Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online

Post by wavefunction » Wed, Jul 10, 2013, 5:46 AM UTC

mattmcknight wrote: post #160

tempestn wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The great thing is, health care has been such a study in what can go wrong with free-market capitalism that it's nice to see a counter-example.

Free-market capitalism? It's highly regulated, subject to inconsistent taxation, and over 50% of care is bought by the government...

Post by lostlogin » Wed, Jul 10, 2013, 5:50 AM UTC

rayiner wrote: post #43

crusso wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The free market in medicine is plain weird Says you. Time and again, Lasik surgery and cosmetic surgeries not covered by insurance or hindered by over-regulation have shown us that transparent pricing and competition work to make those procedures more affordable -- just like these forces work in other markets. The State has perverted the medical market for more than half a century and you're just used to seeing it in…

I'd look at good old supply and demand before reaching for "over-regulating is distorting the market." Demand for Lasik and cosmetic surgery is much more elastic because they're not life-saving or otherwise necessary procedures. Meanwhile, supply is relatively higher because they're relatively cheap procedures to provide. They can be done in outpatient centers instead of hospitals, usually don't require general anest…

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 10, 2013, 6:00 AM UTC

Post by Bamafan » Wed, Jul 10, 2013, 6:28 AM UTC

riahi wrote: post #152

Bamafan wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reason the cost of healthcare is so high is because medicare pays roughly 15% of a bill, others are somewhere between 20-50% of a bill depending. That is to say if the doctor charges you $40,000 you pay your 10% co-pay of $4,000 and the insurance then only pays maybe another $8,000. Another reason is the supply of doctors is artificially restricted by the AMA.

The supply of doctors is not restricted by the AMA. The supply of doctors is determined by the number of residency spots available to new graduates; that number is entirely determined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS). Thanks to the Balance Budget Act of 1997, Graduate Medical Education (GME) was dramatically slowed due to decreases in Medicare funding of residency positions. [1] As long as we require ph…

Post by beefman » Wed, Jul 10, 2013, 6:38 AM UTC

showerst wrote: post #27

ChuckMcM wrote: post #22

I really salute these guys for doing this. It's freakin' awesome. This I've added to my next letter to my representatives in Congress: "Dr. Smith said federal Medicare regulation would not allow for their online price menu. They have avoided government regulation and control in that area by choosing not to accept Medicaid or Medicare payments." I've suggested that one non-controversial way in which Healthcare could b…

Copying my comment below. The government not only allows healthcare providers to reveal their prices, it encourages it. The graf about the government is a political statement, not a policy fact, and does not belong in a news story. ----- Medicare/caid prices are standardized and public. They also release data on what specific hospitals bill for the most common procedures. http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-a…