Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,
Healthcare/sickcare will bankrupt the nation by itself.
If you want to understand why the U.S. healthcare system is bankrupt, financially, morally and politically, then start with this representative anecdote from a U.S. physician. I received this report from correspondent J.F. on the topic of direct advertising of pharmaceutical products to the public (patients).
As background information, pharmaceutical companies were not allowed to advertise directly to consumers (patients) in the good old days. Now, as we all know, half the adverts on TV are for pharmaceutical products, and many of the remaining half are advertising lawsuits relating to pharmaceutical products that harmed or injured the patients who received them (or clamored for them as a result of endless direct-to-consumer adverts).
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Here is J.F.’s report:
This morning, I read a report on augmentation of antidepressants. It seems folks who get a little better, but not a lot better on an antidepressant may improve if a drug in the class of second generation antipsychotics is added. Three of these drugs have been tested, with pretty much equivalent benefit – quetiapine, aripiprazole, and brexpiprazole. As the names suggest, the last two are very similar in chemical structure.
– quetianpine and aripiprazole are available in cheap generic for. Brexpiprazole is not, it’s sold only as branded Rexulti.
– shortly after reading the piece, I walked past the waiting room TV which was playing an ad urging folks to “ask your doctor about Rexulti”.
– lowest costs for a month’s supply in my neighborhood, courtesy of goodrx.com:
quetiapine – $6.80
aripiprazole – $22.60
Rexulti – $1,120.20 (!)
– so the ad is urging folks to “ask their doctor” about a drug that is 16,473% more expensive than a similar drug that may work just as well.
Thank you, J.F. There you have it in a nutshell: U.S. Sickcare is organized to maximize profits by any means available, including adverts aimed at patients, adverts aimed at physicians, lobbying to include costly medications in the list of what Medicare pays for, and so on, in an endless profusion of crony-capitalist skims and scams, starting with research that’s funded to reach the conclusion the funding pharmaceutical company desires, all the way through masking the real-world consequences of medications.
U.S. healthcare isn’t broken, it’s fixed–fixed to exploit the many to benefit the few, fixed to maximize profits in a we-win, you-lose system of perverse incentives.
AS I have long held, healthcare/sickcare will bankrupt the nation by itself. Endless wars of choice, unaffordable pensions and rising costs of soaring debt will only speed the arrival of insolvency and systemic collapse.
How Healthcare Is Dooming the U.S. Economy (Three Charts)
Are Profit and Healthcare Incompatible? (August 18, 2017)
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It’s also because people are lazy, and Americans are grossly overweight. Rather than take responsibility for their own health, they waddle to the doctors and whine and complain and he/she writes them a script for a pill with massive side effects, that generally will make matters worse over time.
The fat person becomes fatter, sicker, and gets more pills, more hospital stays, quality of life continues to decline, and the bill gets bigger and bigger.
I am a firm believer that 99% of health problems are life-style related. Get off your fat ass, put down the crap food, stop smoking, stop drinking like a maniac, and you will get better.
The sad part is, if a doctor actually stood up to a patient, and said, “you’re obese, you smoke, and you eat like crap, this is why you are sick. Go to a dietician, walk everyday, stop smoking (or at least cut back), get some sun, get some vitamin C, and come back and see me in 30 days and see where we are at” they would be sued for malpractice. The mind boggles. Truly.
As a physician I would say you are in the ballpark with the “… 99% of health problems are life-style related.” Actual studies over time suggest that 60 to 80 per cent of medical problems are directly related to life-style.
Most cases of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, lipid abnormalities, coronary artery disease, osteoarthritis, gynecologic cancers (other than cervical) and reflux disease are strongly related to some combination of obesity, poor diet, lack of physical activity, smoking and lack of sleep. Then, there are the drug and alcohol abuse issues also.
Also, I doubt a physician would be sued for malpractice for being honest with a patient about life-style. However, the patient would likely complain to the whole world, through the various forms of social media, that such a physician was terrible, had a bad “bedside manner” and didn’t know medicine
My dot indian doctor in delaware harped on lifestyle. Vegan lifestyle to be precise.
I tell my doctor to put the prescription pad back in his pocket. It’s not worth his time to write a scrip that never going to be filled. Then I TRY to engage him in a conversation about what to change diet/lifestyle to deal with whatever the issue is. I rarely get much of a conversation. I’ve tried this with multiple docs, so I’ve basically quit going to the doctor.
Our system is truly fucked. It has become sickcare/insurance scam territory. Health isn’t a consideration.
TV is full of programming and propaganda enabling self-diagnose. Get yourself to your in-network pharmaceutical drug pushing doctor and ask for the script de jour. Take that script to the pharmacy and while waiting you can ask to receive their advertised shot de jour. Hell, they might even offer it to you at the drive through window while you wait. There, healthcare crisis solved. /sarc
I’m going to a funeral this Saturday. Mom’s best friend, Frau F., died. She was 92.
She went to the hospital about 10 days before she died, complaining about stomach pains. They found a tumor. Cutting to the chase ….. they decided to perform surgery, probably at least $50,000 is my guess, because “don’t worry, insurance will cover it”.
There ya go.
You have to be suspicious when they want to operate on a person over 80.
I’m in the exam room 2 yrs. ago for a check up / annual physical, waiting for the Doc.
Glance over at the bulletin board of info, and see a card from the health system we both belong to, and it says:”Limited Time offer. Book a colonoscopy appt., and get a new 32″ LCD TV.” No shit. Pun intended.
Ever notice the blitzkrieg of pharmaceutical ads target older sheep who watch nightly news, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy?
Nah, me neither.
‘cept when I’m a dinner guest at a friend’s house, & her tube is on.
Idiot box, indeed.
Medicine cabinets in the bathrooms look like stock shelves of Rx at CVS, Rite Aid, & Walgreens.
Pills? Only if absolutely necessary.
They treat a symptom, not the cause, & bring upon ye all the side effects.
All that said, some people have chronic conditions and need the drugs to live. Costs should be affordable.
I had an idiot smart ass cardiologist tell me “YOUR TO GOD DAM FAT” ! Never in my life did I have a weight problem until total renal failure due to an inherited disorder requiring a transplant . Fuck that little piece of shit Doctor ! Lived on medications and dialysis for 4 years and at the time needed a cardiac clearance to stay on file for a transplant . That’s why I was blowing up like a balloon ! 5 years out from a transplant and have a goal of running a 5k this summer .
Remember it was doctors that joined with health care system hospitals and insurence companies to regulate and assure their income streams . That’s why an aspirin can be astronomical in price in a hospital !
I am doing great on my Drug regiment however when hospitalized for another issue the hospital staff decided they knew best regarding my antirejection drugs . I explained , I take a fixed daily dose of several medications monitored thru blood tests monthly have you checked with my Nephrologist before any alterations . They had the amounts and timing all fouled up so I refused . Turns out it’s Hospital policy that they supply all medications at about 100 times the cost . I said as long as the persons involved controlling my drug therapy put their names and contact numbers and employee numbers and give it to me I will comply . The doctor in charge decided to let me continue my system that was already working and not to interfere . I wonder why LOL
Can anyone name one other service you MUST buy that will not under any circumstances quote you a fee up front?
Speaking of pharmaceuticals, don’t forget the prescription clawback as it’s called, In a shocking amount of the time, people’s co-pay for the scrip is more than if they just paid the cash price for the scrip outright. The pharmacy won’t tell you this unless you specifically ask because of gag clauses not allowing them to. So, yes, you are constantly being scammed by drug companies.