First, insurance is a big part of the problem . They way we use medical insurance as a price control, hospitals charge huge amounts knowing the insurance has negotiated a much lower price — but those without insurance get confronted with the bill. If you fight it, you’ll get a lower price.
The cost from the manufacturer for this drug? “Hospital markups are the other driving force in the cost of Anascorp. Rare Disease Therapeutics sells the drug for $3,500 to a distributor, which then charges hospitals $3,780.”
This is expensive, but most is the hospital markup.
The drug company spends the same amount to get this drug through the FDA as any other drug. But they only sell a few thousand doses a year — so they have to spread the regulation costs, which can be millions, across a very small number of sales.
The FDA also charges a large amount of money to this drug, even though there are almost no sales — FDA gets funding by taxes on the drugs it regulates.
But in the end, this is what insurance has to be about — paying for the drugs that HAVE to cost $3,000 a dose, because they sell so few doses. And this is why you should always have health insurance, unless you are independently wealthy.
And why in a sane world, we’d be allowed to buy our own health insurance with high deductables.
The people who balk at paying $80,000 for a drug that just saved hteir life — would they be upset if their house burned down and the construction company wanted to charge $200,000 to rebuild it? Of course not. They have insurance that covers it.
And if they didn’t have insurance, they would be out the $200,000. That’s why they buy insurance.
“This is expensive, but most is the hospital markup.”
you do understand that the hospital markups on things is to pay for:
first and foremost: liability insurance
the pharmacist/techs who dispense and deliver the drugs to the area you are located in
the nurses who administer the drugs
the technicians who draw your blood and run the machines to do the tests
the x-ray/ct scan/ mri techs who perform the procedures
the housekeepers who clean your room
the maintenance men who keep everything mechanical/electrical working safely
the kitchen workers who prepare and serve your meals
the electricity, gas and water used
i know there are probably a thousand more things i haven’t listed that are necessary for things to function while you are in hospital/er that you are not billed for
i know you probably think that is what your daily room rate is for, but that rate barely covers the nurses’ salary, esp in icu/er where the nurse patient ratio is low
“This is expensive, but most is the hospital markup.”
you do understand that the hospital markups on things is to pay for:
first and foremost: liability insurance
the pharmacist/techs who dispense and deliver the drugs to the area you are located in
the nurses who administer the drugs
the technicians who draw your blood and run the machines to do the tests
the x-ray/ct scan/ mri techs who perform the procedures
the housekeepers who clean your room
the maintenance men who keep everything mechanical/electrical working safely
the kitchen workers who prepare and serve your meals
the electricity, gas and water used
i know there are probably a thousand more things i haven’t listed that are necessary for things to function while you are in hospital/er that you are not billed for
i know you probably think that is what your daily room rate is for, but that rate barely covers the nurses’ salary, esp in icu/er where the nurse patient ratio is low