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

71–80 of 311 posts

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

#71

Post by Thriptic »

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…

Lab tests are particularly complicated to price because usually they are being processed by someone else. Usually labs won't even try to get an authorization from insurance until they get your sample and start working on it as it affects their turnaround time which is one of their main differentiators, and each insurer will have different rules about what they will pay for under what conditions (insurers also have separate deals with each individual hospital and potentially individual doctors or groups of doctors). The short answer is they can't tell you because they don't know.

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

#72

Post by mullingitover »

Miner49er wrote: post #65
mullingitover wrote: post #61

There should be a basic law of health care: no person is liable for a debt they incurred before they were presented with the price and had an opportunity to refuse. I'd give some amount of leeway for unconscious patients, but aside from that every single penny of expense should be agreed to up front. The absence of this policy explains a lot about how things have become so perversely broken.

Or we could just make healthcare a human right. No debt at all.

Oh, you're preaching to the choir, but I'm not optimistic about our country's chances of doing the right thing. If we're not going to follow the successful examples we've been presented with (because it's socialism! /s), and we're going to have capitalism, then we should have capitalism and engage in transactions where both parties have complete knowledge.

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

#73

Post by lotsofpulp »

noelsusman wrote: post #68
lotsofpulp wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And god forbid anyone in healthcare communicate to you in writing or via email.

That's because it's illegal.

Is it illegal to write “we will bill your insurance for procedure codes x y z for your visit”?

They don’t need to tell you the cost, but they know what they’re going to charge you beforehand. They should be able to tell you the codes so you can give it t your insurance company to find out how much it will cost.

The reason healthcare providers don’t give out codes for known predictable procedures is it would enable customers to shop around. Instead, they want you to sign a paper saying you’re liable for whatever they claim you’re liable for.

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

#74

Post by noelsusman »

XG6 wrote: post #14

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…

In Singapore, the government forces you to deposit a percentage of your income into an HSA, and then they tell you what you can and cannot spend that money on. You're only allowed to use that money to buy government-approved drugs, for example, and it's not like the FDA where they're just testing for effectiveness and safety. Also, most hospitals are owned by the government, most doctors are government employees, and most hospital visits are mostly paid for by the government.

Price transparency is a relatively minor part of what makes the Singapore health system work.

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

#75

Post by arcticbull »

Obligatory reminder socialized medicine exists, is cheaper [1], controls costs better [2] has better health outcomes [3], complete price transparency (for instance [4]) and no surprise billing. Also, a reminder that a majority of Americans want it [5].

And yet here we are, once again.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_hea...

[2] https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hblog20110920.01339...

[3] https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/Health-at-a-Glance-2017-Ke...

[4] http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/ohip/sob/physser...

[5] https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/07/02/people-dont-ins...

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

#76

Post by madamelic »

topicseed wrote: post #64
KukicAdnan wrote: post #2

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?

From the UK. Health care cost stories in the US seem incredibly dreadful. Hard to grasp how a huge power like the US can't get itself around decently-priced healthcare.

>Hard to grasp how a huge power like the US can't get itself around decently-priced healthcare.

To be honest, it's not that hard to figure out.

The US gov't largely believes itself is ineffective and needs to be privatized and ran like a business. Private businesses are held up as beacons of innovation and efficiency without the "red tape" the gov't has due to purposefully created checks, balances and regulations.

Hence why we elected a CEO, albeit a massive failure of one, but a CEO regardless.

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

#77

Post by lotsofpulp »

tyri_kai_psomi wrote: post #69
lotsofpulp wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And god forbid anyone in healthcare communicate to you in writing or via email.

Too risky. You can thank a litigious society for that one.

I think it’s to prevent people from shopping around. There’s no reason they can’t tell you what codes they will bill for a physical and routine blood draw or ultrasound so that you can ask your insurance company how much it will cost.

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

#78

Post by noelsusman »

glofish wrote: post #13

This is IMO the "simple solution" to healthcare - nothing will bring down healthcare costs faster than the following - be allowed to choose - know how much something costs - pay some of the cost themselves (co-pay, health savings account) etc.

There is no simple solution to healthcare. This will have a minor effect, if any effect at all.

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

#79

Post by guyzero »

_--___-___ wrote: post #56
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…

I've got some $3,000 saline to sell you or whoever it is that's willing to pay on your behalf.

If a nurse comes into your hospital room with a bag of saline you're going to check the price tag and argue with him about whether it's the right brand?

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

#80

Post by EpicEng »

istjohn wrote: post #48
js2 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That is not the simplest scenario for the people you were asking for information. Their process isn't optimized for that because almost no one does it.
Post reply on HN