Sticker Shock

Here’s one way to start getting health care spending under control – and it’s one thing that all the players really don’t want to do – so you know it’s got to be a good idea!

The idea is so simple, it’s ludicrous no one has thought to mention it before: Let’s make a law that every health care provider, every laboratory, every hospital and every pharmacy has to tell you what their products and services cost BEFORE you purchase them. Not just the co-pay amounts and out of pocket costs – the actual retail price. When you think about it, health care is the one area where we spend a large percentage of our incomes and we never bother to ask the price before we buy – where else do we do this?

The American consumer is only concerned with what it something cost them out of pocket – not what it will actually cost them down the road in higher premiums, etc.

And most of them (not you and me, of course) still believe in Star Trek Economics.

Let’s start asking: What does that test cost? Do I really need another MRI? What does an office visit cost? Do I really need to see you twice a month? How much does that Rx cost? Is there a cheaper version? Another more affordable alternative?

Like lemmings off a cliff, we remain blissfully unaware of what our health care truly cost as we leap into the abyss. If we were aware, we might be prone to make more fiscally responsible decisions when managing our health.


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