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from the there-should-be-an-app-for-that dept.
Fountain Valley resident Jennifer Moore makes a really good point.
"When you take your car to the mechanic, they give you a written estimate before they touch it," she told me.
"So why is it that when you go to the hospital, you have no idea how much something will cost until the bill arrives?"
Moreover, why are prices so completely different from one healthcare provider to another?
And why is it that when patients try to find out in advance how much something will cost, they're treated like unwelcome guests rather than equal partners in their own treatment?
[...] The near-total lack of transparency in healthcare pricing is a key reason we have the highest costs in the world — roughly twice what people in other developed countries pay.
Simply put, drugmakers, hospitals, labs and other medical providers face no accountability for their frequently obscene charges because it's often impossible for patients to know how badly they're being ripped off.
[...] Moore's insurer, Cigna, was charged $2,758 by the medical center for the two ultrasounds. However, Cigna gets a contractual discount of just over $1,000 because it's, well, Cigna. All insurers cut such sweetheart deals with medical providers.
That lowered the bill to $1,739. Cigna paid $500. That left a balance of $1,239, for which Mika was entirely responsible because she hadn't met her $1,250 deductible for the year.
Moore quickly ascertained online that the average cost for a pair of ultrasounds is about $500 — meaning the medical center's original $2,758 charge represented a more than 400% markup.
Cigna's lower contractual charge of $1,739 still meant the bill had been marked up more than 200%.
And the $1,239 Mika had to pay was more than twice the national average.
Wait, it gets even worse.
Moore said that after working her way through various levels of customer service in the medical center's billing department, she learned that the cash price for the two ultrasounds was $521.
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-07-29/column-could-our-healthcare-system-be-any-dumber
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Saturday August 03 2019, @03:05AM (3 children)
Because you didn't call ahead and ask? Maybe, at least what the price range is for this procedure has been in the past? Or, you know, ask your Google home first? It would give you *some* idea.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @11:12AM (1 child)
Not necessarily. Prices vary widely based on provider, facility, city/state/region, etc. I've even encountered a significant price difference between doctors in the same medical practice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 03 2019, @12:43PM
I need to have a procedure done, and soon. I can ballpark what it may cost to start but if it gets interesting then there is no way to tell. They will tell me what the doctor may charge and what the fees may be to start but the final bill won't be known until they been a knock out doc and work out some other details. In other words you won't know the base cost until the day. It sucks. You won't know the full cost until after. They charge for every additional step in the procedure. Heaven help anyone out there who is really sick.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 04 2019, @05:40AM
doesn't help much when you are there because of an urgent or emergent problem, especially if it is not during normal business hours. or an unexpected problem is discovered...