Listen: A Tussle With a Rattlesnake Can Take a Bite Out of Your Wallet

By Jackie Fortiér

November 20, 2024

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<br /> <span class="byline">Jackie Fortiér</span></p> <p>After their younger son was bitten by a rattlesnake and ended up in the pediatric intensive care unit, a San Diego couple received a huge bill. Listen to hear why antivenom is so expensive.</p> <p>This spring, a San Diego toddler spent two days in a pediatric intensive care unit after a rattlesnake bit his hand in his family’s backyard.</p> <p>The bills that followed were staggering, with the lifesaving antivenom the 2-year-old needed accounting for more than two-thirds of the total cost — $213,000.</p> <p>Why is antivenom so expensive? One explanation is the markup hospitals add to balance overhead costs and make money. Another explanation is a lack of meaningful competition. There are only two rattlesnake antivenoms approved by the Food and Drug Administration.</p> <p>Stacie Dusetzina, a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said it can be difficult to sort out drug pricing because a hospital bill is often an instrument insurers and hospitals use to negotiate prices. Patients such as the Pfeffers often get stuck in the middle.</p> <p>“When you see the word ‘charges,’ that’s a made-up number. That isn’t connected at all, usually, to what the actual drug cost,” Dusetzina said.</p> <p>Read more here.</p> <p>
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By Jackie Fortiér

November 20, 2024

Article HTML
<br /> <span class="byline">Jackie Fortiér</span></p> <p>After their younger son was bitten by a rattlesnake and ended up in the pediatric intensive care unit, a San Diego couple received a huge bill. Listen to hear why antivenom is so expensive.</p> <p>This spring, a San Diego toddler spent two days in a pediatric intensive care unit after a rattlesnake bit his hand in his family’s backyard.</p> <p>The bills that followed were staggering, with the lifesaving antivenom the 2-year-old needed accounting for more than two-thirds of the total cost — $213,000.</p> <p>Why is antivenom so expensive? One explanation is the markup hospitals add to balance overhead costs and make money. Another explanation is a lack of meaningful competition. There are only two rattlesnake antivenoms approved by the Food and Drug Administration.</p> <p>Stacie Dusetzina, a professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said it can be difficult to sort out drug pricing because a hospital bill is often an instrument insurers and hospitals use to negotiate prices. Patients such as the Pfeffers often get stuck in the middle.</p> <p>“When you see the word ‘charges,’ that’s a made-up number. That isn’t connected at all, usually, to what the actual drug cost,” Dusetzina said.</p> <p>Read more here.</p> <p>
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