| That's not entirely true. If it was billed to insurance, they would pass those costs over to the people paying the premiums. Some insurance policies are self-funded: Meaning they have plans, but the insurance company is really just the administrator. The actual costs are paid by the company employing the people buying the insurance. They can both pass the costs onto the employees paying health insurance premiums plus add in that cost to the goods they sell. A great deal of insurance plans have a co-payment for drugs. If you had to pay 20% of the cost of this drug, that is still quite an increase for the patient. Not everyone needing these drugs has insurance. Luckily, some charities exist to try to pay the bills for these folks and sometimes there are other discounts available for the uninsured. Some people are on government insurance plans, both in the US and in places with state health care. In these cases, the costs are passed onto tax payers. Sorry, but pretty much everyone pays for this sort of thing. |