Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

healthcaredive.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 311 posts

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#41

Post by Brain_Thief »

sakopov wrote: post #27
egdod wrote: post #11

This is one thing Trump is doing that should get broad support. It probably won’t though, because some people are physically incapable of agreeing with him.

I honestly didn't even know this was in the works. It's amazing how much effort is put towards blocking out any positive news about this administration.

The simple explanation for the lack of positive news regarding this administration is that it's very hard to pay attention to the small list of broadly-beneficial policy proposals it has generated relative to the endless deluge of corruption and incompetence it is responsible for.

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#42

Post by maxk42 »

daveslash wrote: post #10
throw1234651234 wrote: post #6

This is purely anecdotal, but I had a 15 minute (literally) ultrasound. Hospital "facility use" fee: $800. 15 minutes of technician's time: $250. Bill came down to $650 after adjustments. This is messed up. I imagine people with serious health problems just kill themselves or ruin their lives forever.

I got 1 stitch at the ER (before I was aware that Urgent Care was a a thing). First hospital visit in my adult life. Some saline solution, an alcohol wipe, a shot of Novocaine, and 1 stitch. $3,200. I now avoid the hospital like the plague (ironically).

I got the same procedure at a cash-only walk-in clinic. (Eight stitches, actually -- a chunk of flesh was literally dangling from my finger.) $200.

We will never get control of the insane cost of health care until we force medical facilities to actually compete with each other.

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#43

Post by olliej »

daveslash wrote: post #15
aphextim wrote: post #7

I don't think anyone who has had to pay hospital bills would agree with the hospital lobby's decision to fight this. The article's title makes it give the impression this is okay because, orange man bad, however regardless of the party pushing for transparency it is something everyone would benefit from (other than the heal care industry/insurance company's profits).

I thoroughly dislike the bad orange man, but I will save my strongest words for a more appropriate forum. That said, just because you may dislike someone doesn't mean that you have to opposed everything they do. I do agree with this push for price transparency.

Right? I always find myself wondering why antitrust isn’t applicable?

The hospitals clearly work together to ensure that consumers don’t have accurate or correct pricing information, which has always seemed like it should be classified as anticompetitive behavior.

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#44

Post by jrumbut »

daveslash wrote: post #10
throw1234651234 wrote: post #6

This is purely anecdotal, but I had a 15 minute (literally) ultrasound. Hospital "facility use" fee: $800. 15 minutes of technician's time: $250. Bill came down to $650 after adjustments. This is messed up. I imagine people with serious health problems just kill themselves or ruin their lives forever.

I got 1 stitch at the ER (before I was aware that Urgent Care was a a thing). First hospital visit in my adult life. Some saline solution, an alcohol wipe, a shot of Novocaine, and 1 stitch. $3,200. I now avoid the hospital like the plague (ironically).

It's amazing what tiny tidbits of knowledge like the urgent care thing can save you.

Recently when picking up the tab for a relative who went to an out of network hospital I discovered another one. The first was an enormous discount for paying same day (so if you're well off but have bad insurance they just pretend you have mediocre insurance). Combined with the power of saying "Really??? Isn't there anything you can do?" to as many people as possible, $1,600 became $360.

So the lesson is on one of the worst days of your life focus on what really matters: haggling, being an informed consumer, and obscure policies.

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#45

Post by _bxg1 »

Right now healthcare in the U.S. is the worst of capitalism (basic health is tied to income/employment, perverse profit-incentives) and the worst of anti-capitalism (anti-competitive monopolies/cartels) at the same time. I don't think improving its ability to function as a free market will ever be a real solution, but it certainly can't hurt.

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#46

Post by braythwayt »

wavepruner wrote: post #19
braythwayt wrote: post #9

Here in Canada, there is no price transparency whatsoever. Just when people are facing the stress and uncertainty of fighting a crisis like Cancer, they are given absolutely no inkling what their treatment will cost. When a physician makes an appointment for you with a plastic surgeon to discuss reconstructive surgery... No transparency about the cost. When they prescribe chemotherapy... No transparency about what th…

There are lots of sick people who want to know how much their treatment options cost. Not just Americans, but Canadians as well (I know some). When you have a poorly understood illness that is killing you you have two choices: pay out of pocket or die. It doesn't matter if your country has universal health care or not because treatments will not be covered until they go through a lengthy (decades) approval process. I…

I have empathy for where you're coming from, but to me it feel like the following:

Imagine that in America, husbands are allowed to beat their wives, and the government proposes a law that they may not use a stick with a girth bigger than their thumb.

Alice says, "This is insane. Husbands are not allowed to beat their wives in Canada, that is the correct solution."

And then Bob says, "Well, that's just unrealistic here, so please do not undermine our efforts to make things better for wives by limiting how hard they can be beaten."

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#47

Post by HarryHirsch »

maxk42 wrote: post #42
daveslash wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got 1 stitch at the ER (before I was aware that Urgent Care was a a thing). First hospital visit in my adult life. Some saline solution, an alcohol wipe, a shot of Novocaine, and 1 stitch. $3,200. I now avoid the hospital like the plague (ironically).

I got the same procedure at a cash-only walk-in clinic. (Eight stitches, actually -- a chunk of flesh was literally dangling from my finger.) $200. We will never get control of the insane cost of health care until we force medical facilities to actually compete with each other.

Normal countries do this by imposing price controls, and it works remarkably well to contain costs. Why can't the US do the same?

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#48

Post by istjohn »

js2 wrote: post #33
istjohn wrote: post #22

I spent 45 minutes at the hospital where I was to get a lab test done, trying to get a quote for said test. Prescribing doctor didn't know the cost. Lab tech didn't know. Billing department told me I needed a procedure code. Lab tech who was ready to draw blood couldn't tell me the needed code even after spending five minutes at a computer looking for it. Prescribing doctor gave me the code. Called back billing. They…

From a Bogleheads topic titled “How to Minimize Your Emergency Care Expenses”: > Fifth, nobody you interact with at the hospital at the time of your visit has any idea how much anything costs. Part of that is the whole price transparency thing. Those who know the price don't want the front line workers to know it. Part of it is the fact that there are so many moving parts. Medicine gets inappropriately compared to av…

Thing is, this was self-pay for a single routine lab test. It's the simplest possible scenario.

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#49

Post by maerF0x0 »

> Transparency is not going to work where there is no competition, Emily Gee, a health economist at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, told Healthcare Dive.

That's bs. I will drive to a further away hospital if it saves me $75 an hour of time spent...

(edit: clearly I'm talking about non-emergency here)

Re: Hospitals pledge to fight admin price transparency plan in court

#50

Post by vkou »

mschuster91 wrote: post #18
throw1234651234 wrote: post #6

This is purely anecdotal, but I had a 15 minute (literally) ultrasound. Hospital "facility use" fee: $800. 15 minutes of technician's time: $250. Bill came down to $650 after adjustments. This is messed up. I imagine people with serious health problems just kill themselves or ruin their lives forever.

As a comparison: For ultrasound, the price range in Germany is 100-200€ - but our hospitals don't have to inflate prices to account for non-paying patients and the salaries/other overhead costs are lower too... If the US wants to get rid of horribly high sticker prices it needs a reform of how stuff is paid for, especially homeless/unemployed/undocumented patients. In Germany, the state covers insurance premiums for…

Non-paying patients are, while frequently trotted out, not the reason for why prices are 3-4x higher in the US.

Outside of the ER, if you don't have insurance, and can't pay, you'll get shown the door. The overwhelming majority of medical procedures that take place across the country are not done in the ER.

Post reply on HN