Why An MRI Costs More In The US?

Some of the other posts have alluded to this, but I didn't see it addressed head-on: A for-profit health care system, like we largely have, tends to focus on the illnesses of the rich and insured. The US medical system is excellent at replacing heart valves and doing plastic surgery, assuming you have the cash or a good insurance policy. But complex and expensive individual procedures have a low return for public heath. If I'm the one getting a heart transplant, then I'm all for it, but if money is limited, it's more cost effective to spread it around on basic medical coverage.

Unfortunately, there isn't much return on family doctor visits and preventative medicine, so our health care system focuses on the big-ticket items.

Tom

 

I hear you Tom. An example of what you are saying is a young girl in my town who has a very rare illness and after failed treatment here in the UK has found the only place in the World to offer further treatment is in America.

Trouble is the cost; £500,000 ($780,000)!?!?

Obviously that is serious money and outside most peoples life savings. However, the town have been getting together to fund raise her for this treatment - details as follows;

Sadie Rose Clifford Appeal - About Us

 

^ Put a face on the person, and people will contribute a mountain of money to help. But try to vaccinate a million kids at 50 cents a pop, forget it, nobody's interested. Basic human psychology, I think. We can identify with an individual, but not with a statistic, even if vaccinating a million kids can save ten thousand lives. We'd rather save one person who we feel some connection to, than ten thousand who we don't.

 

I call this the "falling down a well" syndrome: The same bum we cross the street to avoid, if he falls down a well, we mobilize the entire resources of the US to save him.

We see this in spades in our neck of the woods. It's hard to get GPs anywhere, even harder out here in the boonies. I can't blame med students. Who wants to study for all those years, take out huge student loans, and then graduate to make less money than a programmer with a bachelor's degree.

I have a doctor friend that owns his own practice, building and all. He recently went to a VIP extra payment on top of insurance system just to make ends meet. It's not a good time to be a doctor in the US.

Tom

 

Simple math problem:

Cost of medical procedures = Skyrocketing up.
Pay to doctors = Falling

Question: Where is the money going?

 

^ Insurance companies. And maybe for-profit hospital corporations.

 

And not just to insurance companies but also to staff to handle the insurance paperwork from many different insurance companies with very different rules and procedures.

 

The doctor I mentioned above is part of a two doctor practice, each being owners. They also have a PA, a tech, and a nurse or two. The practice does not supply medical insurance to its staff, as it is too expensive - telling, I think.

Here is the especially disturbing part: This small practice has one office person employed full time just to get pre-authorization from insurance companies. They employ two more for the insurance paperwork. It's crazy; simply crazy.

Tom

 

Quote from rebound: But shouldn't free market forces create competition, so that when you have a heart attack, you can shop for the best ambulance and the best hospital?

That's a great idea,,, if it were actually allowed,,, but unfortunately it isn't
At the outpatient imaging center where I work,, were not allowed to advertise the fact that we typically charge about 1/3 what the hospital across the street from us charges for an M.R.I.. Also what the corporations that make the medical products we use charge differently for the same product depending on whose buying. For example : the Exact same M.R.I. Machine we use costs about 1/3 less if a veterinarian were to buy one as opposed to us,,, even simple things like syringes and elastic wrap cost considerably less for the vet to buy the exact same product.,, this is an interesting topic that is very complex with no easy simple solutions. But as rebound pointed out,, if we could actually comparison shop for our medical care,, I'm sure prices would be driven down, and maybe efficiencies would go up.

 

About 10 years ago I had a private practice doctor for my primary care physician. He said his office had to deal with over 200 versions of insurance. IIRC he had two people working on insurance company required paperwork and nonsense for his one doctor practice.

 

While it may sound counter-intuitive, especially to those of us schooled in the free enterprise mantra, healthcare is one industry where competition increases costs, rather than lowers them. With a government-run system, regardless of how socialist and evil it may sound, there's one funding body, not hundreds. Treatment approval can be obtained over the computer while the patient's still in the doctor's office, without the need for so many assistants. Multiplied by the number of doctor's offices, the overall savings can be quite significant.

 

It is like saying "..germans have great beer.. but the weather over there SUCKS!" it's like weather would somehow negate taste of good beer.. good lord!

what on earth does it have to do with healthcare providers charging 80% more then in other developed countries?

 

I think you're neglecting the basic premise that you wouldn't have time to shop around if you're having a heart attack.

 

That's true, but the real point is essentially no shopping around is occurring at all, emergency situation or not. I would think the majority of MRIs are scheduled sometime in advance.

 

Perhaps Rebound was being facetious?

 

It gets better. The insurance companies employ people whose full time job is denying claims.

 

That goes back to there being an uneven balance of charges....for chronic conditions, we hear stories of people traveling across country or even going to another country for treatment. Many MRI scans are non-emergancies and the person can "shop around" for that. Considering fees are different for each state and insurance coverage, would the answer really be for someone to have to "shop around" over the entire country? Then there are many situations in which a person isn't in the right mind to be able to shop around when they need emergancy medical attention. I would think that most would agree that it would be appropriate for all areas to have affordable emergancy services, preventative care, and hospital beds.