Some states have price gouging laws to keep people from being taken advantage of when they are in a vulnerable state, you can't charge $30 for a gallon of gas after a hurricane, I don't understand why hospitals are any different.
Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
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Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#42I just got an itemized bill today for a minor fall I took a couple months back.. On top of the nearly $6k in other charges from the hospital, they charged $531 for one dab of superglue or "liquid stitches" on my forehead for something that would have healed by itself. One of my friends died two years ago from pneumonia. He didn't go to the hospital when symptoms first started because he was afraid of the bills that w…
Pretty sure if you go through the effort to challenge such charges you can get them changed. https://www.vox.com/2019/3/22/18261698/how-to-fight-expensiv...
The thing I don't understand about tips like these is, what obligation does the other party have to cooperate at all? Like you "ask for a supervisor" (and then a director!) what incentive do they have to not just say no? Or if you ask for an itemized bill, what if they just refuse? How are you supposed to get past a blunt refusal, which to me seems like the easiest response for them?
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#43i wonder if a hospital would still charge you if you refused thier price gouge materials and used your own purchased at a proper price, as in "thanks for setting the bone, i dont need your sling i have my own and it will do fine, here is my lawyers contact card."
IIRC prior to being treated you agree to be financially liable for the costs. Prior to even knowing that that will be or even the costs involved. Or even if you know what is involved are you going to understand what a reasonable cost is? EG: Sling is easy but what about a x-ray study? Is that 200$ or $150? Just like a proper capitalist system! You know, like when you agreed to pay whatever for your iPhone prior to ev…
I'm not sure what your argument is. Is it that it is fine that our healthcare is like shopping at an Apple store? Or that medical costs cannot be predicted? Or that we should be happy with the system we have?
Other than pedantry, what are you trying to get across?
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#44Just to pile on about how ridiculous medical costs are:
After giving birth my wife was offered Ibuprofen. On the bill we were charged $80 for the 2 pills she took. This was before Obamacare.
After Obamacare I twisted my ankle and the doctors insisted I wear a cheap fabric boot with stiff plastic plates while it healed over the next couple weeks. I asked how much it cost and they said $280. I took it off and refused it while they gave me dirty looks.
A medical facility is basically a monopoly. The switching costs are high and there are no prices on anything.
Unfortunately getting everyone insurance was only the tip of the iceberg of the actual problem. We still have a long, long way to go before we have real, competitive medical pricing with high quality care.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#45So I work in manufacturing. On one of our systems, we recently upgraded the fleet to a $10k computer with a 22nm processor running RHEL 7 supplied by the system vendor. We had all of the install files and could have bought a $2k computer and gone through an extended install and qualification process, and closing the door to some support from our vendor, but we didn’t. We paid the extra $8k for a guarantee that it wou…
There are things like that in the hospital, sure. For example some surgical tools are glorified versions of construction tools (hammers, chisels, drills) but you are paying a premium for materials (have to be autoclave-able) and QA.
However for a lot of other things though are literally the same product, so it really isn't equivalent. If you are paying more for an individual (regular) Tylenol than you would have regularly paid for a box of them, it's hard to argue "value".
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#46Reading this in Europe.I'm sure if I'd go with article alone to my American colleague on Monday, he'd defent the system even if he'd have to die for it. Knowing he's a healthy 20something man with affluent parents that could potentially bankroll even a year's stay in a private hospital- I could understand it to certain degree, however I fail to understand why nobody really is up for changing this system,where millions upon millions left woth no choice but to struggle anything but basic medical care.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#47I went to the ER last year. They ended up making me stay overnight.
I was hit with a bill for over $10K, with much of that falling on me.
I also used to work in corporate finance and I have a good intuition for how billing works.
Before I even got the bill I mentally prepared myself for it by telling myself that it's going to be a long drawn out process.
I waited and waited and received an initial bill a few months after my hospitalization. It was for the aforementioned amount.
I called and politely asked to have it itemized. Naturally,that took several more months.
The bill was reduced, but the itemization was incorrect, so I asked for a correct itemization.
I went through a few more iterations of this. Each time the bill got lower and lower.
Eventually, I had to pay something like $1.5K out of pocket, which would have been a lot less if I didn't have an HSA.
The whole process took almost a year.
If you ever have to go to the hospital, just assume that it will take forever and nitpick the bill (within reason) and continue to challenge it. They will often give up and reduce your bill. Whatever you do, never pay a bill that is not itemized. As a former finance professional I am shocked that hospitals can get away with this, this would never fly in the B2B world, professionals always push back against "mystery bills" that show just the bottom line number.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#48The whole ecosystem has evolved to loot people when they are at their most vulnerable moment. There is no two ways about it. It goes unchecked because insurance companies cover a bulk of the cost and so most ordinary people don't see it. The poor and uninsured get the bad end of the stick but no one cares about them. Just a pathetic state of affairs.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#49We had a call with someone who works on the pricelist/chargemaster for a major metro hospital recently, they set their prices by taking the Medicare reimbursement rate, and multiplying by 8.
If any other business tried billing people like hospitals and doctors do, people would go to prison.
At least if it was an inelastic good like health care.
Gas goes up a quarter and elected officials are thrown out of office. $600 for a drop of super glue? Okay then.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Movie theater does not give you the popcorn and tell you the price a week after. Also, you can say no to the popcorn in a movie theater; you cannot control the fine details of your treatment.
A movie just isn't the same without popcorn :) And you're a captive audience; they don't allow you to bring in your own supply.
This is why I've considered and End-Server License Agreement. In providing service to me as a User, yada-yada-yada yada.
If I actually went through the trouble of formally writing one up, and spreading it far and wide on the winds, and could actually get a significant portion of the population serving it in instances of predatory policy/pricing, and refusing the product such that a meaningful impact was made on service provider's bottom line, I've often wondered whether or not an equilibrium could finally be established where businesses stopped looking at customers who don't complain as people not yet sufficiently fleeced.