I found out that by paying 1600.00 cash for a hernia operation from a top flight doctor at Los Robles Hospital in Thousand Oaks, I could eliminate any wait. The insurance billing would have been $6,000. I rest my case.
Govt OUT completely, or we suffer double the premiums, and TRIPLE the deductibles. Now we are suffering them Obama should be doing 15 to life for his health care lies alone!
I believe there is truth in that, but don’t let the billing fool you.
What the hospitals bill the insurance companies IS NOT what they get reimbursed.
They get a set fee for the type of service provided.
These are broken down into groups. DRGs
D iognostic
R elated
G oups
Your type of service was probably in a DRG that provided the hospital it’s dead net costs plus a very small stipend.
No hospital is getting $6,000 for a procedure you can get away with paying $1,600 dollars for. Those days ended about 25 years ago.
To your point, I do believe competition is increased when the government is totally out of it, so don’t think I disagree with your premise.
They have pretty much wrung everything out of hospitals that they could.
I’d love to sit in on a meeting where they discuss regulations and documentation. There is fertile ground there. I’m just not sure how much these two areas can be cut back and not reduce the quality of care.