The REAL Reason Your Hospital Bill's Outta Sight
(PS - it Has Nothing to Do with Insurance)
The result is that the ultimate consumer, the patients, are the ones who lose. When corporations can block progress while operating in the dark, all of us lose.
An excerpt: "The idea of hospitals outsourcing oversight of their supply budgets may seem hard to fathom. But the price of medical supplies is not always transparent. Makers of the costliest devices and equipment tend to be secretive about pricing and generally require buyers to sign gag clauses promising not to disclose what they've paid, which makes it difficult for hospitals to comparison shop.
As for independent assessment of GPOs' effect on costs, they are hard to come by. But the little information that is available suggests that they may actually drive up the price of supplies. A 2002 pilot study by the Government Accountability Office found, for instance, that hospitals that went through GPOs paid more for safety needles and most models of pacemakers than those that negotiated prices on their own -- for some pacemakers the median gap was as wide as 39 percent."
Please read the whole article here and then raise some hell with Congress: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.blake.html
[The author has worked in the insurance field in several roles for a decade, and now chooses to make information available to consumers. Stay tuned for articles detailing your consumer rights.]
Published by MinnieApolis
Native of the great progressive state of Wisconsin. View profile
Understanding Your Inpatient Hospital BillAfter getting treatment and going through recovery, before you can leave the hospital after an inpatient stay, you have to settle the hospital bill first. It is important that y...- Hospital GrantsThere is no question about it - visits to the hospital, both inpatient and outpatient, can be an excessive drain on the bank account.
- How to Negotiate a Payment Schedule With Your Hospital How to set up an affordable hospital repayment plan you can live with.
- Medical Bills for the Uninsured Turned Over to Credit Card Companies and BanksUnpaid medical bills are being turned into consumer debt, with interest rates as high as 27%. Finance companies buy the debt at a discount, then charge large monthly payments, with steep interest rates.
- You Have Health Insurance, but Who Pays the Bills?It is standard for consumers to review their credit card statements for accurate charges but when it comes to doctors bills the average consumer may be paying for items that should have been covered by insurance.
- Eastman Kodak Co.'s Anti-Trust Suit
- Personal Injury Hospital Bills--How Legal Services Can Help
- Bicycle Accidents Among Kids Adding Up to Huge Hospital Bills
- Snake Bites and Hospital Bills in New Port Richey, Florida
- Snakebites and Hospital Bills Revisited
- Think Twice Before Becoming a Surgical Technologist
- How to Deal with Past Due Medical Bills
- Hospitals have little control over prices of supplies, even though many use large buying groups.
- In some cases hospitals are better off buying supplies directly from a vendor than thru a group.
- Buying groups often have gag orders preventing hospitals from price shopping.