Reader raises concerns about healthcare costs

Would you hire a lawyer, if the fee for a “moderate” consultation was $800 per hour? Would you hire a photographer for a portrait sitting, if the rate was $7,700? How about paying $249 for a Vet lab to analyze your cow pie sample?

Say you’re Speedy Gonzalez in the attorney’s office – so the damages are only $403. You work part time for Pizza Hut and were out of the photo studio in “30 minutes or less” – and the charge was “only” $3,852. However (there’s always a “however” in these tales of woe), the Vet is a squeamish city boy who billed you the full $249.

But you’re smarter than you look, being a member of “Club Bar & Bell” – and pay monthly dues for the “Pump You Up” plan. Well surprise, surprise, surprise! The attorney, photographer and lab tech are club members too! Your choice of attorney earned a $17 “Black n Blue” discount – and the club rewards program paid $351 for the consultation; so, your final cost is $35! The photographer settled for a club reimbursement of $1,223, but you still got stuck with a $830 bill. Your membership earned a $10 coupon for the lab work, while the club agreed to pay $215 – and so Cow Dung BINGO only cost you $24. Let’s all shout the club slogan: We’re here to “Pump You Up!”

The total charges came to $4504; but your Club “benefits” limit the hit to $889. Now – being a savvy Republican – you read Donald Trump’s ‘The Art of the Deal.’ So, you negotiate the price down by agreeing to “Net-20” terms. That $889 bill is now $801.

Are you getting the math? You were billed $4,504 for services rendered, but your fellow club members settled for $1789 – a discount of $2,715! They charged $2,715 over market cost – a markup of 151.76 percent! Nice guys, huh? To add insult to injury, they agreed to a further $88 “discount” IF you paid in full within 20 days – which means they inflated the cost an additional $88. So, the total overcharge is $2,803 – that’s a markup of 164.79 percent! What was that slogan? Oh yeah – We’re here to “Pump You Dry!”

In truth the vendor members of “Club Bar & Bell” represent the medical establishment – in this case that enterprise is McCook Hospital / Clinic. “Club Bar & Bell” is Blue Cross & Blue Shield Insurance. The “lawyer,” “photographer” and “Ag lab tech” are the physician, MRI facility, and Clinic Lab.

How did medical care get prohibitively expensive? I’ll give you two reasons: medical care for those who are indigent and without insurance; and – care for illegal aliens. The law requires providers treat both at no charge, and the rest of us pay their bill. We also subsidize the cost of medical malpractice insurance, because the legal establishment lobbies Congress to stop passage of tort reforms.

It is increasingly difficult to afford medical care, and people living on a fixed income typically cannot afford to pay large lump sums in 20 days. This is not a “supply and demand” issue. “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate” issue. What we’ve got here is a “racket” – otherwise known as legalized theft.

Bruce Desautels, Stratton, Nebraska