MRIs are principally taken by technicians then a doctor will interpret them but the bulk of the operation isn't done by doctors and the techs are well paid but are paid less than a first year commercial airline pilot. IF you include all the maintenance and support around in airplane and around an MRI machine I think the airplane will be even further ahead.
Thanks, I learned something today. I think the point still stands if you include the time of the radiologist and tech, capital and employment costs for MRI in the US are substantial.
I agree that it is a very strange comparison between MRI and a plane, I was just chiming in on the capital and employment cost for each could be comparable on a per trip basis, not that MRI prices are where they should be.
In my personal opinion, a major problem with US healthcare is a race to the top, where the newest and best care is sought irrespective of the price. A judgement call needs to made somewhere on cost/marginal benefit, and post-procedure reimbursement debates is the worst way to do it. CT machines can cost between 250K and 14 million, as I mentioned in a sibling post. Similarly, MRI costs can range from $170-$5,500 [1]. In the current system, almost nobody is incentivized to keep costs down. Doctors and insured patients want the best care, as costs are externalized to the insurance pool. Insurance companies want to maximize costs, because their profit margin is limited by a % of spending.
I was quoting the number for a modern 3 tesla MRI machines, which would fall into the 500k+ range on your link. These are high end but not necessarily rare. For example, UCSF has 4 of these machines. These can easily be on the order of 3 million+ with installation
3 T machines are not necessarily better, it depends on what they're trying to look at, getter a sharper image of noise is not useful.
Anyway, your estimate seems to be way off, basing it on a 6 year old puff piece for a cutting edge model that was deployed in a lab. The cost for a typical new MRI is more like $500k.
I never said I was talking about averages ct machines any more than a brand new 787-9 is the average plane. You can get a 20 year 737 for a lot less than 200mil, and is probably closer to the average.
If your point is that MRIs less than 3T exist, I agree. If your point is that cheaper MRI exist, I agree. If your point is that nobody has spent 3 mil on a CT, then I disagree. A link showing the price of used machines 10-15 years old isn’t going to change that.
A new MRI costs ~3 million, has an operational life of 10 years, performs 5000 scans per year, for a total 50,000 people trips.
The people operating the MRI machine are probably payed more than anyone working on the airplane and take vastly more time per passenger.