When we talk about out of control health care costs, we rarely go beyond discussing insurance premiums, deductibles, coinsurance and copays for medical services and prescription drugs. We almost never talk about the high cost machinery medical professionals use everyday to treat medical conditions and whether they can be replaced with low cost alternatives. In fact, we often brag about having the latest, most expensive medical technology in the world.

It’s Time To Focus On Medical Equipment Costs

I admit I never thought about the cost of medical equipment until after reading a recent article about a Canadian teenager, Anya Pogharian, who invented a low-cost portable dialysis machine. What started out as a school science project is now receiving international attention as a possible alternative to traditional high-cost, facility-based dialysis treatment.

The young inventor was moved to create the device after volunteering at a hospital dialysis facility. She envisioned an alternative to having dialysis patients visit the hospital several times a week to receive treatment lasting up to four (4) hours. She was also concerned about the high cost of traditional machines that make them out of reach to dialysis patients in poorer countries, like India. As part of an internship in a professional lab, she will have an opportunity to test her machine on real blood. The cost to build her machine was approximately $500 dollars.

Reading this news made we want to find out if a similar device was being contemplated by an American company or individual. The good news is that it is. One of the world’s most profitable and successful medical device makers, Medtronic, Inc., is working to create a portable dialysis device. However, this device is not for the U.S. market, but for India. Medtronic is partnering with Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd in India in making the device.

The article on Anya’s invention also made me realize that these are the kind of inventions we will have to make if we are ever to have affordable universal health care in America. Now, but especially with universal health care, we need to invest in reducing the cost of medical care by lowering the cost of medical equipment. We also need to look at reducing medical care cost by treating and monitoring patients at home, when possible, versus paying expensive hospital and medical facility fees. Not to mention avoiding the health risks hospitals pose that result in more harm and greater cost…

To get an understanding of what dialysis treatment is and when it’s needed, read this from the National Kidney Foundation.

Why Portable Dialysis Device Are A Good Test For Reducing Health Care Costs. The focus on finding a low-cost dialysis treatment at home is a good test of our ability to reduce health care cost. Why? Because dialysis treatment is expensive... The cost of dialysis treatment at a facility and without insurance coverage can be as high as $72,000 per year. And the need for dialysis treatment is growing. In 2015, the worldwide dialysis market was valued at about $69 billion; that figure is projected to increase by $25 billion by 2020. And the U.S. has a big share of the dialysis market.

Conclusion

Moving to a universal health care system requires moving away from a money making system to a care giving system. This may be why there is such a push back from the health care sector and free-market advocates when it comes to universal health care. Unfortunately for them a Canadian teenager has put a spotlight on the con the free market is playing on us—making us believe that there are no low-cost medical care alternatives.

Anya Pogharian and Medtronic are still working on and testing their dialysis devices. Both are working with a small budget but seem confident that they can invent the device. Medtronic is investing a paltry (for them) $24-$25 million in their dialysis device venture with India. But unlike, Canadian teenager, Anya Pogharian, they have not mentioned making this device available worldwide as a low cost, more convenient alternative for dialysis patients. Nor have they mentioned expanding the features of the product beyond the specifications of their agreement.

This teenager is proving that pursuing alternatives to high cost medical treatments is worthwhile and necessary in a universal health care model. It is hard to believe that the country with the most advanced health care technology in the world can’t do the same.

Some people will still think a more expensive dialysis machine is better because, why else does it cost so much…? Suckers. But that is why I am so happy the world’s biggest medical device maker is right there with Anya to prove this theory wrong. The progress Anya and Medtronic make with their affordable, dialysis machines is a story worth tracking. The Medtronic device is expected to launch this year. Anya’s may take a few years but at least her government immediately recognized the potential for her invention and is supporting it.

Tags: universal health care