The hospital business

 I just finished a book called The Hospital, by Brian Alexander. Here are a few things I learned:

• Health is our nation’s largest industry—a $3.6 trillion enterprise. Doesn’t that strike you as out of whack?
• From 1998 through mid-2019 The US experienced 57.6 percent inflation for all goods and services above the 1998 baseline. Hospital services rose over 200 percent.
• Manufacturers of products used in hospitals have merged to become oligopolies, such that they dominate the market and can raise prices with impunity. One manufacturer of saline bags raised its price by 100 percent in 2019.
• Drug companies raised their prices by 26 percent from 2017 to 2018, and some way more than that. Insulin medications ballooned by 500 percent, from $35 to $300 per vial.
• Manufacturers of products such as joint replacements have paid orthopedic surgeons “consulting fees” of between tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars per physician, in return for their brand loyalty.
• Merging hospitals into conglomerates doesn’t result in increased efficiency and reduced rates. Just the opposite. In Colorado, for example, a hospital conglomerate increased its rates such that its profits rose from $538 per patient to $1,518. The hospitals use the money to pay big salaries, store the money in cash hoards, and invest it.

Sorry—I could go on and on. There is no end to this stuff.

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