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Industry Insights

Paduda: What Would You Do With Another $8,000?

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The U.S. health care system is costing you $8,000 more than it should. That’s because you, the consumer, are at the mercy of hospitals, insurers, doctors, device companies, pharma.

Joe Paduda

Joe Paduda

You know this.

You know the health care “system” is designed to make money for health care providers, big pharma, device companies, health plans — not to help you and your family stay healthy and functional. 

You know the health care system makes money — buckets of it.

You know we spend way more than any other country, yet we die younger.

You know Purdue Pharma made tens of billions of dollars addicting your neighbors and kids, and got away with it for decades.

You know this because the hospital industry has never been more profitable. Oh, and rural communities are losing hospitals because those hospitals aren’t profitable — despite the fact that rural Americans are losing access to desperately needed health care.

You know this because you can’t “negotiate” with your local hospital or insurance company or pharmacy because they have all the power and data and political influence, and you have none.

You know this because your health care premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs keep climbing — and your wages don’t.

Health care is not, and cannot ever be, a free market. A free market requires buyers have the ability to make sellers respond to buyers’ needs, yet we all know we consumers have zero ability to make pharma, hospitals, big doctor groups, device companies respond to our needs.

How dysfunctional is this “health care system” that costs you $8,000 more than it should?

Well, imagine if air travel were like health care.

This is why your family is paying the health care industry $8,000 more than you should: The industry has all the power. We have none.

What does this mean for you?

This will continue until you decide it won’t.

Joseph Paduda is co-owner of CompPharma, a consulting firm focused on improving pharmacy programs in workers’ compensation. This column is republished with his permission from his Managed Care Matters blog.

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