When it comes to health care solutions, there have been many politicians who keep telling everyone that they are going to fight for you so you do not get charge $18 for an aspirin or Ibuprofen on your next hospital bill. This only shows their ignorance of the problem and without knowing the causes it is impossible to fix it. So here is what is going on so that you know.

The hospital bills the pill out at $18 to the insurance company because the insurance company demands discounts of anywhere from 55% to 90% on all bills it receives from the hospital. With a small item like this it is 90%. So the hospital bills it out at $18 dollars and receives a $1.80 in payment. This $1.80, includes getting a doctors permission to give you the pill so as to cover their butt from any malpractice suit that is sure to happen if something goes wrong; a nurse to go get it; and a pharmacy from which to obtain it . Considering all the labor and paperwork involve, $1.80 is a reasonable price.

Also what must be taken into consideration, is that you have asked someone else to cover this cost as part of your insurance instead of taking care of it yourself (see SOLUTIONS). When my wife had our daughter, one of the things that I put in our “to go” suitcase was a bottle of Ibuprofen. When she wanted one, she opened the bottle and took it. It cost us about $0.04.