American Medical BillSheet

The Runaway Train Our Country Has Become

Trump announced he wants to spend $1.5 Trillion on Defense, which parallels this medical spending [KFF source]

Here’s a basic comparison of healthcare costs across countries. Both involve an iron infusion. My wife took one of my daughters to Kazakhstan last summer to visit the grandparents, while I stayed home with the other to save money. While there, she had a simple procedure and paid out of pocket and was looking to repeat it in the US as it was helpful.

The iron infusion in Kazakhstan was provided professionally, without insurance, over three visits. It costs $100 per visit, plus a $15 doctor fee, totaling $115 for all — including materials, medication, doctor, nurses, facility costs, and utilities. In the U.S., with insurance, the co-pay is $1,500.

That’s not the total amount they bill in America. Since we have “good” insurance, we get a discount because the insurance company negotiates a lower overall bill and then charges a portion of that as a co-pay. But it’s the same iron drip formula in the same IV bag, with the same plastic tubes and needles. There’s no difference in treatment, professionalism, cleanliness, or quality.

The following case is one I should handle by contacting the insurance company to demand lower costs and greater accountability, as it is even more outrageous and opaque. My daughter went to a local emergency room, received a saline IV, and had blood and flu tests, all just because she felt a bit dizzy. Again, there was no new procedure or medical technique different from those used over the past 50 years. It turned out to be nothing more than a common sickness. The doctor visited her three times for about three minutes each, and the nurse came in several times to draw blood and insert the IV. Afterwards, she went home.

When the hospital ER extension (not an urgent care center) opened 10 years ago, the co-pay was $75, which was high. It increased to $150 a few years later, then to $250 last year. For her visit, it’s $300, but they are somehow asking for $900. I plan to call them to ask why. This was a simple visit.

But that isn’t the real issue. The total bill without insurance is $12,000. They have the right to bill whenever they want, for whatever they want. There’s no regulation, no oversight — just madness. For two hours of “work,” which included a plastic tube, a saline drip bag, a piece of paper on the medical table, some gloves, a needle for the drip and blood, along with a blood test on a machine, they are charging the price of a used 2020 Honda Civic.

Their numbers no longer add up. Yes, I understand they have capital fees and utility bills and that they are a business, but which business can double or triple their costs in 10 years? There’s been no change in the services or materials used, all the same as 10 years ago.

If you have health insurance, this bill is a disgrace. If you do, though, it remains outrageous. The government no longer plays a role in transparency and price controls for this vital industry. In terms of the war industry (or the Industry of War, as Hegseth might call it), the contracts can charge whatever they want to Congress. The American public has never voted on a major platform to cut that in half, and there is no serious public demand to stop them.

In many ways, these industries have learned that there is almost no oversight and no real guardrails, as Trump has figured out with his authority over military power in starting wars. They have gotten their way in Congress over the last 20 years, and the public has had no meaningful pushback anymore. Neither political party makes any meaningful calls and makes bland statements only about insulin prices and some generic healthcare thing. In other words, they barely need to genuflect to the public, as there has been no restraint or change.

Voting has not influenced outcomes. The healthcare industry lacks oversight and has a complex, state-by-state billing system for insurance, even though it falls under the same umbrella, like Blue Cross or UnitedHealthcare. Within each state, every hospital system and hospital sets its own prices to bill insurance companies differently. It’s remarkably complex and clearly profitable.

Like the defense industry, no one knows what the “true costs” should be or even what is reasonable. Since there is no overall competition, as Americans can’t buy these services from abroad, we are left with no meaningful government transparency and industries charging whatever they want. They have lobbyists and PR firms to defend them, and have barely approached the largest hedge funds and equity management companies behind them, pushing for significant profits and less transparency and accountability. Politicians are completely in their pockets, and there is no public involvement or meaningful, unified demand.

We have a runaway train with no brakes. As long as the mainstream media doesn’t use precise legal language, doesn’t make the language less confrontational toward the government, and maintains its tone, the American public will be misled, and this nightmare can persist. Since we don’t hold both political parties accountable, we lose.

This is not an industry problem and has nothing to do with “greed.” It is about the absolute lack of government restraint and control over the industry. No other country I’m aware of (though you may be) has guardrails on these critical industries and lets the prices spiral out of control, doubling and tripling in a decade.

Some countries may face backlash, like in the UK, but politicians feel and hear it. I highly doubt these basic procedures have experienced such outrageous jumps in billing in any other European country. The outrage isn’t felt in DC. Public anger is low and now directed at each other’s parties. Vague and empty gestures are made, like Trump’s laughable and insincere performance on “affordability.”

That alone is a foolish term. The entire American public should refer to it as theft, a rip-off, and criminal extortion. We allow the media and politicians to control the language. During the government shutdown last fall, Democrats had Senator Chuck Schumer and a few others hold up a sign that said “Healthcare.”

That’s it, just one word. ‘Hemorrhoid’ would have been a more effective word. Both parties are engaging in vague and meaningless drivel-phrases to persuade their voters. The general public is now starting to wake up and sense the deep gap that has grown over the past twenty years and reveals just how out of touch Congress and politicians across all three branches are with popular sentiment.

Trump acts contrary to his promises. Meanwhile, Biden streamed a pro-Israel ethnic cleansing, revealing that they disregard public opinion and operate from a different value system behind their public facade. Over the last decade, both presidents exemplify their parties’ unified attitude: ignoring what the public wants and controlling the narrative with vague, meaningless talk — now just empty chatter — that doesn’t reflect their true values.

Global bombing and starting wars are reduced to mere “actions,” military exercises, avoiding congressional oversight when initiating conflicts, and bombing countries at will (Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria under Trump) or funding and supporting ethnic cleansing on a massive scale (Biden supplying Israel), all while ignoring the UN norm that the US itself established regarding disproportionate response to being attacked.

Although I am comparing these bills with those of other countries, it is fairer to examine them within the defense industry and the government’s stance to see that there is no genuine public input. Voting for either party will only lead to different rhetoric and attitudes. Nonetheless, it will result in the same out-of-control billing that these industries impose, harming American taxpayers and consumers.

I think there’s a crack opening up underneath, revealing that Americans are far more united than we believed, despite the brainwashing of “polarization” we’ve endured. Our medical bills speak louder than words and feel a lot deeper than the attacks and bombings in other countries. The lives lost to these medical bills are piling up just like the bodies overseas, including the dozens of Cubans killed in Venezuela, which Trump’s invasion caused.

As long as we lose focus and refuse to blame Congress, which regulates all industries but clearly isn’t doing so effectively, and instead blame corporations for making money, we will have no effect on the results. As new distractions arise, we will forget quickly, and the gap in public awareness may close again. Our bills will keep skyrocketing, and these industries will remain uncontrolled, unregulated, and out of reach for the next two decades.