Why is saving lives so expensive?

[Swisted]

What the title says pretty much. I know a life is something you cant put a price on but why is it so damn expensive to go to a hospital and have them treat you then come back home and have like a bill from out of this world just because of surgery?

[Maharishi]

Because that surgery involved a team of highly specialized individuals who deserve to be compensated appropriately.

Also lawyers.

[Arkhias]

Because that surgery involved a team of highly specialized individuals who deserve to be compensated appropriately.

Also lawyers.

Pretty much this.

12-16 years of rigorous post-secondary education and residency produces a high premium. Also, about 5% of every dollar goes to malpractice related insurance/lawsuits/etc.

And then hospitals tend to gouge you for the room, supplies, etc.

[Larynx]

What the title says pretty much. I know a life is something you cant put a price on but why is it so damn expensive to go to a hospital and have them treat you then come back home and have like a bill from out of this world just because of surgery?

Because the people who save your life also have bills to pay.

[Donax]

Pretty much this.

12-16 years of rigorous post-secondary education and residency produces a high premium. Also, about 5% of every dollar goes to malpractice related insurance/lawsuits/etc.

And then hospitals tend to gouge you for the room, supplies, etc.

Also don't forget that most people don't have insurance and don't pay their mdeical bills. Even if the bill gets forgiven for the patient it still costs the hospital money. Now it just gets paid by people who can pay. Medical bills are going to get paid by someone. Whether it be insurance, by the patient or by the government they do get paid.

[Stanton Biston]

Because most hospitals are for-profit.

[Deleted]

Wages. Equipment perhaps? Medication and stuff during surgery. Then observation after and perhaps a bit before with nurses and getting in enough money to keep the hospital running from all the patients in total. At some point, I heard from my sister what it costed just to be in observation for a day, but can't remember what is was. Probably would be a bit different if it was private though. Silicone implants was $6k at a private hospital. That is just a comparatively minor cosmetic surgery, though the implants themselves may have been a big thing of the price, not sure. I'm guessing these prices are this high because there is a lot of training, preparation, cost of developing the medicine (and then the prices of those), equipment sometimes that has to be earned back via patients, demand for the services where there are more in the world who wants them than supply of the people and stuff needed, and the general costs of running a functioning hospital. You basically pay for what is hopefully some of the best service for the illness available to you.

Even just an x-ray can cost some.

EDIT: For looking a bit for cost but not finding any good

[Illuwin]

1 for profit hospital groups
2 for profit insurance companies
3 Hospitals don't get all of the money they bill for, so over compensate by billing higher
4 Insurance companies need to make the most profit possible, so cut benefits, increase copay, or pass costs to the consumers
5 Lawsuits, insurance against lawsuits, nonpaying parties, etc contributing to 3 and 4
6 The most highly educated and specialized profession in existence comes at a high cost as well.
7 Drugs (some of them) cost millions to billions to research and are granted a 12 year patent based off of when the formula is first submitted for clinical trial, which can be many years before distribution of the drug, so pharma charges 100-150 a pill (for some drugs) to recoup discovery costs in the 6 to 8 years they have exclusive rights to said drug before it goes generic
8 magical unicorns
9 there is no real competition other than going to a hospital/doctor by reputation. Prices are not published and consumers are not able to shop for a decent price. This may or may not apply to cosmetic stuff, but that's not really 'saving a life' anyway.

[Wildo]

What the title says pretty much. I know a life is something you cant put a price on but why is it so damn expensive to go to a hospital and have them treat you then come back home and have like a bill from out of this world just because of surgery?

Come to Canada. It's free! Well, not really. But there's no freakout session when you get home.

[Kasierith]

Because of the training required, because of the tools required that the hospital must buy (the pharmaceutical companies control the prices of drugs and tools, not the service front like hospitals are pharmacies), and because of insurance. Frivolous malpractice lawsuits alone have probably jacked up the price of healthcare about 20%

[iceberg265]

The medical field and insurance companies are in bed together and extremely corrupt, its all about max profits.

[ati87]

First stop protesting against improving health insurance

Second
Your paying for a bed, meal and a team of people taking care of you.
Compare a Hospital employee to a butler or a maid and you might understand why going to the hospital is so expensive

[Sylvre]

Well when hospitals learn that you'd rather off your grandfather than cough up $20,000, prices will come down real fast.

[TheGhostAgent]

Quick way to make it more competitive and cost less.

Deregulate the health insurance companies and allow it go for a national exchange of health insurance programs. Right now you've got an oligarchy of insurance companies in any given city/area that dominates the market place there. Provide an entire market up for bids for everyone forces the companies to be more competitive in premiums. Provide a disclosure of all material costs for the patient. Have premium rates be variable dependent on the individual's health, such as whether they're a smoker or not and weight vs height. Those who take care of their health are paying for those who don't. Make everyone have a skin in the game so that they're forced to be more health conscious through influence of their pocket books.

[granpachook]

I'm amazed at how many people in this thread know why it's so expensive. That's all I have to say really.

[Logonov]

go through several years of undergrad, med school, and internships/residency, accumulate hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, and then work for say........45k a year? You'd be insane to ask someone to endure all that work and trial for such a pittance of reward.

Look up the work it takes to execute something like a bypass surgery or a full knee replacement. Theyre literally sawing bones out of your body and inserting steel into places where your knee used to be. Pulling circulatory tissue from one part of your body and placing it in another and somehow on the other end youre functioning better than you did before.

My old man tore 3 ligaments in his right knee, if it werent for long tireless efforts of medicine, he'd be walking with a cane or sitting in a wheel chair, instead he's out running many days and playing basketball in the driveway. Honestly, if science did that for my family, then the price is worth it.

[Shakadam]

I'll only say one thing:

Tax-funded healthcare ftw.

[Deleted]

What the title says pretty much. I know a life is something you cant put a price on but why is it so damn expensive to go to a hospital and have them treat you then come back home and have like a bill from out of this world just because of surgery?

well it's not
not in my country anyways

[Grumash]

I'll only say one thing:

Tax-funded healthcare ftw.

Its not tax funded, its the gov making sure you BUY insurance, and if you dont they make you do it. The money going into this is enforcement.

[ranku]

I'll only say one thing:

Tax-funded healthcare ftw.

well once we figure out that taxes help pay for things and cutting taxes increases debt, we might get closer to doing that