High Cost of Healthcare in the United States - Essay Example

Costs in Health Introduction Steven Brills is an American a journalist, lawyer, entrepreneur and founder of Court TV, American Lawyer. Brills’ latest article, Bitter pill: why medical bills are killing us, talks about the high medical costs in the United States (Stengel). Brills big question is how come people do not ask why the fee for visiting the hospital is costly but rather ask how much is the fee, and who is paying? Brills feels that this people have been raised to believe elevated costs in health care is because of the high technology in America. This article talks about hospitals protection against lawsuits an issue brought about in Brills article. Brills states that hospitals abuse this privilege to order more costly procedures (Stengel). An example of a procedure that is costly is head related injuries that require surgery. Visiting the lab accorded to Brill is worth more than a decent car. This makes the issue of high costs medical bills exceptional. High Cost of Healthy Care in the United States Therefore, in this article the main issue here is protection against lawsuits defense in hospitals, in relation to head injuries. In order to examine this issue, a number of research questions come to mind. 1. What are some of the head injuries procedures performed in hospitals and how much time do they take? 2. What are some of the historical records of hospitals being sued or facing lawsuits for head injuries procedures? 3. Which evidences are there that shows that costly head injuries procedures usually face infrequent lawsuits? The most bizarre scenario is that hospitals have shifted from being health facilities to commercial health facilities. The hospital has become a market place where the management reaps the benefits, whereas the patients should be the one to benefit. There has been a long loud silence on the issue of high rising cost of hospital bills as people always rush to know how to pay the bills, and not why they are costly. There is evidence that hospital indeed abuse the privilege that have been accorded of protection against lawsuits because it is a common misleading belief that procedures done are towards the betterment of the patient, that is life and death issues. Thus, according to the managing director of TIME magazine Richard Stengel, the hospital has become a market where the buyers (patients) have little or no knowledge and have no control of the happenings. Richard states that the united states overcharge its citizens on medical bills, which is not observed in other developed countries (Stengel). In the widely acclaimed article by Brills, the author states that US spends more on medical bills than the next ten developed countries put together. This is shocking, and the shock was evidenced by the self posted reviews of people who showed their medical bills on TIME magazine in the reader’s responses section. The readers openly show pictures with the medical problem they had and the bills they incurred. The figures are outrageous, for example, the man who was an outpatient for a knee surgery but was charged $30, 000 (Cooks et al). Head injuries like the knee surgery also need surgery. Most head injuries in America have been common among motorcycle riders. Statistics indicate that, in 1991, the number of head injuries from motor cycles was 15.9 million per year (US department of transportation). This number has the highest number of uninsured individuals who have to foot the bills themselves. Head injuries are severe and incredibly delicate thus need more time in the hospitals. In the reader’s response column of TIME magazine, staying in a hospital for one and a half month costs 999, 932.93 dollars (Cooks et al). Therefore, how much can it take an uninsured head injury in patient to get treatment from a public hospital in the United States? There are a number of head injury procedures and majority takes a long time to treat. The procedures include different settings depending on the severity of the injuries. Some head injuries patients are taken to the emergency room are considered very severe while some are taken to the trauma centre as they have not incurred severe head injuries but are in shock or have some skull fractures (US department of transportation). The last batch is taken to the hospitals they are mild cases that can be treated in the hospital. In some extreme cases, individuals sustain head injuries in crashes and die instantly or upon arrival at the emergency room. Matters of life and death require immediate attention and family members who often bear the burden cannot afford to waste time complaining about costs. As Brills states, the costs are indecipherable as hospitals charge what they want since the customers do not have the right to bargain or the control. In addition, clients have been misinformed on the reasons why the medial Brills are costly. The big question is how many times do individuals check the contents of their medical bills? The article on why medical bills are killing us has faced so many responses. In CNN, a surgeon made some comments on the issue of high medical costs in the United States. He supports Brills statements and inquiry since Brill has done his homework and practically deciphered what most people assume. According to the surgeon Rodger Perry (2013) in the medical fields competition raises costs and does not lower them like is the norm (Perry). This is the reason why billboards everywhere are full of shiny buildings, expansion programs and so much more advertisement of how their hospital buildings are the best. Additionally, the surgeon says that people are to blame since they fancy new and shiny things (hospitals) at their own expense because they believe they are better than the rest (old hospitals). The surgeon just like Brill emphasizes on the hidden costs on medical bills (Perry). He says that reform is needed since the hidden costs are enormous. It is for this reason that Brills says to all his students “opinions and policy contests are tedious and futile devoid of looking at the facts, without doing the sound work of actual coverage (Stengel)." He means that silence kills the society even more; therefore, it is the duty of everybody to check out their bills and demand to know why the costs are too much. There is evidence that hospitals do not face frequent lawsuits in long procedures like head injuries, thus use this privilege to order more costly procedures, and nobody does anything. Common lawsuits faced by hospitals are negligence and wrong prescriptions that lead to death or more complications to the patient. Head inquires take a long time, and since they are risky the hospitals extort the bill footers by convincing them that the procedure is the best. Conclusion Medical costs are high in the United States than the next ten next developed countries in the world. Hospitals have been known to overcharge its clients and these are what Steve Brills has uncovered in his article. In head injuries hospitals order more costly procedures as it is a precarious procedure and family members cannot question them. Furthermore, hospitals are protected against lawsuits involving long, complicated head injuries procedures. References Cooks, Erick et al. Readers Respond: “Your Hospital Bill Nightmares, via CNN iReport.” TIME health and family 28 February 2013. Available at Perry, Rodger. “Letters to the Editor: Read Reactions to ‘Bitter Pill’.” TIME health & family 7 March 2013.available at Stengel, Richard. “The high cost of care.” TIME magazine 4 March 2013. Available at US department of transportation. “Costs of Injuries Resulting from Motorcycle Crashes:A Literature Review.” Retrieved at March 30, 2013 Read More