Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
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Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#2 They have avoided government regulation and control in
that area by choosing not to accept Medicaid or Medicare
payments.
Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#3This happens only now? In more civilized countries like Germany, prices for procedures have been set since time immorial. There is a provision for surcharges from the physician, but these aren't common, and the physician will have to have a good cause or the insurer will not pay it.
Same thing for new medications: they are not permitted in the clinic unless there is a genuine advantage for the patient.
All this is of course due to political circumstances: medicine is just too profitable.
Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#4This happens only now ? In more civilized countries like Germany, prices for procedures have been set since time immorial. There is a provision for surcharges from the physician, but these aren't common, and the physician will have to have a good cause or the insurer will not pay it. Same thing for new medications: they are not permitted in the clinic unless there is a genuine advantage for the patient. All this is o…
Sure. "Give me all your money or you die" is a guaranteed profit.
Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#5I don't know if other states do this, but at least in California hospitals report their prices (known as a chargemaster or master charge description file) online at OSHPD (http://www.oshpd.ca.gov/chargemaster/). Even looking through these you'd be surprised what prices there are.
This isn't a new controversy, but still quite problematic - for some fun try Googling "usual, customary and reasonable" (UCR charges).
Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#6This happens only now ? In more civilized countries like Germany, prices for procedures have been set since time immorial. There is a provision for surcharges from the physician, but these aren't common, and the physician will have to have a good cause or the insurer will not pay it. Same thing for new medications: they are not permitted in the clinic unless there is a genuine advantage for the patient. All this is o…
All this is of course due to political circumstances: medicine is just too profitable.
No. Medicine in inelastic. There is no such thing as a rational demand side, as you don't get to choose if you need healthcare or not. When demand is inelastic, and supply is limited, prices will rise accordingly with no relief in sight.
The solution? Either set market prices (at the cost of stifling supply) or flood the market with supply (using technology to both drive down costs and replace what people do).
Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#7This happens only now ? In more civilized countries like Germany, prices for procedures have been set since time immorial. There is a provision for surcharges from the physician, but these aren't common, and the physician will have to have a good cause or the insurer will not pay it. Same thing for new medications: they are not permitted in the clinic unless there is a genuine advantage for the patient. All this is o…
Either centrally controlled prices or a free market could work.
Government regulations about not advertising prices blind consumers to the costs of procedures, so hospitals have little reason to lower prices.
It's another case where a small dose of regulation is worse than strict regulation or no regulation.
Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#8Their price for a procedure I had in 2000, today, is half of what I paid out-of-pocket back then. Wow.
This is great, and I hope it's a sign of a trend.
Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#9This happens only now ? In more civilized countries like Germany, prices for procedures have been set since time immorial. There is a provision for surcharges from the physician, but these aren't common, and the physician will have to have a good cause or the insurer will not pay it. Same thing for new medications: they are not permitted in the clinic unless there is a genuine advantage for the patient. All this is o…
All this is of course due to political circumstances: medicine is just too profitable. No. Medicine in inelastic. There is no such thing as a rational demand side, as you don't get to choose if you need healthcare or not. When demand is inelastic, and supply is limited, prices will rise accordingly with no relief in sight. The solution? Either set market prices (at the cost of stifling supply) or flood the market wit…
How do you explain the fact that healthcare expenditures in the US are twice as high as in the rest of the Western world, and life expectancy is comparable?
Re: Hospital creates bidding war by posting pricing online
#10Can you call transparent pricing a "revolution" when the status quo is purposefully obfuscated and archaic in order to nickle and dime you? It seems more like just doing the right thing.