Health Care Costs: As Intractable As Ever

Wednesday's post was about how Bay Area ICU availability was near zero.

In June a Seattle man was billed $1,122,501
($26,726 per day) for his COVID hospitalization.

Adding to ICU capacity is extremely expensive. [bold added]

As San Mateo County reports record COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations, officials announced Monday a $4.5 million agreement to staff up to 10 additional intensive care beds at Dignity Health’s Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City....

Under the agreement, approximately 40 medical personnel will be deployed to the Sequoia Hospital for at least 30 days through a partnership with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, a company that provides clinical resources, such as personnel and health care solutions, to hospital settings worldwide.

A third grader could do the calculation: $4.5 million divided by 10 ICU beds = $450,000 per ICU bed. And the expenditure is not even an "investment" because it's short-lived ("30 days", primarily for staff costs). If these assertions are accepted at face value, the cost of an ICU bed is $15,000 per day.

After a decade of rancorous discussion about the pros and cons of public vs privatized health care, and a welter of hybrid solutions and technological innovation, the problem of rising health care costs is as intractable as over.