I don’t consider anything about my ICD trivial. It has saved my life several times over the years from VT brought on by HCM. The ICD programming, along with medication and a couple of ablations has even reversed a lot of my HCM, so my VT is basically non-existent now.
I was only making the point that it is the size of a cell phone, with a lot of the same programming and hardware. The big difference is the battery though and the titanium case. The $75K was just for the device. The surgery to implant it was another $100K. Hard to believe it cost them more than $2K or $3K to produce. I hope they don’t look to outsourcing these devices because of decreasing revenue, due to their own mistakes and increased government involvement.
That smacks of the same ignorance leveled toward pharmaceutical companies and the cost of prescription drugs.
Yes, the raw cost of the hardware and assembly might be $2K or $3K, but it fails to recognize other costs.
It ignores the cost of multiple device failures, years of waiting and numerous FDA trials required for certification.
Oh, since this is still the United States and we still have not replaced capitalism, your estimate also ignores a decent profit so your 401K keeps growing.