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Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

turquoise.health

61–70 of 389 posts

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#61
This is great (and totally unfortunate that it needs to exist in the US), thanks for building it.

One issue: it looks like the search is not respecting the zip code for me if I change it. For example, if I search for a procedure using the zip code the site auto-populates, my results are great. However, if I change the zip code to my actual neighborhood here in NYC, I'm seeing results from all over the country.

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#63
post #48

It's always fascinating to see that even compared to prices you pay as a self-paying patient in Germany (which are already 1.5x - 2x higher than what the "public" insurances, ie. 85% of the population, pay for the same procedures), the prices in the US are about 5x to 10x higher. The standard of care seems to be quite comparable if you look at outcomes, so there must be huge inefficiences in the American system (doct…

I don't believe any medical professional in Germany has wage exceeding 150k EUR yearly after taxes - doctors in the US sometimes have multiples of that, coincidentally 5x to 10x more is not unusual.

It's true that US doctors are paid more (although the gap isn't as big as it used to be). However, pay for US doctors makes up a fairly small portion of overall US medical expenditures (less than 10%). So, you could ask every doctor to work for free and not significantly change costs.

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#64
Congratulations on the launch!

Turquoise Health could be solving this need gap - 'How much will I be charged for my treatment'[1] posted on my problem validation platform.

You're welcomed to explain how Turquoise Health helps solve their problem in that thread.

[1]https://needgap.com/problems/122-how-much-will-i-be-charged-... (Disclaimer: It's a problem validation platform I created).

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#65
post #45
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For folks who don’t believe in universal medical coverage, this is part of the reason why it’s so inefficient for it not to exist. The uninsured person going to the hospital at 1AM that requires an MRI because slipped a disc in their back still ends up getting that MRI. When they fail to pay that bill, which would be 5%-10% of their annual earnings, we all still pay for it. We just decided to layer in debt collection…

My takeaway from all that research was the same. Almost everyone benefits from universal coverage but the system has to incentivize patients to shop around for the optimal balance of price, quality, and convenience. This can be accomplished with an annual deductible of a few thousand dollars perhaps capped at a % of income. Without this incentive, costs skyrocket. Price transparency is a pre-requisite without which c…

Do you have any studies or sources to back this up?

As I understand it, in most EU markets there's no price component, nor much of a choice component and costs haven't skyrocketed.

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#66
post #48

It's always fascinating to see that even compared to prices you pay as a self-paying patient in Germany (which are already 1.5x - 2x higher than what the "public" insurances, ie. 85% of the population, pay for the same procedures), the prices in the US are about 5x to 10x higher. The standard of care seems to be quite comparable if you look at outcomes, so there must be huge inefficiences in the American system (doct…

I don't believe any medical professional in Germany has wage exceeding 150k EUR yearly after taxes - doctors in the US sometimes have multiples of that, coincidentally 5x to 10x more is not unusual.

Just throwing some data, average general practice doctor is 150k$ in US vs 61k$ in germany.

https://www.payscale.com/research/DE/Job=Physician_%2F_Docto...

https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Physician_%2F_Docto...

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#67

It's always fascinating to see that even compared to prices you pay as a self-paying patient in Germany (which are already 1.5x - 2x higher than what the "public" insurances, ie. 85% of the population, pay for the same procedures), the prices in the US are about 5x to 10x higher. The standard of care seems to be quite comparable if you look at outcomes, so there must be huge inefficiences in the American system (doct…

I imagine it's on account of all the administration and intermediaries.

Probably some of it but I suspect the lack of limitations on services rendered plays into it as well. If someone in the US wants to see specialists 50 times in a month due to munchausens then they'll just be charged their co-pay each time (in most insurance plans). In Germany I suspect they'd not be allowed to book appointments anymore or would require a gatekeeping referral. Same with expensive drugs that don't help outcomes but are advertised to patients and doctors.

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#68
post #45
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For folks who don’t believe in universal medical coverage, this is part of the reason why it’s so inefficient for it not to exist. The uninsured person going to the hospital at 1AM that requires an MRI because slipped a disc in their back still ends up getting that MRI. When they fail to pay that bill, which would be 5%-10% of their annual earnings, we all still pay for it. We just decided to layer in debt collection…

My takeaway from all that research was the same. Almost everyone benefits from universal coverage but the system has to incentivize patients to shop around for the optimal balance of price, quality, and convenience. This can be accomplished with an annual deductible of a few thousand dollars perhaps capped at a % of income. Without this incentive, costs skyrocket. Price transparency is a pre-requisite without which c…

Almost everyone benefits from universal coverage but the system has to incentivize patients to shop around for the optimal balance of price, quality, and convenience.

Universal coverage does not need to incentivise shopping around in a single payer system. Also, the majority of patients are not capable of evaluating quality of healthcare, nor should they be.

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#69

It's always fascinating to see that even compared to prices you pay as a self-paying patient in Germany (which are already 1.5x - 2x higher than what the "public" insurances, ie. 85% of the population, pay for the same procedures), the prices in the US are about 5x to 10x higher. The standard of care seems to be quite comparable if you look at outcomes, so there must be huge inefficiences in the American system (doct…

this podcast episode has an excellent breakdown of the healthcare pricing system in the U.S.

https://econtalk.simplecast.com/episodes/keith-smith-on-free...

Re: Show HN: Compare prices that US hospitals charge patients, insurance companies

#70
post #8

Why are the prices so insane? Where do the money go? I'm from Eastern Europe so of course the prices would be different, but by an order of a magnitude at the minimum seems strange.

It is a sliding scale. American prizes are 3 times more than private clinic in Helsinki, and again those are 3 times higher than in Lithuania. For example ultrasonic diagnosis of your frozen shoulder is 600 Euros in USA, 200 Euros in Finland and 80 Euros in Vilnius. This issue is relevant, because European healthcare wont fix your shoulder, because it is a "cosmetic problem" and will disappear on its own in a year or…

Why this was downvoted? It would be nice get even some clue why this is happening so often on totally trite statement of facts.
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