03 Mar “The crazy reason it costs $14,000 to treat a snakebite with $14 medicine”

The Washington Post article is at: http://a.msn.com/01/en-us/AAe7m5p?ocid=se

Once again, I am confounded by the shameless greed of hospitals in marking up the “price” of a medicine that saves lives in desperate situations. But then gain, in a true Machiavellian manner, that may well be the best time to mark up so shamelessly. What is the patient going to do: jeopardize their life (before getting the anti-venom) or jeopardize their credit (after getting it).

We wonder and scratch our heads, looking in all the wrong places, why our healthcare costs are out of control. I say it is simple: just follow the money, as this article so clearly articulates. Every markup along the value-chain, from the cost of goods (to actually produce them) to the street price, must be scrutinized dispassionately for “added value” at each mark-up point. In this specific case, what value do the hospitals actually add that is worth 70% of the price? I hear silence. Exactly my point. We need to have a focused and rational national debate on such irrational actions of the few to profit by undermining the national interest at large.