Posted on 06/24/2019 1:47:37 PM PDT by buckalfa
President Trump on Monday signed an executive order demanding the upfront disclosure by hospitals of the actual prices for common tests and procedures.
Trump's order also requires that patients be told ahead of time what their out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and copays will be for many procedures.
“This landmark initiative continues our work to put American patients first,” Trump said at the White House. “We are fundamentally changing the nature of the health care marketplace.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
They’ll just put out list prices that are five to six times as high as what they’ll actually get. Just as companies did under Nixon’s wage and price controls.
It’s a pretty Sad Day in America when the President has to sign an Executive Order to enforce 100 year old, long standing ANTI TRUST LAWS!!!
Price lists are not really fesable for hospitals. there are just too many variables.
There can be prices for some seervices but not for all.
When I checked into the hospital, they made me sign a bunch of forms. One said, basically: “I will pay the charges, whatever they are.”
That violates basic contract law, how can someone agree to something when they don’t know what it is? Courts have let these places get away with this for YEARS.
Wife was admitted to the ER, then had treatments, admitted for 2 days. On Medicare. Original bill was $63,000. Medicare approval and total payments appx $1200. We are 9n the hook for our Medicare deductible of $1300. So a total of $2500 for a hospital that billed $63,000. How can the individual know what is a reasonable cost and what is not?
I am one of the “uninsured” because I belong to a healthcare sharing ministry. Because I initially write a check for every medical bill I incur, I applaud this.
I had a knee operation last year. List price was 25k. Insured price was 2500. Wonder which price would be listed?
Possibly, but transparent pricing is an important component of a competitive healthcare market.
Good. Now do an EO requiring country of origin labels on food products.
Something in hospital care is rotten in Denmark! Recently, I took my wife to the local hospital because a viral infection wasn’t resolving. She was there for no more than two hours. They did a chest X-Ray with a portable machine in the exam room and routine blood and urine tests. The prescription they wrote went to our pharmacy so it’s cost was not included. The bill they sent Medicare was $25,000.!
Medicare paid them less than $1,000. There is something radically wrong with this process, and if the $25k figure is right, I pitty the poor White Guy w/o insurance that gets stuck with the bill!
There are no moral people running these mills. CEOs must be paid their $500,000 a year.
I to use a health sharing ministry. Abusive hospitals threaten our very existence.
Unfortunately almost every business these days are out to get whatever they can from customers. It’s the modernist way, the hell with any morals.
What did you actually wind up paying?
We are so far away from a competitive healthcare market that making a price list will do nothing but add more to the cost of healthcare...the bureaucratic cost of creating/maintaining/posting the list. Are they going to list the government/Medicaid/Medicare 15% reimbursement price?, cash price?, “retail” price? Average of all those or ???
I hear what you’re saying. I can’t fault a business for trying to increase their profit margins and make as much money as possible. However, the American healthcare system does not function within a just market! Instead, the insurance cartel sets prices.
“What did you actually wind up paying?”
We have Medicare with an Aetna Plan “F” supplement each of us obtained through AMAC ( the AARP for Decent People). As a consequence, we paid NOTHING! I cannot recommend AMAC’s insurance department highly enough. The Plan “F” Supplements are around $300 a month apiece. I think mine is about $20 a month more because I am two years older than my wife.
With this insurance, my wife has had three serious back surgeries and an open-heart surgery to replace a heart valve. All of that, and we haven’t paid a dime!
Oops, forgot to add “dozens of insurance company contracted prices”.
Exactly.
This sounds like the plan of a person who knows diddly about health care and what drives pricing.
They already do that but the multiplier is in the 10 to 1000 range.
For common tests and procedures it’s easily done.
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