Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France

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Why an MRI costs $1,080 in America and $280 in France - The Washington Post


“In my view, health is a business in the United States in quite a different way than it is elsewhere,” says Tom Sackville, who served in Margaret Thatcher’s government and now directs the IFHP. “It’s very much something people make money out of. There isn’t too much embarrassment about that compared to Europe and elsewhere.”

The result is that, unlike in other countries, sellers of health-care services in America have considerable power to set prices, and so they set them quite high. Two of the five most profitable industries in the United States — the pharmaceuticals industry and the medical device industry — sell health care. With margins of almost 20 percent, they beat out even the financial sector for sheer profitability.
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The players sitting across the table from them — the health insurers — are not so profitable. In 2009, their profit margins were a mere 2.2 percent. That’s a signal that the sellers have the upper hand over the buyers.
But many researchers are skeptical that this is an effective way to fund medical innovation. “We pay twice as much for brand-name drugs as most other industrialized countries,” Anderson says. “But the drug companies spend only 12 percent of their revenues on innovation. So yes, some of that money goes to innovation, but only 12 percent of it.”
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Discuss..
 


What? 12% of revenue on innovation, if they have a profit margin of 20%, that means they're spending 60% of their profit on innovation if I'm doing my math right. Seems a pretty good number to me.
 
supplyshock said:
What? 12% of revenue on innovation, if they have a profit margin of 20%, that means they're spending 60% of their profit on innovation if I'm doing my math right. Seems a pretty good number to me.
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No - because that 12% is part of the expense, not part of the profit. If they were not spending anything on innovation they'd be making 32% profit.
 
Seriously though, I have no health insurance and a brain tumor. Somehow I have managed to get by. I simply pay cash when I go in, it's not that expensive.

When I was poor, know what I did? I fucking did manual labor at the homes of doctors in exchange for MRIs, and other services. Did it suck shit? Fucking god damn right it did but I did it anyway because I had to have the care.

Know what the best part is? Unlike the wonderful free healthcare systems in Canada, I can walk in and get my shit banged out in a couple hours. I don't have to wait 8 months to see a specialist.

Fuck France. Fuck "free healthcare". And fuck you.

Get your fucking faggot asses off your fucking worthless asses and earn your fucking healthcare. Fuck you, nobody owes you faggots "free healthcare". Nobody owes you shit, pay for the shit you want you begging pieces of shit or die and STFU.
 
Also wanted to point out that healthcare is the place to be in :-)
Apply your penis pills and colon cleanse rebill skills to real pills.
Or your penis extender skills to real medical equipment. Just make sure you don't sell a dud product like Chris Gardner's, otherwise you would end up being a measly financial services millionnaire ..
 
ly2 from WF said:
Fuck France. Fuck "free healthcare". And fuck you.

Get your fucking faggot asses off your fucking worthless asses and earn your fucking healthcare. Fuck you, nobody owes you faggots "free healthcare". Nobody owes you shit, pay for the shit you want you begging pieces of shit or die and STFU.
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So what you're saying, Ly2, is that you don't really have an opinion on this subject?

I guess somebody had to post this vid here:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2jijuj1ysw]ObamaCare Yay Or Nay? The Truth About Canada! - YouTube[/ame]


Yet at the same time I fly to Thailand for Healthcare every time I need some that isn't time-sensitive. It's like 50% of the cost or less than it is here, meanwhile you get 1st-class doctors, which we simply don't have many of in the states.
 
The reason why the medical industry in the US is so high priced is because there is a lack of competition. Every part of the industry is tightly regulated and controlled.

Also, ly2 is a gay webmaster but he is right about the waiting time under communist regimes like Cuba and Canada.
 
Luke, can you tell us more about your penis extension surgery done in Thailand? Is the scarring bad? How is outpatient care?
 
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without reading I am going to say shit is expensive in the US because of bullshit lawsuits and heavy regulation causing a lack of competition.

Don't hate on pharma companies making insane profits to turn around and spend on R & D so that one day we can all have three inch cocks. . .I'd be uber happy to go from 1 to 3 inches FTW
 
jonas33h said:
without reading I am going to say shit is expensive in the US because of bullshit lawsuits and heavy regulation causing a lack of competition.

Don't hate on pharma companies making insane profits to turn around and spend on R & D so that one day we can all have three inch cocks. . .I'd be uber happy to go from 1 to 3 inches FTW
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It is not quite the heavy lawsuits but the price of medicine and medical equipments.. and that the pharma companies don't spend enough on R&D.. that is what this article is more about..
 
ly2 from WF said:
Seriously though, I have no health insurance and a brain tumor. Somehow I have managed to get by. I simply pay cash when I go in, it's not that expensive.

When I was poor, know what I did? I fucking did manual labor at the homes of doctors in exchange for MRIs, and other services. Did it suck shit? Fucking god damn right it did but I did it anyway because I had to have the care.

Know what the best part is? Unlike the wonderful free healthcare systems in Canada, I can walk in and get my shit banged out in a couple hours. I don't have to wait 8 months to see a specialist.

Fuck France. Fuck "free healthcare". And fuck you.

Get your fucking faggot asses off your fucking worthless asses and earn your fucking healthcare. Fuck you, nobody owes you faggots "free healthcare". Nobody owes you shit, pay for the shit you want you begging pieces of shit or die and STFU.
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uh really? brain tumor ? no insurance ? not that expansive ? Never thought I would read that in one sentence, but why no insurance? Did you really do all of that or am I really falling for this ?

I'm not saying I don't believe you just kind of surprised. . .
 
In Australia I can see a specialist within a week or two, if it's for elective surgery then you might need to wait a bit longer. I saw a sleep specialist and had an overnight sleep study and the totally out of pocket expense was $50, I don't have private health insurance.

Rag on ours and Canada's socialist commie medicine all you like, but you guys are getting fucked.
 
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