Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more • Hacker News Board

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#101

Post by candiddevmike » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 1:55 AM UTC

missedthecue wrote: post #99

kshacker wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not a 'broken mess'. It is an 'engineered mess'. The difference is in intent.

Who is making the profits? Most health insurance orgs, mine included, are not for profit. BCBS, Kaiser, Wellmark, etc

The executives, board members, and middle management at all of these companies. I've worked with some of the companies you named, they have lavish offices and gravy train jobs for everyone and their crony friends. Yes, they're "not for profit", but that doesn't mean no one gets (insane) bonuses. Checkout their 990s sometime to get an idea at the excess of cash being pocketed.

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#102

Post by jjeaff » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 1:56 AM UTC

Rickasaurus wrote: post #42

avgDev wrote: post #11

The US healthcare system is just a completely broken mess. When things go smooth, you are lucky! However, when you have a major procedure, life event or sickness things can get messy quick. We had a child 10 months ago, billing was screwed up by the hospital, then by insurance and we are still in process of getting it resolved. I have now spent at least 8 hours on the phone. I had a surgery, called insurance and veri…

Similar here. Had a baby 9 months ago, the doctor took the insurance, but it turned out later the hospital didn't. Bill was over 100K and it wasn't covered at all.

I knew about that little caveat/scam going in. So I spoke with hospital billing and confirmed that the hospital did accept our insurance. But I also discovered that any other doctor that works on you during the birth will bill separately and will need to accept your insurance.

I asked the hospital who the anesthesiologist would be and they said they had no way of knowing because you use whoever is on duty when you give birth.

So there was literally no way to figure out if all of the birth would be covered. And it turns out, the anesthesiologist that happened to be working that day was not accepted on our plan. They billed us for $4k (even though he botched the epidural, causing us to need an emergency c section.)

We had to decline to pay it a few times before they said they would work it out and accept the lower amount from our insurance.

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#103

Post by C19is20 » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 1:58 AM UTC

accounted wrote: post #10

markdown wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

In many countries, the concept of the hospital is also different from what it is in the US. Where in the US there are clinics, ERs, urgent cares, and specialty practices, elsewhere there's just hospitals and you can go for any kind of treatment big or small.

European here: we have all of those.

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#104

Post by mklauber1 » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 1:59 AM UTC

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #61

Has anyone aggregated hospital cost data yet or is it something that is only there if you ask for it? Are there hospital APIs for this? Not that they are mutually exclusive, just that I wouldn't imagine a pricing service exists yet if it's just manually gotten.

Take a look at this: https://www.dolthub.com/repositories/dolthub/hospital-price-... It's not a nice interface, but it's raw pricing data for 1400 hospitals.

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#105

Post by torgian » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 2:01 AM UTC

Meanwhile in developing countries, health care is hassle-free and low cost.

I spent 24usd for an invasive procedure and meds in Taiwan. I’m honestly happy I left the States years ago because I’d probably be in debt at this point.

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#106

Post by tguvot » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 2:03 AM UTC

WalterSear wrote: post #53

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what this article is about. The prices must be revealed now: > As of Jan. 1, hospitals must publicly reveal the negotiated rates reached with insurers for services, a landmark shift in the sector notoriously opaque when it comes to pricing. The data offer a peek behind the curtain, exposing prices long kept a secret.

I called UCSF's price transparency hotline earlier this week, to find out the price of some Xrays, because my insurance - the best plan that I was offered - won't even cover the first $2,000, and then half the cost after that. The pricing transparency hotline told me that they could not give me a quote until I made appointments for the procedures. I called the Xray department. Apparently, they don't set appointments…

did you consider somebody else ? for example sutter health has a price list for common things online https://www.sutterhealth.org/for-patients/health-care-costs-...

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#107

Post by jnsie » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 2:03 AM UTC

JamesBarney wrote: post #88

0xmohit wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The mess is by design. Goldman Sachs asks in biotech research report: ‘Is curing patients a sustainable business model?’ https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/goldman-asks-is-curing-patie... >

Should we be upset that people can't afford to provide cures we don't want to pay for? When I work, I get paid. I expect pharmaceutical companies feel the same way. And if you look at how the world dealt with the hep c cure, it was pretty much trying as hard as possible to pay as little for a cure because the cost was front loaded.

We should certainly be upset that a giant bank is effectively advising them not to create cures.

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#108

Post by dilyevsky » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 2:04 AM UTC

narrator wrote: post #84

Kaiser is the only non-broken part of the U.S healthcare system. They have never sent me a bill for a surprise out of network anything. Out of network doctors don't work there. All doctors are on salary. You get one bill from one company. No wonder they have been growing like crazy in California.

Kaiser is amazing. Other than no surprise bills that you mentioned they also have your full history that is accessible to all doctors and to you. Also no scammy $200 new patient copays etc

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#109

Post by phreack » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 2:06 AM UTC

avgDev wrote: post #11

The US healthcare system is just a completely broken mess. When things go smooth, you are lucky! However, when you have a major procedure, life event or sickness things can get messy quick. We had a child 10 months ago, billing was screwed up by the hospital, then by insurance and we are still in process of getting it resolved. I have now spent at least 8 hours on the phone. I had a surgery, called insurance and veri…

In a moment of levity, check out Dogen's dramatization of having a child in Japan as a westerner.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl5WSGs5bGs

Re: Hospitals lift curtain on prices, reveals giant swings for hips, knees and more

#110

Post by simple_phrases » Sat, Mar 13, 2021, 2:07 AM UTC

missedthecue wrote: post #99

kshacker wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not a 'broken mess'. It is an 'engineered mess'. The difference is in intent.

Who is making the profits? Most health insurance orgs, mine included, are not for profit. BCBS, Kaiser, Wellmark, etc

Employers and owners of practices, hospitals, clinics etc. Shareholders of pharmaceutical and medical device companies. Executives and administrative roles are paid well, too.