The Trump administration on Friday released the final version of a rule forcing hospitals to publicly disclose the prices they negotiate privately with insurers or face fines. The rule, which would take effect in 2021, is intended to improve transparency in a system that officials say in now clear as mud, increasing competition and better enabling consumers to shop for hundreds of medical items and services, including procedures like X-rays and lab tests, doctor care and facility fees.
That's a good thing, scary though. Had a 1 night hosp stay 9 years ago, over $10K. Individual room, nurses doing stuff every 20 min. $10K and can't even sleep?
I think that might just have been the "retail" cost and not necessarily what your insurance company settled for...
If that were the case we wouldn't have Trump forcing hospitals to reveal what it "really cost".
I know when we had our first kid the bill was almost $100k billed to BCBS! But again, this was just the "retail cost", because there is no way health insurance companies could stay solvent at these retail costs.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
Now we just need him to mandate that hospitals accept from anyone the same price that they have shown to have negotiated in the past, that would be real help.
For extra credit, does anyone want to find out typical operating cost for a hospital? Do they even publish them details? You would think they had to!
Based on what it cost for a hospital to keep the doors open, divided by the amount of people visit should give a rough average of the cost per patient. I know this would be really rough figures because some may just come in for a few stitches while other come in in critical condition.
But the point is, we have to start somewhere, right?
Now days, based on past experiences with child birth, the hospitals are actually broken up into a bunch of different units - all of them billing separate. So you might see four to six different bills for a single visit depending on how long you stay and what you have done. I think they do this to spread risk because all these units are working under one roof.
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What is to give light must endure burning -- Viktor Frankl
For extra credit, does anyone want to find out typical operating cost for a hospital? Do they even publish them details? You would think they had to!
Based on what it cost for a hospital to keep the doors open, divided by the amount of people visit should give a rough average of the cost per patient. I know this would be really rough figures because some may just come in for a few stitches while other come in in critical condition.
But the point is, we have to start somewhere, right?
Now days, based on past experiences with child birth, the hospitals are actually broken up into a bunch of different units - all of them billing separate. So you might see four to six different bills for a single visit depending on how long you stay and what you have done. I think they do this to spread risk because all these units are working under one roof.
Those statistics of the running costs "should" be available if you pick a hospital & do a search on it.
I can tell you that my last ship, a dredger with JDN with around 100 people on-board needed $750,000:00 USD per-day to keep running...
Hospitals will run huge day-to-day electricity / energy bills, with stuff like linen, & instrumentation needing sterilization 24/7. I know that some here in Oz run massive boilers for the steam needed to sterilize stuff, & they are running 24/7 too.
Anyhow, IMO, with the taxes we pay, seeing a doctor, dentist or having a needed stay in hospital should be free, or heavily subsidized at the least. This also means that the Gov't needs to find, train, & reward well more doctors & staff, & "regulate" their career via requisite time-spent in "Public Hospitals" as a pay-back incentive & a job to go to for the Student Loan Debt incurred, for say around 10-years once qualified, before being eligible to practice in the "Private Sector".
This way, you kill 2-birds with 1-stone, since Public Hospitals would have a reliable base of experienced Doctors at hand, & the Private Insurers can pick & choose who they want after the 10-year-stint at a Public Hospital, when experienced Doctors can be licensed as specialists for the one's that want to pay for a little better care.
Medical Aid & help should not be a business, but the people involved should be well treated & paid via our tax money.
-- Edited by Rastus on Wednesday 20th of November 2019 02:58:43 AM
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"Only an alert & knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial & military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods & goals, so that security & liberty may prosper together". Dwight D.Eisenhower.