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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).
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.
If it is done as part of a broad effort to address health care costs and availability, then it's fine. But so far there is no sign of any such broad plan, which leads many to worry that this will be all that the current Administration is going to do to try to lower health costs.
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.
Then the whole idea of enrollment times being limited, being in network and out of network, even a hospital in network can have doctors and providers out of network. So if you get surgery in network, your anesthesiologist might be out of network and get a surprise bill. Then some doctors will even tell people to not worry and everything will be covered but it's not. I know someone who needed something done but was so worried about getting costs, the doctor got a pre-approval from the insurance company and they still didn't want to pay it. So either the insurance company or doctor lied.
I know some RVers recommend health sharing ministries though, but I know it's not technically considered insurance. There's a few of them that were approved, so Obama Care would see it as insurance even though it wasn't. Also I don't believe you have to worry about the whole in-network or not as you are self paying and then get reimbursed for your bills. Plus traditional insurance doesn't cover you across state lines, so useless for travelers too. Plus I think they might be cheaper too. Something to research more though as sounds like an alternative. I know one isn't too religious, just got to believe in god, don't smoke or drink alcohol unless socially. Kinda interesting you can be legally forced to buy health insurance but you can't even use it.
Same thing with car insurance, forced to get it but it isn't forced to pay anything. Even if you wasn't at fault, they try to wiggle their way out of paying or drop you. Pretty much a legalized mandated ponzi scheme. Then they all run flashy TV commercials saying they are the cheapest to switch to, well they all can't be the cheapest so someone is lying or they give you a deal then a year later it just increases.
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…
I've got some $3,000 saline to sell you or whoever it is that's willing to pay on your behalf.
On the other hand, the private room you're in is not covered by basic health care, so if they feel like charging you $3,000 a night just for the room, or $1,000 for television, or $500 for WiFi, that's allowed.
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…
If a business performs a service for me and won't tell me ahead of time how much it costs, can it afterward decide I must pay whatever it wants? One trillion dollars? For those without insurance, is there some contract agreed to with the hospital?
For those with insurance, in which contract do I end up bound to pay an amount that isn't told me until after I've already made the decision to purchase the service? Are there limits to these amounts in that contract or somewhere else?
We need price transparency! Went to a quick care the other day because of a flu that would not go away, was seen and diagnosed with bronchitis in less than 5 minutes. The quick care billed my insurance $1,840, which they talked down to $300, and had me pay $115. What?
Total bill $55k. After insurance it was $6k. We paid $250 out of pocket.
https://www.econtalk.org/keith-smith-on-free-market-health-c...
Some guy has been running a non-insurance based surgery center for years, the surgeons make more and patients pay less or so he claims. All prices are listed on their website. They claimed they don't change prices. If a doctor misses something and needs to do extra work their policy is that's the doctors fault for not doing enough due diligence beforehand.
He also claimed there are some perverse incentives like he claimed a hospital might bill an $100k but only receive $13k. But, they can claim a $87k loss which the government will partly reimburse. He further claimed that insurance companies often have contracts with employers where the employer is supposed to pay a percentage of the amount the insurance company saved for them. In other words, the insurance company will say "we managed to save you $87k on your $100k bill, pay us 20% of the savings" so they have an incentive to ask the hospital to charge more.
Note: I have no idea how backed up this is. Just passing on the podcast, hoping to see more knowledgeable feedback.
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…
Went to a hospital with no insurance and no appointment. I was being seen by a doctor within 30 minutes. Doctor wanted to do some additional labs just to rule other things out, but he was worried that it would be expensive for me given the lack of insurance. He called up billing with me still in the room and had a price within a couple minutes: ~$70 USD.
Ultimately I left the hospital after being seen, getting chest xrays, the additional labs, and antibiotics in hand. No insurance and I paid less than ~$160 USD.
Of course doctors and hospitals don't want price transparency. That would create pricing competition, which would drive down consumer prices, lower profit margins, and force them to become more efficient. Price transparency is one of the key elements of the highly successful Singapore healthcare system. Add in universal tax-free (or tax-deferred) Health Savings Accounts, and we could not only improve the US healthcar…
Well, I do want price transparency - IF it works the way they promise. It’s hard for me, as a programmer, not to draw parallels to every employer’s expectation that I should be able to listen to them describe a software problem and quote them a timeframe on the spot (which, of course, they’ll then try to “negotiate” down). On the one hand, as a non-medical-professional outsider looking in, it seems to me that _of course_ they should be able to say ahead of time how much a cataract removal surgery should cost, they’ve done it hundreds of times (I hope). On the other hand, I know how much variability occurs in software projects and how little of that is trivially predictable.
On the other other hand, I can’t for the life of me imagine any possible reason why they can’t say EXACTLY how much an MRI will cost before they do it.