2021-04-08
53 分钟Kidney failure is such a catastrophic (and expensive) disease that Medicare covers treatment for anyone, regardless of age. Since Medicare reimbursement rates are fairly low, the dialysis industry had to find a way to tweak the system if they wanted to make big profits. They succeeded.
On last week's episode, we asked whether the us healthcare system is really as messed up as people think.
Oh, I think absolutely.
The US health system is as messed up as people think it is.
Probably more so in the US.
We spend 17% of our gdp on healthcare, around $3.5 trillion a year.
The big players are doing extremely well.
The stakeholders are making a ton of money, except for one stakeholder, which is the patient.
As we were interviewing doctors and healthcare economists and policymakers, there was one story that kept coming up as a cautionary tale.
Here's Zach Cooper.
He's a healthcare economist at Yale.
You want to know why the us healthcare system's messed up?
Look at how we treat folks with end stage renal disease.
End stage renal disease, or ESRD, is the final and permanent stage of chronic kidney disease.
It's also known as kidney failure.
By this point, the kidneys are no longer able to form the vital function of filtering your blood.
Left untreated, the condition is fatal.
What are the treatment options?
Here's Ryan McDevitt, an economist at Duke.
Transplant is the most preferred option.
It's the only way to cure this condition long term.