Maybe not everything, but a few big problems.
BTG has fought aggressively to keep competitors off the market. A competing product, Anavip, just received FDA approval this year and likely won't be on the market until late 2018. This lack of competition is one reason that snakebite treatments rack up such huge hospital bills -- $55,000. $89,000. $143,000. In May of this year, a snakebit Missouri man died after refusing to seek medical care, saying he couldn't afford the bill.
But the other reason hospitals charge so much is the byzantine negotiating process that happens between hospitals and insurance companies to determine the final payout amount...
In many cases, a hospital bill isn't actually a bill, but essentially an instrument in a complex negotiation between insurers and caregivers, with bewildered patients stuck in the middle. It's difficult to know which charges are real and which ones aren't, and which bills to pay and which ones to ignore. It's one reason medical debt is a huge factor in so many bankruptcies.
Hospital bills that amount to legal fictions certainly don't help consumers keep themselves out of debt trouble. Todd Fassler's bill is a perfect example -- he left the hospital on July 9, 2015. His bill said his $153,000 payment was due by July 27.