Spiky Cact.us

Keeping Medical Charges A Secret And The Bankruptcy of America

Posted October 12th, 2009 by Spike

The problem has been people do not have the ability or incentive to shop medical providers, hospitals, doctors etc. Yes in some state there is a lack of competition among health insurers, but this is not the main issue!

People are completely unaware of what medical services cost; ask anyone who has been a hospital patient if they know what the room and board rate is, or how much does it cost for a doctor to visit your bedside while you are confined to the hospital, or how much does it cost when a hospital gives you an Advil. Most people will not know the answers to these questions, or if they do, they will completely unmoved by the fact that the hospital charges $30 for an Advil, or that the room and board rate is $2500 – $4500 per night. It seems that people just do not care! Do people realize that these outrageous charges are driving up medical insurance premiums?

In a recent conversation I had with a nurse she explained that at her hospital when a nurse administers insulin to a patient, she takes one does from the vile and throws the remaining insulin in the vile away. But the patient is charged for the entire vile. This is the procedure the nurses are instructed to follow by the hospital.

I called the hospital to ask what a vile of insulin costs, I spent 90 minutes being switched from one department to another, I spoke with the billing department, the business office, the Vice President of Patient Services and no one was able to tell me who had access to this piece of information.

I became quiet concerned when the conversation turned and I felt I was being interrogated by the Vice President Of Patient Services, who was I, was I a reporter and why did I want to know?

Final, I was told that if I wanted to know the price of any services offered by the hospital, I would have to go the hospitals business office and look in a book that has the list of prices charged for their services. I asked if I could call that office, maybe someone could look up the charge in question? I was told, very emphatically “no”! When I ask “why not” I was told by the hospital’s VP of Patient Services, “because we don’t have to, the law does not require that we give this information out over the phone”.

Only when hospitals are forced to compete will we be able to control healthcare costs in America. Private health insurance will never be affordable if hospitals, clinics and other medical providers are able to secretly charge whatever they want unhindered by competition.

Why is this problem being ignored by the Obama administration? This problem is costing hundreds of billions of dollars each year and driving up the cost of health insurance. The problem will also not be solved with a government option, that will just mean the problem will be even more hidden from the public. We will see tax increase after tax increase; a national deficit even further out of control than it is now.

 

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