Healthcare costs

More than ever. Here’s the free market’s latest innovation to keep costs down.

Health insurance companies are rapidly adopting a new pricing system for very expensive drugs, asking patients to pay hundreds and even thousands of dollars for prescriptions for medications that may save their lives or slow the progress of serious diseases.

With the new pricing system, insurers abandoned the traditional arrangement that has patients pay a fixed amount, like $10, $20 or $30 for a prescription, no matter what the drug’s actual cost. Instead, they are charging patients a percentage of the cost of certain high-priced drugs, usually 20 to 33 percent, which can amount to thousands of dollars a month.

The system means that the burden of expensive health care can now affect insured people, too.

Guess which presidential candidate is still talking about bullshit like health savings accounts and tax breaks to “increase incentives for insurance coverage” — in short, keeping healthcare in the free market that’s doing such a great job of controlling costs. Here’s a clue: His name rhymes with “John McCain.”