“What we are witnessing here is a corporate crime wave.”
Ralph Nader
Some media reports refer to the PCR test method as the gold standard in viral testing. PCR stands for Polymerase Chain Reaction. It involves taking a small amount of genetic material and then copying it millions of times in a test tube to make it more concentrated and easier to measure. The problem with making copies of copies of copies is that you are also turning any minor errors in the sample into major errors in the final test result.
PCR is useful for some types of studies. It is not very useful for corona virus testing. In keeping with the most important rule of understanding corruption (Follow The Money), we will begin this chapter by looking at why the cost of a PCR Virus test has sky rocketed so much in the past few years.
The cost of a PCR test in 2003 for the SARS virus (which is related to the corona virus) was about $10 to $20. The legal patents on PCR ran out in 2005. So now any lab can use this method. It ought to be dirt cheap. But according to Bloomberg News, the current cost of a Corona virus PCR test over $400. This is despite the fact that the US government has been pumping billions of dollars in corporate welfare into the drug companies. By now, the PCR tests ought to be free given how much money US tax payers have given the drug companies to support their PCR testing addiction.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-16/ten-minute-coronavirus-test-could-be-game-changer-for-africa
Below is an example of what a PCR Test kit looks like:
One poor fellow in Florida was charged $3,270 for a hospital visit and a flu test only to find out he did not have the corona virus. So even if the cost of the corona virus test was “free” – in other words paid for by the tax payers instead of paid for by the victim -, you could still wind up paying more than $3,000 for a corona virus PCR test.
A Pennsylvania man was charged $4,000.
A Kansas man was charged $1000 for a 10-minute lab visit.
Even if you have insurance, the average co-pay (aka You Pay) is now over $2000. So if you want a Gold Standard PCR test, then this $10 test is likely to cost you at least $2,000. Welcome to the extremely corrupt US health care system!
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/no-one-should-hesitate-to-seek-treatment-how-much-does-it-cost-to-get-tested-for-coronavirus-the-answer-is-complicated-2020-03-05
It might be worth the price if the test really told you whether or not you had the corona virus. But as we will see in the next section, the PCR test is so inaccurate that it really tells you almost nothing.