{"id":10614,"date":"2013-12-13T18:45:07","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T18:45:07","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2013-12-13T18:45:07","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T18:45:07","slug":"the_free_market_would_fix_health_care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/12\/13\/the_free_market_would_fix_health_care\/","title":{"rendered":"The Free Market Would Fix Health Care"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Here\u2019s Wayne in Denver. Wayne, it\u2019s great to have you on the EIB Network and Open Line Friday. Hi.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, Rush. It\u2019s a great privilege to talk to you.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Thank you very much, sir.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Hey, I am a conservative, and I am not going to go away.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Nor am I, and it\u2019s great to hear you say that.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah.<\/p>\n

RUSH: There\u2019s nothing they can do to send us away.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. Hey, something else. I listen to your podcast every day, and you hit a home run yesterday when you talked about the cost of drugs. That was absolutely the best explanation that I\u2019ve seen. I am 63 years old. We\u2019re about the same age.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

CALLER: I was in business for myself for 12 years, and what I saw happen over that 12-year period, and the reason that I sold my business, is insurance came into the picture, and the market became the copay. No one cared about the cost of drugs. For example, an antihistamine went up to $90 a month cost to the pharmacy, but the patient was paying $2.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Wait a second. Prescription antihistamine was $90 a month to you?<\/p>\n

CALLER: To me.<\/p>\n

RUSH: An antihistamine was $90?<\/p>\n

CALLER: My cost was $90, and the patient cost was $2.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: So the patients stopped caring with what drugs cost.<\/p>\n

RUSH: They never even knew. They got to the point they didn\u2019t know what the real cost was. Now they\u2019re finding out.<\/p>\n

CALLER: They didn\u2019t know. They didn\u2019t know, and that\u2019s why your point about if we woulda stayed on a cash basis is so critically important, because when I was in business in 1988, our average prescription cost was $17.50, cash price. Now it\u2019s well over $100.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, and now people are finding out, with what is all happening at Obamacare, that they are gonna be liable not for two bucks outta 90 —<\/p>\n

CALLER: No.<\/p>\n

RUSH: — but for 88 bucks outta 90.<\/p>\n

CALLER: I\u2019m really concerned. I\u2019m extremely concerned.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Because people can\u2019t afford what they gonna cost now.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Yeah. Rush, you know, the issue was never insurance. They made the issue insurance instead of access to care.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right.<\/p>\n

CALLER: And when you —<\/p>\n

RUSH: Now, Wayne, when you say “they” made the issue, who are you talking about?<\/p>\n

CALLER: Well for one thing, Big Pharma. You know, the drug companies made insurance an issue. Now Obamacare is all about insurance. It\u2019s not about access to health care. I don\u2019t think anybody suffers from being able to access health care. But when we invite the insurance companies to play, they\u2019re gonna make the rules, and we\u2019re gonna see limits to —<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: But that\u2019s not uncommon. Whoever pays always makes the rules. Parents paying for a kid, they make the rules.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Absolutely, Rush. Absolutely.<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s not that the insurance companies are inherently bad or evil. It\u2019s just human nature is human nature.<\/p>\n

CALLER: That\u2019s exactly right. That\u2019s exactly right. And we\u2019ve seen — we\u2019ve seen some crazy things. Albuterol inhalers, which is a rescue inhaler for asthmatics.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Five years ago, those were $17, cash price. Now they\u2019re $65.<\/p>\n

RUSH: It\u2019s just unbelievable.<\/p>\n

CALLER: You know why? Because we had to change the propellant to save the ozone.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah, it\u2019s not even a drug cost.<\/p>\n

CALLER: It\u2019s not even a drug cost, and they don\u2019t work as good. They don\u2019t work as good, and they cost about four times the cost of what they used to be.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Right. So the FDA gets in there, along with the environmentalist wackos, and on a basis of a hoax, the idea that the old stock of inhalers was somehow destroying the ozone and creating global warming.<\/p>\n

CALLER: Exactly.<\/p>\n

RUSH: It was a crock anyway, but you have all these third parties, the insurance companies are in there. What it ends up is, the patient has it magically paid for via the insurance policy and therefore is not in touch with what it really costs.<\/p>\n

CALLER: He doesn\u2019t see the cost. You know, Rush, it\u2019s like if I were to send you over to get a car. We have a street here in Denver where all the car dealerships are.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Yeah?<\/p>\n

CALLER: What if I just sent you over there and said, “Pick out a car”?<\/p>\n

RUSH: Well, I\u2019d call John Elway for a deal. He owns that street, doesn\u2019t he?<\/p>\n

CALLER: (laughing) If I didn\u2019t place any restrictions on you, you are gonna drive away with something with all kinds of toots and whistles. That\u2019s what insurance has done to the pharmaceutical industry, is it\u2019s hidden the true cost of the product from the consumer.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: Exactly. But, you know, Wayne, it\u2019s not just the pharmaceuticals. It\u2019s every aspect of health care. The cost of saying in a hospital has gone out of whack, based on there\u2019s no connection to market forces. There\u2019s no connection to the consumer\u2019s ability to pay in practically any aspect of health care. And that, by the way, is where the fix for this is. And it really isn\u2019t that complicated. But the people involved in it don\u2019t want an uncomplicated fix. They want more involvement by the government. It\u2019s seedy. <\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m glad you heard the podcasts yesterday. I\u2019m glad you heard the point made \u2019cause I think it\u2019s a fundamental point. The idea that nothing in health care is priced in relationship to the patient\u2019s ability to pay for it, and everything else in life is. That\u2019s why there are different quality products, hotels, cars, different ways to buy tickets, seats on an airline. All different price categories can handle every segment of the market and their ability to pay. In health care, it\u2019s been thrown out the window. You\u2019ve got a government disinterested, a third party that is responsible for making payment, and the people being treated have lost all concept until they lose their insurance. That\u2019s what they\u2019re finding now. <\/p>\n

In fact, I think Sebelius has decreed that the new Obamacare plans are gonna cover refills under the old plans for a little while longer. ‘Cause people are reacting, “What do you mean? This prescription costs me $1,800 or $1,200. I can\u2019t afford that.” “Okay, okay, okay, we\u2019ll keep it under the old rules for a while.” Just like you can keep your old plan for a while, if the insurance companies go along with it. This thing has been so bastardized and blown up now, it is totally out of control. It is an absolute, total mess. And we haven\u2019t even gotten to the cancellation notices for the 80% who get their health insurance at work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Here\u2019s Wayne in Denver. Wayne, it\u2019s great to have you on the EIB Network and Open Line Friday. Hi. CALLER: Hey, Rush. It\u2019s a great privilege to talk to you. RUSH: Thank you very much, sir. CALLER: Hey, I am a conservative, and I am not going to go away. RUSH: Nor am I, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Free Market Would Fix Health Care - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2013\/12\/13\/the_free_market_would_fix_health_care\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"The Free Market Would Fix Health Care - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: Here\u2019s Wayne in Denver. Wayne, it\u2019s great to have you on the EIB Network and Open Line Friday. Hi. CALLER: Hey, Rush. 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