Hospital charges snake bite victim $89,000 for treatment

Saturday, February 01, 2014 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Tags: snake bite victim, hospital treatment, exorbitant pricing

(NaturalNews) The American medical industry has become a con, an economic hoax, bloating prices to unthinkable levels for simple medical services. It's obvious that the medical industry tries to rake in as much as they can from insurance companies as patients are caught in the whirlwind. It's hard to blame them, as they must compensate for government interventionist medical programs that spike prices for the average person.

Financial tug of war in the American medical system

In response to ballooned prices, the insurance companies have steadily raised premiums in the past decade to compensate, but this trajectory is unsustainable. Many businesses can no longer afford to offer medical insurance. That's why the federal government has gotten involved in the industry again. With the Affordable Care Act coming in to save the day, government now requires everyone to throw money into the insurance cesspool. But that isn't working either, as people refuse to sign up for policy premiums that continue to rise even under the ACA.

The root cause of this financial melee: the corruption of the medical system itself and its catalyst - government intervention - started decades ago.

In a controlled medical system that is dictated by pharmaceutical enterprises, medical education is coerced and innovation is muffled.

Coerced medical education means drug companies hire medical writers to publish pro-drug literature that is taught down to medical professionals.

Muffled innovation means that more practical, nutrition-based, natural solutions are restricted. A multitude of conditions could be treated with less intervention, less expense and more prevention.

Fear is a driving force in the medical industry, spawning multiple unnecessary tests and hypochondriac behavior. Unnecessary surgeries balloon the price of healthcare today, while disease management continues to drug people on and on. Root causes of health conditions are disregarded.

Man charged 89 grand for simple snake bite treatment

This bloated system leads many normal unsuspecting people into financial distress. When hospitals begin charging $89,000 for a simple snake bite treatment, something has definitely gone awry.

Sadly, this was exactly the price passed on to a couple in North Carolina, who were billed outrageously for an 18-hour emergency room stay that totaled a whopping $89,000. Who knew a simple snake could nearly bring a man to bankruptcy? Now the man, Eric Ferguson, from Mooresville, N.C., is speaking out about the snake bite last summer that sent him those outrageous bills for treatment.

Government intervention via Medicare, Medicaid is ballooning prices across the board

The catalyst also working inside this flawed system is government intervention.

According to the hospital, Lake Norman Regional, their pricing is where it needs to be. They defended their prices in a statement to the local newspaper: "Hospitals only collect a small percentage of our charges, or 'list prices.' We are required to give Medicare one level of discount from list price, Medicaid another, and private insurers negotiate for still others. ... If we did not start with the list prices we have, we would not end up with enough revenue to remain in operation. ... Our costs for providing uncompensated care are partially covered by higher bills for other patients."

So what makes one think more government intervention via the Affordable Care Act is going to help?

The couple found out that they were paying excessively more for the vials of antivenom to cover for uncompensated care provided through the government's Medicare and Medicaid programs.

They were paying $20,000 for each vial of antivenom, and they found that this was to ease the prices for the Medicare program, which pays around $9,460 for the same treatment.

Also, the couple found out that the retail price of the vials could be found for as low as $750, showing how bloated the hospital prices were in the first place.

Those people who responsibly pay cash for their medical needs may suddenly become bankrupted for a very simple treatment. It's easy to see how government intervention for decades in the medical system and drug company coercion on medical education has created a system of unnecessary intervention and prices beyond insane.

Sources for this article include:

http://healthland.time.com