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Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.

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Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.

#341

Post by conanbatt »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #137
mwerd wrote: post #133

This won't help consumers. The prices (both charges and what Medicare pays) are already effectively public: https://data.cms.gov/Medicare-Physician-Supplier/Medicare-Pr... The problem, as some other comments point out, is that they're way too complicated. The link I posted, for example, is just the provider charges. A hospital visit typically has a facility claim and at least one provider claim. Depending on the type…

> It's a total mess and hopelessly complex for the average consumer. But not for insurance companies; it's in their interest to compare hospitals and get the best care for the lowest price. I for one hope this will trigger competition. On the other hand, it'll probably end up shafting the personnel instead of the ridiculous profit margins.

Health insurance has ridicolous margins? Whats your source?

Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.

#342

Post by jlebar »

antisthenes wrote: post #336
jlebar wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is your strong opinion on believing that people should have no responsibility for the obesity, when we know it is caused mostly by over-eating? We don't know that obesity is caused mostly by over-eating. Many basic questions about diet are unsolved, including the reason(s) that some people gain weight while others don't and the reasons that the vast majority of people can't lose weight. We just do not know to…

> We don't know that obesity is caused mostly by over-eating. No, that part is obvious and we do know that more calories results in more weight. There's no debate. The only debate is in what causes over-eating. > Many basic questions about diet are unsolved, including the reason(s) that some people gain weight while others don't and the reasons that the vast majority of people can't lose weight. We just do not know t…

>> Many basic questions about diet are unsolved, including the reason(s) that some people gain weight while others don't and the reasons that the vast majority of people can't lose weight. We just do not know to what extent do genetics, gut flora, lifestyle, and diet affect weight. We also don't know what makes for a "good" diet, or whether the same diet is good for everyone. > > Also flat out not true. You're creating some ridiculous standard for "knowledge" when in reality, you only have to have "good enough" knowledge in order to be healthy and not obese. Most people can easily adhere to, but for whatever reason, don't.

OK, this is a concrete claim that we can test: "most people can easily adhere to a 'good enough' diet/lifestyle to avoid being obese".

If this were true, then there would exist a protocol that "easily" results in lasting weight loss for most people, right?

Does such a protocol exist?

Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.

#345

Post by thatoneuser »

tomohawk wrote: post #226
bookofjoe wrote: post #172

Pro tip: I was a neurosurgical anesthesiologist at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center for twelve years (1983-1995). Every now and then I'd get a call from our billing office that they'd received a letter from a patient I'd cared for who was too poor to pay what our department had billed (usually many thousands of dollars: I had NO IDEA what our charges were, BTW, nor did any of my colleagues in the dep…

If you are a patient in this situation, there are advocates who can help you. One thing to try is to ask the billing department if they will "accept assignment". What that means is that instead of billing you their fake rate, they would instead bill you as if you were an insurer. IMO, it is incredibly unethical and dishonest for these medical corporations to charge different fees depending on who you are. Prices shou…

God this a thousand times. How in the /fuck/ have we allowed our medical system to come to this?

I get the negotiation side of things. I get that the leverage insurance companies have is the culprit. But at the end of the day, hospitals just upcharge so they have the upper hand in negotiation. There’s no reason that individuals who choose not to go the insurance route are artificially charge X times what insurance companies are. There’s no excuse.

Charge them the cost of the procedures with whatever markup is reasonable for the hospital to stay in business. It shouldn’t be any other way.

Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.

#347

Post by cryptonector »

conanbatt wrote: post #340
vec wrote: post #307

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife owns and operates a private medical practice (she's an audiologist), and it's insane the way she has to do billing and accounts receivable. When a patient asks about prices she quotes them her standard price for the necessary services and calls their insurance company to confirm that the patient is covered and check what kind of copay the patient needs to pay. Assuming the patient is satisfied with the result…

It should be sustainable for patients to directly pay for the provider for the services directly for most medical care.

Yes, but that would require lower costs (prices). That we could get if pricing were more transparent. I believe that will require moving back to high-deductible 80/20 style insurance.

Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.

#348

Post by mmirate3 »

Dowwie wrote: post #152

EMR, Health Information Exchanges, teams of analysts organizing standards for information exchange, and mandates for upgrades should have set the stage for transparency beyond published fictional information by providers. Would someone please comment about these projects? The affordable care act gave more than a billion dollars away for people to work on the exact same, redundant projects in regions across the United…

Medical Records and Practice Management are often two separate pieces of software, with only the latter one dealing with billing and insurance.

Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.

#349

Post by mmirate3 »

peteretep wrote: post #72
refurb wrote: post #9

My guess is that eventually the govt will step in and start regulating prices if providers don’t. One interesting idea (not well thought out at all) would say that all prices need to be +\- 50% of what Medicare pays. Medicare pays $20,000 for stent placement? Great! You can charge whatever you want up to $30,000. A lot of effort goes into setting Medicare rates (and they are based on self reported costs across the co…

> My guess is that eventually the govt will step in and start regulating prices if providers don’t. There will be a heavy pushback from industry about how that’s socialism, delivered via Fox News and other conservative outlets.

Well that is socialism. (As is our conflation of insurance and charity.) Being a form of price control, it also happens to not work very well.

EDIT: and if anyone can explain why forcing doctors and hospitals to provide their services at a loss, is not socialism, then feel free to reply; as that will be assuredly more enlightening than a simple downvote.

Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.

#350

Post by refurb »

huac wrote: post #63
refurb wrote: post #9

My guess is that eventually the govt will step in and start regulating prices if providers don’t. One interesting idea (not well thought out at all) would say that all prices need to be +\- 50% of what Medicare pays. Medicare pays $20,000 for stent placement? Great! You can charge whatever you want up to $30,000. A lot of effort goes into setting Medicare rates (and they are based on self reported costs across the co…

> all prices need to be +\- 50% of what Medicare pays. This is actually close to what happens with private insurers- they negotiate with a hospital to pay n-times what Medicare pays for some set of treatments. So why does Medicare pay the least? Because they have the most patients covered of any insurance network in the US. That's a hell of a bargaining factor. More patients = cheaper prices. The logical conclusion i…

Some insurers benchmark Medicare rates for some procedures. It certainly isn’t the majority of rates, those tend to be percent of charges.

And no, Medicare doesn’t have the lowest rates (Medicaid does). The rates aren’t low due to negotiation (hah!), it’s the gov’t basically saying “here is what we pay, take it or leave it”.

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