Hospitals across the U.S. are under fire after reports revealed they charge up to $700 for a single IV bag of saline solution that costs less than $2 to produce.

https://i.redd.it/jh9ix2r8mwzf1.png

by Conscious-Quarter423

10 comments

  1. This is misleading, as they do not charge for the bag. They charge, and probably in this order, for: profit for the shareholders, profit for the insurance company, salaries of the management, salaries of the doctors, salaries of the administration, being in a hospital – as any hotel, salaries of the nurses, salaries of the janitors, and then for the bag. Also when the question is literally money or life, patients have not many choices.

  2. Downvoted. This is just a picture with no attached sources. Some googling around doesn’t reveal any promising sources either.

    Look, there are definitely issues with how healthcare works. There’s no reason to lie about it though. Up-charging happens at pretty much every level.

  3. This started on Facebook. Doing my due diligence I could only find sources that point back to Facebook. I’m not dismissing this as not true, legit source needed.

  4. I got an ambulance ride to the hospital a few months ago. One bag of saline and 30 mins in the ER, $2600 (after insurance). $7000 before. Fuck. This. Shit.

  5. I’ve been screaming this from the rooftops. The high medical prices are because of greedy providers and pharma companies, not the insurance companies!

  7. I’m sure the price would be dramatically lower if there weren’t several middlemen taking their cuts while offering little to no patient care in between.

  8. This is sick but rarely talked about how greedy hospitals are. We are a nation of grifters, grifting on each other to make ordinary consumers pay. No other nation’s health care system works like this. Going to the emergency room in Shanghai costs you about $30, IV included. A coworker over drank, got sick and had to visit the ER.

  9. Mark Cuban’s pharmacy and Costco prices are capped at 15% above cost.
    There are grocery stores that only charge a 10% checkout price above cost.

    There are business models that cap prices barely above cost and still manage to still make a profit.
    Somehow we don’t cover everyone and simultaneously spend more treating people per capita, how is this logical?

    Just for MRIs
    US: $1,000+
    Switzerland: $138
    Mexico: $110 -$826 (public vs private options)

    Sources:
    [https://stockdividendscreener.com/discount-stores/costco/costco-profit-margin-breakdown/](https://stockdividendscreener.com/discount-stores/costco/costco-profit-margin-breakdown/)

    [https://www.costplusdrugs.com/mission/](https://www.costplusdrugs.com/mission/)

    [https://www.foodkingcostplus.com/Pages/21516/About%20Us](https://www.foodkingcostplus.com/Pages/21516/About%20Us)

    [https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/how-do-healthcare-prices-and-use-in-the-u-s-compare-to-other-countries](https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/how-do-healthcare-prices-and-use-in-the-u-s-compare-to-other-countries)

    [https://www.pacificprime.com/blog/how-much-is-an-mri-in-mexico.html](https://www.pacificprime.com/blog/how-much-is-an-mri-in-mexico.html)

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