The hidden medical costs

In hospital recently, visiting, I happened to notice that the door to a patient’s room was fire rated for four hours. I examined the wall to which it was attached. Similar fire-code construction. Walking down the corridor, I noticed all similar fire precautions. So I called the fire door manufacturer. In their estimation, when equipping a modern hospital (or government building), the bulk buying would “reduce the installation cost to around $5,500 each per building.” Now, in a 1,000 bed hospital that’s $5.5 million.So I went to the hospital administrator and asked if they had figures on all the hospital special-code-related increases in cost associated with building a modern hospital. As the hospital in question is building a new wing and seeking donors, they shared the build costs. A new 75-bed wing would push past $45 million — with half of that being special building codes for hospitals. That’s $300,000 per bed. Assuming the patient turnover is 4.5 days on average, that means, with expected 75 percent occupancy, 60 patients a year per bed. Which means that the amortization of $300,000 is $5,000 per patient stay for one year or, say, $500 per patient stay over 10 years. And people wonder why they need to charge $8 per aspirin.When you add the hidden costs of medical care — the machines they need to buy that are not made in their millions but in hundreds with all the higher cross-amortization costs that implies. When you consider that Congress prevents doctors and patients from buying collectively — from medicines for Medicare to CAT scan machines — the equipment manufacturers, drug companies, clothing suppliers and all the necessary medical paraphernalia necessary to save your loved one’s life — well, as long as the market is prevented from buying in bulk, the costs that have to be passed on to patients or their insurance companies (which the patients pay in premiums) are always higher than necessary.Let’s look at one part of this discussion. Experts estimate that they could reduce the costs of medicines Medicare patients need and that the VA needs by 50 percent. Yes, 50 percent. And what’s the cost to the taxpayer for that lack of discount? The media estimates on that range all the way up to $2.2 billion per year. And that’s only the pills and regular medicines. An MRI machine costs around $3 million installed, one at a time. A hospital group recently bought 10 and got them for $1 million each. That’s the capitalist way, that’s the American way. Meanwhile, Congress blocks any hope of applying capitalist principles, instead applying personal profit and gain motives to get reelected. America is all about free enterprise and business, not special favors for the few to bilk the ill.Peter Riva, a former resident of Amenia Union, now lives in New Mexico.