Thursday, July 12, 2012

Physicians Do Financial Harm to the U.S. Health Care System

 BIG mark-up

According to a front-page story in today's New York Times, this is what happens when doctors dispense drugs on their own:

Insurers Pay Big Markups as Doctors Dispense Drugs. (The New York Times, 7/12/2012)

Excerpt:    Most common among physicians who treat injured workers, it is a twist on a typical doctor’s visit. Instead of sending patients to drugstores to get prescriptions filled, doctors dispense the drugs in their offices to patients, with the bills going to insurers. Doctors can make tens of thousands of dollars a year operating their own in-office pharmacies. The practice has become so profitable that private equity firms are buying stakes in the businesses, and political lobbying over the issue is fierce.

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