Many U.S. hospitals mark up prices 1,000 percent: study

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/many-us-hospitals-mark-up-prices-1000-percent-study/ar-BBkQCmG

So glad I don't live there.

RB

Amen to that.

with higher deductibles, higher co-pays, higher everything.

When I first moved here, 20+ years ago, we paid a flat $250 for an in-patient hospitalization. A day, a month, major surgery, intensive care, whatever - it was all covered under that $250.

Those days are gone forever. The last time I looked at the fee schedule, I think the DAILY co-pay for in-patient hospital hospitalization is about $125. And this does not necessarily cover the fees for special doctors call in for consultation, the use of scanners or other fancy gizmos - they want more and more and more.

It's scary.

My wife and I are about to have a baby (17 more days!).
We were just talking to a new mother we ran into at the doctor's office, who had her hospital bill (Caesarian section delivery) with her. They charged her $100 for a *pillow.* And the insurance paid it. And mind you, she didn't get to take the pillow home with her...they charged $100 for her to USE a pillow for 1 day.

Sigh.

My wife just had a baby and they charge you for everything!...and they usually won't give you an itemized bill unless you ask. Every doctor on rounds that comes in, asks a few questions, pushes on mom's stomach, etc... will bill you. It's ridiculous! The room alone cost $10k. Overall, $20k+ for a vaginal birth with no complications.

Since 2011 my wife and I have had 5 total knee replacements (her left one twice), an emergency appendectomy, and a kidney stone removed. Out of pocket costs to us...zero. Now that we are both seniors we pay no medicare premiums.
RB

U.S. medical care is so third world.

Canada rocks !

Hi Ron, if you see this. What happened with the your wife's knee that the replacement had to be redone?/and how long after the initial surgery? (I'm concerned about complications...) Hope you're both in tip top shape now. Thanks.

My wife's knee revision surgery went very well. She had my surgeon for the procedure and is very happy with the results. Thanks for asking. Now if backs were as easy to fix as knees we'd both be kickin' ass.

Ron Burr

Who does pay for the medical care? Or do the doctors and hospitals provide their service for free? ;) I suspect there are taxes allocated to pay the bill, correct? Who pays the taxes? Nothing is free.

Our taxes pay for our health care. They are probably higher than what we'd pay in the US but EVERYBODY is covered. I'm OK with that. I was raised in a society where we think it appropriate to look out for the other guy.

RB

That's how I figured it worked, I just don't think government programs which are paid for by tax should be considered free, kind of like temple marriages are free, as long as you pay tithing.

I dated a hospital worker once, and she marked me up pretty good.

I was taken to the hospital once when I had a stroke. When I got they bill I was charged several hundred dollars for 'vaginalpacks'(sanitary napkins). I called them and told the billing department I didn't have one, and she told me I must have since I was charged for it. Maybe I'm a male hermaphrodite LOL

spintobear Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I called them
> and told the billing department I didn't have one...


Vaginal packs or vagina? ;-)

They don't care about your health. They care about the bottom dollar. My ex works at a hospital and has for over 30 years. He hates it now. Loved it when he started. My job is medical transcription. Many hospitals have sent this job overseas so that people who English is a second language to are transcribing your medical records. MANY of hospital errors are because of medical records. You get the dose wrong on a report and the patient can end up dead. But the hospitals sent the work overseas to save money and do you think the patient gets the savings?

I went to a new doctor recently. This really blew my mind. She said, "You have good insurance. You should be using it." I cancelled some of the tests she ordered and a consultation. I think she sees me as a way to make some money.

She also said that anyone who makes any decent amount of money, their deductibles on o b a ma care are $14,000. Mine is $350.

Something has to change.

Based on what you posted, your doctor is an imbecile.

Why would you notice how stupid she was being and then treat her lies about the ACA as truth?

I was rather shocked by everything she said. But it seems anyone paying into o b a m a care is having their premiums go up substantially. Something needs to change.

I thought she had a lot of nerve to say "you have good insurance, you need to be using it" and then start coming up with all kinds of tests, etc., she wants done. I have a hard time going to the doctor as it is. I haven't had the best experiences with them. She also asked me if I am cynical towards the medical community because I do medical transcription and I said, "Yes." Then she starts acting in a fashion I find typical of other doctors I've been to.

I'll go to her long enough to get my prescriptions for a year and then I'll be looking for a new doctor yet again. The last doctor I had would tend to just take the day off when I had appts scheduled and never call me to let me know.

I had a pea sized cancerous lump removed. I was in and out of the hospital in 5 hours.

The price tag from beginning to end for my insurance company was $50,000. Insane.

I recall a case where someone had to have snake bite anti venom and compared the costs to the same procedure in mexico
In Mexico ~$100
In USA ~$10,000
which is around 10,000% higher

My dad was terminally ill -- was admitted to the hospital 1.5 days before he died.

He had a "do not resuscitate" clause in his care and the hospital took an immediate "do care -- don't do anything" attitude. They did one thing only - handed my sister a little suction thing (cheap) to extract the mucus from my father's mouth -- which WE performed for his entire stay.

Cost of the hospital visit: $53,000 (and just try and bring a lawsuit over the fee -- no dice)

My whole family HATES the medical system in America and has practically alienated my sister and her husband who happens to be a very wealthy doctor.

Just say YES!! to Obama Care and ABSOLUTELY NO to ALL insurance companies. Put EVERY doctor in America on a fixed salary from the Feds. I've seen this work in France (even for this foreigner in their country) and IT WORKS and NOBODY in France sits around bemoaning a medical bill.

weeder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Put EVERY doctor in
> America on a fixed salary from the Feds. I've
> seen this work in France (even for this foreigner
> in their country) and IT WORKS and NOBODY in
> France sits around bemoaning a medical bill.

This is not going to work in a proper capitalist corporatocracy. How are all the administrators, managers and executives supposed to get filthy rich for holding bullshit jobs (David Graeber). Did you think about that? Did you? Did you?

1. There are 2 price lists in hospitals - one for those with insurance and another for those without. People with insurance pay for the care for others without insurance.

2. Is it any wonder fees are so high when everyone (or so it seems) in hospital comes with a lawyer looking for a lawsuit? Every medical outcome is not a miracle (like on TV). Sometimes their best doesn't produce the result expected - even after a "blessing" (to keep this on topic).

3. Health funding doesn't pay for "health" - but for illness.

and are charity care. People go to the doctor far too often. Got a sniffle, go to the ER. I typed up a lady who had fallen asleep on her side and her arm went numb. She went to the ER. Of course, by the time she got to the ER, it wasn't numb any longer.

I'd say about 1 in 20 needs to be in the ER. They use ERs like clinics, but if you go to a tax exempt hospital, they have to treat you.

It isn't just the patients. The doctors do far too many procedures and far too many lab tests. I've even typed up letters from doctors complaining to the administrators that too many tests are run. Show up in the ER with a sniffle, and they'll run all the tests they can on you.

I was having chest pains and coughing a lot. I go to an urgent care place. They tell me I might have a blood clot in my chest and tell me to go to the ER. The ER determined it was just bronchitis. I was so mad they sent me there for that.

Health care in the US, particularly under the control of the insurance carriers is not competitive.

Patients are not viewed as people in need of care, but rather consumers to be exploited of every possible penny before they die.

I would also add that American medical and pharma do not want to cure anyone, they only want to treat people. There is a huge difference in the profit margins.

Because of the lack of competition, government regulation is badly needed to prevent the exploitation of very vulnerable people.

The ACA is a good start, but unfortunately was wholly written by staffers of Senators Grassly and Baucus, which now, 100% of those staffer work for the insurance companies.

The carries under the ACA are also guaranteed 16% profits.

We need to join the rest of the developed world and have socialized and well regulated medicine.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2015 02:21PM by deco.

There's a lot that goes into that markup, not just the purchase price and the billing price.

So, Intermountain Medical locally in UT for example. They buy the product. That's the price that shows up on the invoice. IM runs their own shipping account with UPS. They require the vendor to ship using IM's UPS account as IM ships so much volume, they get a discount by having their own account. But this shipping price didn't get added to the purchase price. Those are separate accounts.

The guy running the ordering, the warehousing, the stocking of supplies, and expiring of supplies. Lots of medicine and equipment expires before use, or the packaging is violated and must be discarded, but you have to have it on hand for when it's needed.

The security of supplies and the wages of the people getting these supplies where they're needed.

And charity. If you're paying yourself or via insurance, you're funding the charity works of the hospital, the care they donate and so on.

There's a lot that goes into a price.

dogblogger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There's a lot that goes into that markup, not just
> the purchase price and the billing price.
>
> So, Intermountain Medical locally in UT for
> example. They buy the product. That's the price
> that shows up on the invoice. IM runs their own
> shipping account with UPS. They require the vendor
> to ship using IM's UPS account as IM ships so much
> volume, they get a discount by having their own
> account. But this shipping price didn't get added
> to the purchase price. Those are separate
> accounts.
>
> The guy running the ordering, the warehousing, the
> stocking of supplies, and expiring of supplies.
> Lots of medicine and equipment expires before use,
> or the packaging is violated and must be
> discarded, but you have to have it on hand for
> when it's needed.
>
> The security of supplies and the wages of the
> people getting these supplies where they're
> needed.
>
> And charity. If you're paying yourself or via
> insurance, you're funding the charity works of the
> hospital, the care they donate and so on.
>
> There's a lot that goes into a price.

How are any of these issues different than any dairy or perishable item?

These companies are gouging vulnerable people, and probably killing some in the process.

I went to the emergency room - for falling down a waterfall (Utah canyon) - with my own ace bandage around my ankle.

Upon receiving the bill there was a 16 dollar charge for an ace bandage, as well as a lot of other ridiculous charges.

I was dating a woman whose father worked in the medical (sales) industry. After he explained the charges and bs, I ended up owing a lot less. Since then I look at charges with added scrutiny.

The United States of America doesn't have a health system, but an unhealthy system. See Michael Moore's Sicko.?

It's expensive to be born here, live here and to die here... though I haven't done that yet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2015 03:22PM by moremany.

an old senior that I lived with had emergency heart surgery. He was in the hospital for two days. Upon his release, he was billed $82,000 dollars. He has no insurance and no intention to pay. I don't blame him.

Thank you for the thought catalyst re: for profit healthcare. Being a business person, loving America where we have the freedon to pursue a better product/service than the competition and being rewarded by the consumer for providing a better value, at a price the market will bear. I now question the for profit health care model, when I think what will the market bear in healthcare...??? you are in an emergency room, d/t a lets say car accident, you do not shop the competition, compare value, you are a captive consumer at the mercy of the billing machine, paying $14.00 for a band aid. How about a new cancer drug, what will the market bear? How about the idea of "I dont want to pay for health insurance, or deductibles, and have no penalty for becomming a type 2 diabetic d/t drinking sugar water daily, eating big mac heart attacks, etc... what about the idea of fix me without me paying for the consequences, or a fire truck with 5 guys, booking retirement, gpoing to a an assited living to pick up a person on the floor? Or an emerergency room standing around with the latest and greatest everything, staff, equipment, diagnostic, waiting to give a triple bypass to any Joe or Jane on the planet who happens to be in the USA? as mentioned a great thought catylist, I am sorry I am not part of the solution yet, other than to question...Really, this is the plan, the government sets prices through Medicare, (I thought setting prices was socialism) then having for profit companies suck the socialist teet, while minimizing costs and maximizing revenue. thanks again! (sorry, not a spell checker)