Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
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Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#2Kliff's approach to covering healthcare is nothing short of miraculous. She's killing it on all fronts—dominating the beat as far as traditional reporting techniques, innovating new ways (like this) to unearth information, and on top of it, communicating an intricate and sometimes abstract area of public policy in a way that anyone can understand and relate to.
In general, I think vox.com is underrated. But Kliff in particular stands out.
Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#3Kliff's approach to covering healthcare is nothing short of miraculous. She's killing it on all fronts—dominating the beat as far as traditional reporting techniques, innovating new ways (like this) to unearth information, and on top of it, communicating an intricate and sometimes abstract area of public policy in a way that anyone can understand and relate to. In general, I think vox.com is underrated. But Kliff in…
I love vox.com's depth (which their clickbaity headlines belie). Their podcast, The Weeds (where they get into, of course, the weeds of policy topics) is among my favorites. They are a little too liberal for my tastes, sometimes. I mean, I'm at least that liberal myself, but I sometimes feel I'm just getting the side of the story that caters to my existing beliefs from Vox.
Sarah Kliff's reporting, specifically, though, has always stood out as unusually excellent to me. It doesn't seem to suffer from that problem as much as some other Vox reporters I like (eg Matthew Yglesias). Her healthcare coverage, of course, is supurb, but there's also great stuff like her piece[0] on the wage gap.
[0] https://www.vox.com/2017/9/8/16268362/gender-wage-gap-explai...
Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#4I moved to the US about a year ago.
Went to ER for the first time ~3 months ago. I was charged about $4000 for:
- Cleaning a wound (with water/desinfectant).
- Some antibiotics.
- A band-aid and gauze.
I get how, with labor cost and all, that might cost $200. Maybe $300? I have no idea how this can cost $4000.
Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#5> If you are bitten by a raccoon, you can’t really decide not to get the rabies vaccine. It’s literally a life-or-death situation. But the price is incredibly high.
This, to me, is a perfect example of why healthcare should be subsidized by the government (either directly or through a government-backed insurance plan that you receive as a fallback).
Health isn't a good or service you choose to purchase. Demand is perfectly inelastic and everyone is subject to emergencies no matter how healthy their habits are.
Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#6I moved to the US about a year ago. Went to ER for the first time ~3 months ago. I was charged about $4000 for: - Cleaning a wound (with water/desinfectant). - Some antibiotics. - A band-aid and gauze. I get how, with labor cost and all, that might cost $200. Maybe $300? I have no idea how this can cost $4000.
And the worst thing is that there’s no way to predict the cost. Even if you go to an ER that’s in network (good luck with that in an emergency), you might be assigned an out of network doctor and be charged out of network prices
Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#7I moved to the US about a year ago. Went to ER for the first time ~3 months ago. I was charged about $4000 for: - Cleaning a wound (with water/desinfectant). - Some antibiotics. - A band-aid and gauze. I get how, with labor cost and all, that might cost $200. Maybe $300? I have no idea how this can cost $4000.
And the worst thing is that there’s no way to predict the cost. Even if you go to an ER that’s in network (good luck with that in an emergency), you might be assigned an out of network doctor and be charged out of network prices
Worse - you can get a bill in the mail later for some out of network doctor who looked at a chart without ever interacting with you, in addition to the hospitals charge.
Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
And the worst thing is that there’s no way to predict the cost. Even if you go to an ER that’s in network (good luck with that in an emergency), you might be assigned an out of network doctor and be charged out of network prices
Worse - you can get a bill in the mail later for some out of network doctor who looked at a chart without ever interacting with you, in addition to the hospitals charge.
Yup, or a bill from an out of network doctor that consulted while you were under or generally unaware [0]
[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/us/drive-by-doctoring-sur...
Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#9As the person who submitted this story, I have a question: why was Sarah Kliff’s name removed from the headline?
I submitted it with the same title it carries at CJR, which includes her name. The story is a profile of her and her work, so removing it makes the headline less informative, not more. And she’s not a celebrity, so mentioning her by name doesn’t make the headline any more clickbaity than it would be without it.
Is there some reason HN believes she deserves to have her name struck out of the title of her own profile?
Re: Bringing transparency to ER prices, one hospital bill at a time
#10I moved to the US about a year ago. Went to ER for the first time ~3 months ago. I was charged about $4000 for: - Cleaning a wound (with water/desinfectant). - Some antibiotics. - A band-aid and gauze. I get how, with labor cost and all, that might cost $200. Maybe $300? I have no idea how this can cost $4000.
I got an abdominal ultrassound, because some of my bloodwork was off and the doctor wanted to confirmed my liver was ok. Very routine. So I agreed. 15 minutes from the time I got to the reception desk to the time I was out of the door.
Hospital billed $6000 (already negotiated down with insurance). Insurance paid around $4000. They wanted me to pony up 2k. Told no. Went to collections, negotiated to just under 1000. According to the line items, doctor took ~$100.
I have no clue why this was so high. My wife did pelvic ultras-sounds at another hospital (so not exactly the same procedure), but was billed $300.
The only reason I can think of is the 'name' of the hospital. It's in the Bay Area and shares the name of a well known university.
Had I known, I would never have gone there. That incident caused me to ditch my plan and go with Kaiser. It's been ok so far. No ultra-sounds, but I got a sleep apnea exam and a cpap for about 150 - and that was disclosed upfront.