HPV vaccine update

My frustration with healthcare continues.

Belladonna is done with basketball and track does not start until later this week.  I have a tiny window of time to move her around and bring her up-to-date on her vaccinations.

Retail, list price for HPV (Human papillomavirus) vaccinations are $500 for the series of three.  As a retired person I had the time to call around.  I learned that our local health department had a grant and they were available to walk-ins for $23 a shot.

I would not have had time, back when I was a working stiff, to have called around and found this discount outlet.  I would have paid full retail.

Capitalism is not perfect but it is notable for its "allocative efficiency".  One enabler for that efficiency is transparency and ready access to "prices".  The current healthcare system for the United States is opaque with regard to costs.

How very bizarre. I can buy rooted cuttings of Cannabis on Craigslist for $10 (guaranteed) a stem.  You can verify this by going to your local Craigslist and typing in "clone" or "overage".

I can buy JWH Cannabinoids that are five times more aggressive than THC.  I can purchase them from eBay by the kilogram and tell you, to the penny, what that kg will cost delivered-to-my-door.

I can buy Peruvian guano, Swiss chocolate, and Fly Agaric mushrooms and know exactly what the price will be before I consummate the transaction.

But the medical establishment cannot tell me, before the fact, how much I will pay for a vaccine that the CDC recommends, nor is there any mechanism to direct me to outlets that might offer a discount.

That. Is. Screwed. Up. 

The standard question one asks when confronted with a situation that does not make sense is "Cui bono?"  Who benefits?

The opaqueness of the medical system and its pricing is certainly not to the benefit of the working stiff.  For all practical purposes, it is a declaration of war on the productive elements in our society.

Epilog

Belladonna got her shot.  Then we hit a couple of jewelry stores.  She wanted a small cross/crucifix to hang from the mirror of the car she is driving.

She is good-to-go until June, thoroughly vaccinated against moral and epidemiological harm.