Life on the National Health

    By Flavius on Tue, 09/04/2012 - 3:34pm |

    Here's a message I received today  from a friend in England.

    On the National Health,of course.


     
    The Whit invited me to come to a daily anti coagulation clinic for an injection for the first week or two and blood test. When I explained how desperate I was to get to work at this  xxx building in xxx, and that I couldn't be in two places at once, the consultant came up with an alternative proposal. I was allowed to leave with a supply of syringes if I could prove to a senior nurse I could inject myself in the stomach. I did it for the first time yesterday. I do it so slowly the needle is genuinely painless. We do this until the warfarin builds up. I am permitted to gate crash a ward full of sleeping people at 6 am (it was today) or 7am the rest of the week to have blood taken. A Dr (female, 28) phones me during the day to give the result and say how much wafarin I should take on the day.  The blood test tells us how thin the blood has got. Normal is score of 1. We are aiming to get it between 2 and 3. Yesterday after a day's worth of this it was at 1.2. I didn't ask today's number.
     
    This special arrangement by the NHS for me lets me carry on my treatment and still work. Bloody brilliant.
     
    We don't know how long I'll need to take Warfarin. It might be six months. 

     

    .....................................................................................................

    Remind me . What are the problems with socialized medicine?
     

    Comments

    AZ Hospital stings scorpion victim.

    Socialized medicine likely wouldn't charge a scorpion bite victim $39,652 each for two doses of anti-venom which sell for $100 in Mexico.

    The charge may have been even higher as Dignity Health, formerly Catholic Healthcare West, is supposedly a non-profit provider.

    The magic of free enterprise medicine doesn't work too well when you are going blind and can't walk in a medical emergency:

    ..Weeks later, she received a bill for $83,046 from Chandler Regional Medical Center. The hospital, owned by Dignity Health, charged her $39,652 per dose of Anascorp.

    The Arizona Republic reported last year about the pricey markup Arizona hospitals were charging for the antivenom made in Mexico. Pharmacies in Mexico charge about $100 per dose.

    After the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug last year, Tennessee-based Rare Disease Therapeutics sold the drug to a distributor for $3,500 per dose. The distributor charged hospitals about $3,780 per dose....Edmonds' insurer, Humana, has paid Chandler Regional $57,509 for the bill. The hospital has asked Edmonds for the balance of $25,537...


    by NCD on Tue, 09/04/2012 - 5:16pm

    A perfect illustration.Thanks

    The Market works by making use of self interest. .It results in entrepreneurs producing things people want and in people refusing to buy until the price makes sense.

    In lots of cases.

    Not in the case of health.You can't refuse to buy when you need the antivenom.


    by Flavius on Tue, 09/04/2012 - 9:19pm

    Latest Comments