Hospitals Should be Care Providers not Loan Sharks

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Deborah Burger

Hospitals Should be Care Providers not Loan Sharks
Predatory pricing practices can be found nearly everywhere in healthcare.

May 17, 2013 |


If there is one problem that symbolizes the ongoing national healthcare emergency, it is the rampant price gouging in the healthcare industry that continues to price too many Americans out of access to care and into financial ruin. Not only is the problem not solved by the Affordable Care Act, but it is a likely reason many will continue to demand more effective reform, as in expanding and extending Medicare to cover everyone.

Predatory pricing practices can be found nearly everywhere in healthcare, by the drug companies, insurance companies, medical suppliers, outpatient clinics, boutique medical services, and many others as chronicled this spring in Time magazine.

U.S. hospitals are among the biggest abusers, as illuminated in recent datareleased by Medicare on hospital charges for a variety of common procedures as well as brand new findings by the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, the research arm of the National Nurses United, based on Medicare cost reports.

The nurses’ data augments the Medicare findings, and goes the next step, illustrating a trend of rising high hospital charges while providing context to a very ugly picture and the deplorable impact on anyone who needs healthcare.

Here’s the sobering numbers:

· U.S. hospitals charge on average $331 dollars for every $100 of their total costs, in statistical terms a 331 percent charge to cost ratio.
· While hospital charges over costs have been climbing steadily over the past 15 years – the charges took their biggest leap ever in 2011– a 22 point vault.
· From 2009 to 2011 (the most recent year for which the data is available), hospital charges lunged upward by 16 percent, while hospital costs only increased by 2 percent.
· U.S. hospital profits, pushed upward by the high charges, hit a record $53.2 billion, while nurses see more and more hospitals cutting patient services and limiting access to care.
· One case study is California where hospitals soared past the national average with a charge to cost ratio of 451 percent, or $451 for every $100 of costs.

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The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/hospitals-should-be-care-providers-not-loan-sharks

[DCKit]

1. It's a sure bet though - an offer you can't refuse. nt

[redstatebluegirl]

2. I had major surgery 3 years ago

my neurosurgeon and the hospital required payment for the amount they calculated the insurance would not pay. It was almost $4500. They would not schedule the surgery until this was paid. The hospital was a doctor owned hospital. Now I loved my doctor and the hospital stay was ok, but talk about conflict of interest. Thankfully we had that amount on our credit card or we would not have been able to get me out of the substantial pain I was in.

After the surgery, I spent the first 4 weeks on the phone arguing with the insurance company and doctor's offices trying to get everything paid with no additional. Did not happen, I ended up owing another $3000.

Of course John Boehner has enough money and insurance he wouldn't experience this or have to watch his wife go through that like my husband did. But that doesn't matter, we don't matter....

[NightWatcher]

3. I hate religion till it comes to non profit catholic hospitals

I know I'm a big hypocrite, but I like the care and that they'll wait for payment or help with filing for Medicare/charity...

I did have to pay up front once for shoulder replacement surgery at another hospital. Even after I paid, they harassed me for more money, claiming there were problems once I was in surgery.

[DesertFlower]

4. i have to agree. when my husband had a seizure i called

911. he was taken to a "for profit" hospital. he spent less than 24 hours there before being transferred to St. joseph's barrow neurological institute. the for profit hospital (arrowhead in glendale, az) billed the insurance $23,102.25 for room and board. that did not include doctors and tests. st. joseph's charged $117,601 for room and board for 10 days. do the math.

3 days after he was discharged from arrowhead i got a phone call saying he didn't pay when he was discharged. they told me what we owed -- $2,728.27 -- their estimate after insurance. i told them i would pay them after they billed insurance and i knew exactly what we owed. they gave me a hard time saying that was their policy. i told them they would get what they were owed after they went through the proper channels.

fortunately we had good insurance and our max "out of pocket" per person was a little over $6,000. hubby passed 3 months later. he was home for 5 weeks and then we found out his brain tumor had grown tremendously. neurosurgeon said he had a few weeks. he lived for almost 8 weeks more. first in hospice -- then a month in assisted living before he was transferred back to hospice where he passed a week later. i did have to pay $3,000 for assisted living. we had a long term care policy, but those policies don't go into effect until 90 days after approval of the home.

he got wonderful care in st. joe's. i couldn't believe their menus. they had about 5 of them, regular, gluten free, low carb, cardio and there was no exact time for meals. when he felt like eating all he had to do was pick up the phone and call the cafeteria.

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. One more example of doing the same thing that failed before and expecting success. n/t

[HiPointDem]

6. kr.

[XemaSab]

7. One of the biggest problems is the "ER as primary care" model

I went to go get a stitch a few weeks ago (long story) and if you took out all the people who were like "My kid fell three weeks ago and we're here to get a CAT scan," the "My kid has an ear infection," and the "My kid broke her ankle," I would guess that there would be half the traffic in there, if not less.

As it were, I was there 6 damn hours before I got stitched.

Meanwhile, there was a woman there who had fallen and hit her head and she was vomiting, and she had to wait a while.

There needs to be like a dual model where there's a 24-7 walk-in clinic at the hospital where they're like "Here, have some antibiotics," "Here, have a cast," "Here, lemme stitch your face for you"; and then there's the real ER where they're like "Here, lemme save your life for you."