Lets create laws that require health care providers (doctors, clinics etc) to publish the dollars/rate they will charge on their products and services -- just like the rest of the free capital markets work. Every consumer can then compare the quality and price and pay according to what they can afford.
There is no transparency in the pricing of health care services, today. Everything is hidden behind insurance bills that are drafted by taking into account how much premium I pay - which has nothing to do with the services the provider has provided to me and the amount of money it costs them to do so.
The cost that a given dentist incurs on two different patients to provide prophylactic cleaning services, should be exactly the same, dollar for dollar, cent for cent. If they are not, they should be.
Comments (7)
A calculator widget could be developed to give a rate range for a particular doctor's services. I was concerned I may have had the swine flu, called my insurance company, my doctors office and urgent care (which doc recommended, since they would have the tests for that virus). It would have cost about $195. What a project. Good thing I wasn't too ill.
As a healthcare provider all power is in insurance company. they dictate price and can even change the signed contract with the provider at their whim. I've had pre-approve that was retroactively denied after service was given and per contract i'm unable to charge patient. in short working for free.
Not a practical idea. I worked in a doctors billing office. The number of products and services you're talking about is mind boggling, the rate of change is too fast. The costs of producing and updating the lists would be another big expense to drive healthcare costs up even faster, The list would be the size of a book, so many variables it's hard to compare apples to apples, and the lists would be innaccurate so it would be for nothing.
Why don't you just stop using insurance. Then you would see how much things cost.
Rumors abound that many doctors charge 40 - 50% less if insurance isn't part of the equation. Why then do we use insurance? Could it be a tactic to help pay for medicare and medicaid?
Yes, most hospitals and insurance companies get only a fraction of what they should receive from medicare/medicaid. To make up for this, they have to charge insurance more.
Why not just allow more doctors or an in-between profession (between doctor and nurse) that can make medical decisions but isn't as costly and exclusive to produce. Increase competition and you will bring down costs.
The problem is that billing is after the fact and insurance often adjusts it. Also different companies may have different contract and different thing they will and won’t pay for and different amounts they will pay. Also if you pay out of pocket there is an entirely different price. The idea has some merit however as a few studies have shown that hospital inpatients have a shorter stay if they see a list of their daily meds, tests, and services with the cost to the hospital (which doesn't change) printed on it. I imagine that terminal patients would be more likely to sign DNR's and try hospice with this strategy as well.
Single Payer, same as the military and Congress gets, same as Medicare.
Bypass the insurance industry.
You absolutely have to STOP fraud and abuse.
Give the power back to your local physician and promote a healthy lifestyle where you don't need the doctor!
How much is spent through Medicare on the elderly? A lot!
Keeping the rest of us healthy should not cost as much.
As an RN of over 30 years who has worked in the hospital setting, the hospice setting, the education setting, and in home health, I think I can generally speak from both the professinal side and the patients side (as I have been one a few times in my life). There are three points I want to make to help all healthcare comsumers get a broader picture of how difficult the problem really is and I will try to give examples to illustrate my points.
1. Hospitals charges are way over the top for services provided and to boot they often charge patients for a room they were never in. Example - One month ago my husband had a pacemaker put in and was told he had to stay in the hospital one night after the procedure even thought the doctor said he as stable enough to go home. As a nurse I was happy to have him stay in the hospital 24 hours because often problems that might crop up will happen in this period. My husband was put in a a double room in what is called a telemetry ward. This area is like a medical ward except there are EKG's put on the patient to observe them for any minor or possible heart problems. It is not staffed any different than a medical floor except the nurses have some training in cardiac care because those who watch the EKG computer monitors are trained technicans and when the patient has a heart beat that is irregular the computer lets off sounds to alert the technician to report to the nurse, etc. Anyway 24 hours later my husband was dicharged with no unusual incidents having happened. Two weeks later we get in the mail a copy of the charges to Medicare for the hospital stay. The charges did not include the surgery center where the pacemaker was inserted or any charges for staff when the procedure was done. The charges were only for the room - which includes of course the staff costs. The hospital charged Medicare and thereby our taxes $32,000.00 for the 24 hours and stated that my husband had been in an ICU (Intensive Cardiac Unit), which he was not. Yes, I wrote $32,000.00 not $3,200.00. We are going to pursue this billing with Medicare and give them the facts of the case so they can go after the hospital. My point here is that hospitals look for ways to charge more to the insurance companies than the services given and most of the time they get away with it.
Point 2. My husband and I were so shocked by the hospitals behavior we talked to four people we know who have recently had what could be called serious treatments. One had a pacemaker with a defiberlator, the other had prostrate cancer and elected to have a procedure done that his doctor said was good or better than another less expensive procedure. How do I know this? I read the research and I try to inform myself on what consumer choices are out there and their costs. To the point. Four people were asked what there treatments costs and all of them answered, "I don't know, Medicare paid for it. I didn't even look at the copy of the charges" Hello people on Medicare! Medicare is a wonderful service and don't you realize that the reason your Medicare insurance fees you pay annually are a result of you being lax in protecting what you have in coverage and a part of the problem with the healthcare in this country. Get smart and find out the charges and call Medicare when you know or suspect something is wrong with your bill.
Point 3. Most doctors charge what they can to get the percentage of what is charged to Medicare or other insurances. However, those that are in a speciality like orthopedics, heart, neurosurgeons, to name a few will charge outrageous fees but end up taking what the insurance will pay. Example - Ten years ago I had to have a rotator cuff repair of a shoulder. The surgeon billed the insurance $25,000.00. The insurance paid something closer to $2,000.00 and the physician accepted that and did not send me a bill for the remainder. Physicians doing this type of behavior should be ashamed of themselves. They know out front they won't get what they charge from the insurance company, but they play this perverse game with the insurance system.
In closing I didn't bring up the insurance companies because it goes without saying they need to change their ways also. We all have to get on the bandwagon to help everyone in this country get good to excellent care and I'd like to see each consumer of the healtcare be more diligent in watching their bills and questioning the charges. Perhaps I am especially talking to those who have Medicare - it's your money your wasting and it may run out if you don't get involved.