In CA, hospital costs, alone, average $10k per day. Surgery is extra. My broken leg cost $26K, about $1000 per hour of hospitalization, which is also about the average. But the average is not even close to the max.
Bill for a recent “outpatient” Gallbladder surgery was $60K.
Not even a day in the hospital. No complications.
The medical system lacks price transparency. No one knows and few care what things cost. High deductibles do help, the higher, the better. Then people demand to see prices. Even then, stone faced billing clerks often say they don’t know, and insurers won’t tell you.
Is that what the insurance company actually paid out to the hospital and doctors or were they merely inflated charges?
I was checking prices on liposuction this week. For removal of abdominal fat the price was $3,000. Is this less that much less complicated than gallbladder removal?
With higher deductibles and fair pricing ( privately paying patients should not be charged more than those with insurance or Medicaid) the prices would go down.
Personally, I would prefer to pay for a high deductibles insurance for my employees and myself and add something on a monthly basis to a medical savings account. With more people using their own money to pay for large portions of their health costs the prices should come down.
It irritates me no end that we are prohibited by law in my state from buying high deductibles insurance.