Posted on 10/01/2014 3:47:42 PM PDT by steve86
The American health-care system is befuddling in so many ways, but the variation in hospital prices is among the most confounding.
The price for back surgery at Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center can cost $46,000 — three times as much as it costs at Seattle’s Virginia Mason Medical Center. If you’re looking for knee or hip replacement, at $92,000 you could wind up paying four-times more at Multicare Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup than the $23,000 price tag at Wenatchee Valley Hospital.
Across the state and for services ranging from urinary tract infections to strokes, the prices for care are two, three or even four times more expensive from one facility to another.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.seattletimes.com ...
It does pay to shop around. I recently had a procedure done. I saw three doctors and got three out-of-pocket estimates ranging from $500 to $4,000. I picked the less expensive when I realized that all three were good surgeons.
PING!
They’re all cheaper in Mexico or Thailand but the mileage guarantee is less and pretty much unenforceable.
I guess another question is whether the OOP estimate turns out to be accurate.
There is no consumer protection against scamming in the medical business. And there is no way to get a quote ahead of time for procedures either. These numbers are no doubt based on what customers were billed after services were rendered.
I’ve got an off topic but comical health care story for you, Steve.
I donated blood yesterday.
The screening nurse is required to ask each donor this question:
“What was your gender at birth?”
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