Larry Jaques wrote:
On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 03:57:32 -0400, Gary Coffman
calmly ranted:


On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 20:20:30 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:

So why is it harder to get a routine heart transplant now
than it was 30 years ago? Why does that cost 20 times as
much as it did then, when the only specialist was 1,000
miles away in a special hospital? (These figures are from
the same thin air you grasped that earlier comment

30 years ago heart transplants were *not* routine. They
were experimental, and most of the people who got them
didn't live more than a few weeks or months.


No, I meant that -today- they were routine; you can get
one from a backwater hospital.



It has taken a *huge* amount of work to learn how to
make transplants routine. That work was extremely
expensive, and the drug companies, doctors, hospitals,
etc are now trying to recoup those costs.


It's $500-$1k to walk into a hospital for a couple stitches
nowadays, too. That's routine, wasn't expensive to learn
(over and above medical school), and takes no drugs. And
aspirin (Tylenol now) shouldn't cost $5-8 a tab.

Greed, waste, and inefficiency come to mind.

Obviously there is something seriously wrong here. For example, my wife
and I were living in Italy 3 years ago when she came down with a severe
case of bronchitis. As U.S. citizens we were not covered by the Italian
national health insurance, so we had to call a local physician and were
prepared to pay through the nose, as we had heard all the horror stories
and propaganda about the exorbinant fees charged non-covered individuals
in Europe.

Much to our surprise, the doctor actually made a house call the same
day, coming to our apartment, examining my wife, giving her an
antibiotic injection as well as a prescription for two weeks worth of
antibiotics. While he was at it he gave both of us a flu shot. The
total cost: $25US, and it cost $7.50 to fill the prescription. The
difference - probably the lack of ambulance chasing lawyers and
frivolous malpractice suits combined with physicians who aren't in the
profession solely to get rich. It certainly couldn't be less waste and
inefficiency, this was Italy after all.....BG

Several Italian friends used the national health care for some very
major surgeries and other treatment and the care was done well and in a
timely manner. Of course they do pay higher taxes, but it seems to work.

Bob