay if I were not an employee of the hospital. I still owe a total of $875.00, and that's way too much money to charge anyone for not doing anything to help at all.
The solution to overly expensive health care is tort reform, in order to make it difficult to sue a doctor for malpractice. As it stands, a lot of people resort to this type of lawsuit in order to avoid paying the bill, or to enrichen themselves. Any health care professional that injures a patient due to incompetence should be sued, but the law should restrict those who game the system by calling for a high standard of proof for any claim to malpractice. I haven't mentioned the fact that another reason health care is so expensive is the myriad regulations and mandates put on the industry by the government. Along with tort reform, there should also be an environment where the market-and the market only-determines what doctors can charge their patients, or risk losing customers.
