The majority had serious comorbidities. Usually cardiac, respiratory or kidney health issues that were already endangering their life.
Many of the people who came in and died, had these underlying issues but hadn't seen a doctor in months or years. Some of them had never been diagnosed with these health issues, even though it was clear as day that they had them from their tests. Here's an example (detauils and numbers slightly altered so there is no match with any patient chart)
Me: "What have you been taking for your high blood pressure?"
Patient: "I don't have high blood pressure."
Me: "185/110 is high blood pressure. Your BNP is 345, which typically indicates congestive heart failure. Your EKG shows an inferior septal infarct of unknown age. "
Patient: "I've been healthy all my life."
Patient's spouse: "I've been telling patient to go to a doctor for years. Patient wakes up gasping for air, won't quit smoking and has been very sick for months."
I look at patient
Patient: "Yeah, spouse wanted me to come in since last October."
Patient technically died that night in the hospital with cardiac arrest. We got ROSC, intubated the patient sent them to the ICU. It took a long time before patient was able to go home. The patient survived. Had they died, it would have been classified as a Covid death. The patient was Covid positive, but that was only an incidental factor. A cold, a flu, a UTI, or a bad skin infection would have just as easily killed this patient.
The same is true for most of the "covid" deaths I have seen. This doesn't mean it was all of them. A few otherwise healthy young patients we had died from this disease and nothing else that we know of. Those were usually very rapid declines - people dying in a matter of hours. Fortunately, the vast majority of Covid cases we are seeing don't need to be hospitalized. The ones that do almost always have serious comorbidities.
In general terms, you are correct about outrageous prices.
Preventative visits, and routine wellness office visits for stuff like blood pressure shouldn't cost anything. I know a lot of insurance companies do add on a BS copay cost, but that shouldn't be allowed either, unless someone was abusing it and that could be done on a case by case basis.
When it comes to procedures and things out of the norm, a good portion (25-33%+) of what you are paying goes to pay for people who don't pay for their health care. Some aren't legally in the country and have no insurance. Others don't have insurance because there's no affordable plan for them and a few just choose not to pay for insurance or their bills.
Overhead to process all the claims is 10-15% of your bill.
The majority had serious comorbidities. Usually cardiac, respiratory or kidney health issues that were already endangering their life.
Many of the people who came in and died, had these underlying issues but hadn't seen a doctor in months or years. Some of them had never been diagnosed with these health issues, even though it was clear as day that they had them from their tests. Here's an example (detauils and numbers slightly altered so there is no match with any patient chart)
Me: "What have you been taking for your high blood pressure?"
Patient: "I don't have high blood pressure."
Me: "185/110 is high blood pressure. Your BNP is 345, which typically indicates congestive heart failure. Your EKG shows an inferior septal infarct of unknown age. "
Patient: "I've been healthy all my life."
Patient's spouse: "I've been telling patient to go to a doctor for years. Patient wakes up gasping for air, won't quit smoking and has been very sick for months."
I look at patient
Patient: "Yeah, spouse wanted me to come in since last October."
Patient technically died that night in the hospital with cardiac arrest. We got ROSC, intubated the patient sent them to the ICU. It took a long time before patient was able to go home. The patient survived. Had they died, it would have been classified as a Covid death. The patient was Covid positive, but that was only an incidental factor. A cold, a flu, a UTI, or a bad skin infection would have just as easily killed this patient.
The same is true for most of the "covid" deaths I have seen. This doesn't mean it was all of them. A few otherwise healthy young patients we had died from this disease and nothing else that we know of. Those were usually very rapid declines - people dying in a matter of hours. Fortunately, the vast majority of Covid cases we are seeing don't need to be hospitalized. The ones that do almost always have serious comorbidities.
If your industry wouldn't charge that man $30k after insurance for a high blood pressure visit, he might go more often.
In general terms, you are correct about outrageous prices.
Preventative visits, and routine wellness office visits for stuff like blood pressure shouldn't cost anything. I know a lot of insurance companies do add on a BS copay cost, but that shouldn't be allowed either, unless someone was abusing it and that could be done on a case by case basis.
When it comes to procedures and things out of the norm, a good portion (25-33%+) of what you are paying goes to pay for people who don't pay for their health care. Some aren't legally in the country and have no insurance. Others don't have insurance because there's no affordable plan for them and a few just choose not to pay for insurance or their bills.
Overhead to process all the claims is 10-15% of your bill.