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Hospitals must now tell you their prices. This is “yuge.”
SHARYL ATTKISSON.com ^ | November 16,2019 | SHARYL ATTKISSON

Posted on 11/16/2019 8:57:40 AM PST by Hojczyk

On my Sunday TV program Full Measure, I’ve done quite a bit of reporting on the capricious cost of medical services at hospitals and how hard it is to get pricing upfront.

President Trump just instituted a new rule requiring hospitals to make that information available.

This could be a game changer.

As I reported the prices hospitals charge vary widely and often do not seem to correlate to anything in particular. Insurance and private payers may be radically overcharged.

From my story comparing prices:

One hospital in the Los Angeles area charged $400 for the knee MRI. But a hospital in smaller Des Moines, Iowa quoted $3,500 ($3,536). That’s eight and a half times as much for the exact same procedure.

Similar dramatic ranges are found within the same region. In Orlando, one hospital charged as little as $877 total. Another charged close to $2,000 ($1,980) and didn’t even include the fee to read the MRI.

Hospitals in Los Angeles charged from $400 to $2,800 ($2,850).

Raleigh-Durham: about a $1,000 ($1,023) to $2,700 ($2,775).

Des Moines also from about $1,000 ($1,071) to $3,500 ($3,536).

Dallas and Fort Worth: $500 ($508) to $4,200 ($4,274).

And the biggest disparity was in the New York City area. The cheapest knee MRI was about $440. Another hospital in the area the most expensive in the survey charged $4,500!

Under President Trump’s new rules, patients will be able to get this information upfront.

According to CNBC, “Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include gross charges, the negotiated rates with insurers and the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept from a patient.”

(Excerpt) Read more at sharylattkisson.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; attkisson; dsj02; healthcare; hospitalcosts; hospitalprices; hospitals; infanticide; medicalservices; medicareforall; obamacare
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To: PGR88

Nah, go to canaDUH instead. LOL! I believe you need to schedule your heart attacks so you can be fit in to the queue.


21 posted on 11/16/2019 9:21:06 AM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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Can’t be that good. I haven’t heard democrat lobbyists screeching about it


22 posted on 11/16/2019 9:21:29 AM PST by dsrtsage (Complexity is merely simplicity lacking imagination)
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To: ShackledNoMore

“Having hospitals display their prices… is simply an exercise in futility. And a very silly idea.”

I have to ask what evidence do you have to back that claim up, are you going to cite the insanely inflationary medical costs that we have to live with as a reason not to do it?


23 posted on 11/16/2019 9:22:47 AM PST by wildcard_redneck (If the Trump Administration doesn't prosecute the coup plotters he loses the election in 2020)
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To: Hojczyk

When I go to a restaurant I am handed a bill of fare.

Before I get on a plane, I obtain a bill of fare.

When I buy insurance (various) I get a bill of fare.

Hospital services should be no different.

5.56mm


24 posted on 11/16/2019 9:22:48 AM PST by M Kehoe (DRAIN THE SWAMP! BUILD THE WALL!)
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To: ShackledNoMore
Not exactly apples to Apples is it… ?? <<<

lol....its EXACTLY apples to apples!

Did you read the article???????????

Would you mind if my MRI costs me $400 and yours cost $4500 in the same hospital?

a simple Yes or No answer will be suffice...

25 posted on 11/16/2019 9:23:30 AM PST by M-cubed
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To: rktman

“”And if you are in need of critical care what are you going to do with that info? “”

People replying here are missing the point. If you are admitted to a hospital through an emergency room, no one is CHECKING IN at the hospital. All well and good for elective procedures (surgeries) or tests but otherwise, I ask the same question - “what are you going to do with the info?”


26 posted on 11/16/2019 9:26:18 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: PGalt

Most of the tests, exams and even surgeries are not emergencies. I would like to go online and see how much a simple eye exam would cost, or how about the lab work. I may go with my regular eye doctor but at least I can see the difference in his rates in comparison to the other eye doctors in my area.


27 posted on 11/16/2019 9:26:57 AM PST by LauraJean (sometimes I win sometimes I donate to the equine benevolent society)
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To: Hojczyk

Were is the GOP Senate on health care reform....no where...

Probably collecting lots of bribe money from the Big Hospitals to overturn this.


28 posted on 11/16/2019 9:27:05 AM PST by eyeamok
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To: Hojczyk

“President Trump just instituted a new rule requiring hospitals to make that information available.”

What’s the rule?

Thus article us all empty polemic devoid of any information.

Author is a nutcase, too.


29 posted on 11/16/2019 9:28:13 AM PST by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: M-cubed

M-cubed wrote:
Not exactly apples to Apples is it… ?? <<<

lol....its EXACTLY apples to apples!

Did you read the article???????????

Would you mind if my MRI costs me $400 and yours cost $4500 in the same hospital?

a simple Yes or No answer will be suffice...

________________________________________________________

Funny. What are the comparative cost in your area? Just as gas cost more in one area ....so does health care. That’s called FREE MARKET.

....are you asking for socialized medical care to be the law of the land?

P.S. no more coffee for you today....:)


30 posted on 11/16/2019 9:29:18 AM PST by ShackledNoMore
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To: Hojczyk

This is the President who is doing nothing for Americans, so the dim/socialists say. Sheesh, I’ve been waiting on upfront med pricing for years. Wanna bet the AMA or someone else files some bogus lawsuit?


31 posted on 11/16/2019 9:30:59 AM PST by A Navy Vet (I'm not Islamophobic - I'm Islamonauseous. Also LGBTQxyz nauseous.)
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To: Hojczyk

Most of politicians and media and celebrities, etc are part of the health care racket. IMO

Only “the workers” are not invited to join the money maker (health care racket). IMO

We must make sure that “they” do not change back once President Trump is out of office

I wonder, how did he do this? ....via EO??


32 posted on 11/16/2019 9:39:20 AM PST by Karoo
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To: ShackledNoMore
"Medical procedures are not exact science…"

Actually, the "procedures" (tests) are exact science. You were probably thinking of diagnosis that may require more tests. That is also built on years of medical science, but is still subject to any given doctor's interpretation of such tests. That's why the axiom, "get a second opinion" still has weight.

33 posted on 11/16/2019 9:41:16 AM PST by A Navy Vet (I'm not Islamophobic - I'm Islamonauseous. Also LGBTQxyz nauseous.)
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To: redcatcherb412

“Makes me happy that I cannot have an MRI.”

Neither can I, due to metal in my hip.


34 posted on 11/16/2019 9:42:20 AM PST by MayflowerMadam ("I've read the back of The Book, and we win.")
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To: Hojczyk

Bkmk


35 posted on 11/16/2019 9:44:13 AM PST by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: A Navy Vet

A Navy Vet wrote:
“Medical procedures are not exact science…”

Actually, the “procedures” (tests) are exact science. You were probably thinking of diagnosis that may require more tests. That is also built on years of medical science, but is still subject to any given doctor’s interpretation of such tests. That’s why the axiom, “get a second opinion” still has weight.

________________________

Was ‘referring also’ to...Yes...and Yes...:)


36 posted on 11/16/2019 9:44:16 AM PST by ShackledNoMore
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To: ShackledNoMore
"Just as gas cost more in one area ....so does health care. That’s called FREE MARKET."

I agree. However you see the cost for gas on the sign, you don't see it for other than emergency care at a hospital or urgent clinic.

37 posted on 11/16/2019 9:46:15 AM PST by A Navy Vet (I'm not Islamophobic - I'm Islamonauseous. Also LGBTQxyz nauseous.)
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To: M-cubed

And as you walk in the door, Walmart makes you sign a paper giving them a lot of discretion over what you buy, and also a promise to pay.


38 posted on 11/16/2019 9:52:28 AM PST by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: A Navy Vet

Refer Back to the inexact science of medical diagnosis and treatment post.


39 posted on 11/16/2019 9:53:47 AM PST by ShackledNoMore
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To: Hojczyk

In the hospital they test your blood everyday.i have no history or symptoms for diabetes but while in the hospital they tested me for diabetes every morning for a month. I bet that wasn’t cheap.


40 posted on 11/16/2019 9:57:53 AM PST by cnsmom
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