Hopefully this little anecdote of mine will put things into perspective...
My mother was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago. After a couple of hospitalizations, a biopsy, and her first treatment with the oncologist, a statement from the insurance company arrived in the mail. I had always heard cancer treatment was absurdly expensive, so I had to check for myself. shyt was over six figures.
Two things in particular stood out. Neulasta, which is a drug given to chemotherapy patients to ensure their white blood cell counts don't plummet too low, was $8,900. Keytruda, an amazing immunotherapy drug which has saved many lives, is also the most expensive drug I've ever seen. shyt was $24,000 on that statement. I read some older articles where patients/insurance companies were charged as high as $40,000 in prior years. Patients on Keytruda are given it via IV every three weeks. That's $24,000 every three weeks JUST for that one drug. That doesn't include any other drugs, hospital/physician/nurse charges, MRIs, PT scans, etc.
Cancer is the number one cause of death in the industrialized world. Big pharma makes an enormous amount of money off of cancer treatment alone. When you factor in chronic illnesses, injuries, infections, etc, it's not difficult to see how that industry is such a behemoth.
