Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Try to avoid breaking any limbs in Crestview, Florida. You might wind up in North Okaloosa Medical Center, which charges 12.6 times, or 1,260 percent, more than what it costs the hospital to treat patients.
North Okaloosa, along with New Jersey’s Carepoint Health-Bayonne Hospital, tops the list of the U.S. hospitals with the highest markups for their services, according to a new study in Health Affairs. The studyfound that, on average, the 50 hospitals with the highest markups charged people 10 times more than what it cost them to provide the treatments in 2012.
Do you ever buy popcorn at the movie theatre? If you do, then you really have no reason to complain about the percentage that medical bills to the patient are increased compared to the cost to the hospital.
Here's a hint: A large bucket of popcorn, with extra butter, costs the theatre owner around 40 cents. They charge the customer around eight dollars. That's 20x the cost.
If you want to complain about the increased -percentage- over and above cost, how about the cost of someone to come and fix your toilet? Cost: around $1.75 in gasoline to get from the company to your house and around 50 cents worth of industrial-strength Draino. Charge: $70 for a 1-hour minimum or any part thereof.
Yes, medical care at a hospital is expensive. It's crazy mad expensive. But if the concern is percentages, it's not bad at all, compared to other goods and services that you pay MUCH higher percentages over cost.
Do you ever buy popcorn at the movie theatre? If you do, then you really have no reason to complain about the percentage that medical bills to the patient are increased compared to the cost to the hospital.
Here's a hint: A large bucket of popcorn, with extra butter, costs the theatre owner around 40 cents. They charge the customer around eight dollars. That's 20x the cost.
If you want to complain about the increased -percentage- over and above cost, how about the cost of someone to come and fix your toilet? Cost: around $1.75 in gasoline to get from the company to your house and around 50 cents worth of industrial-strength Draino. Charge: $70 for a 1-hour minimum or any part thereof.
Yes, medical care at a hospital is expensive. It's crazy mad expensive. But if the concern is percentages, it's not bad at all, compared to other goods and services that you pay MUCH higher percentages over cost.
Your popcorn comparison ?? I take exception to...simply due to dealing with human costs to individuals concerned..Popcorn is on it's face is entertainment expected costs..ANYONE who enters Hospital for care has not done this by control nor desire to entertain oneself.
So as a now retired frontline HC giver I find gouging the insurance system ..then by default for those who don't have coverages..get passed onto TAXPAYERS..simply by inflating actor costs..and ability to gouge in their ability to seek write-off's for TAX purposes....It's simply obvious..Capitalism has been taken advantage of by these Hospitals..IF they had to actually prove profits and losses..They would end up owing millions to governments for their flagrant misuse/Abuse of deductibles !!
While this is back in 2013...It only indicates just how far and deep this goes...
IF one wants the Capitalism to continue like they have always worked..then fine..BUT please don't expect those that know full well when those who have the power take advantage..and Yes..Taxpayer's pay....Insurance are profiting as of today..yet even having to repay overpayment to policy holders..They simply must recoup those losses..ALL on the backs of Policy holders..
I have a simple questions?? Why don't all these complainers accuse Insurance Companies nor recipients of those $$$ but point to any entity who is trying to implement cost savings..or anything else for that matter?? It's because it's Politics..Not humanity based complaint???
So the data shows a hospital charges 10X cost. However, I have also seen the difference between their 'charges' and what the insurance companies pay. Example, my wife and I got charged $35K for emergency surgery for a gall bladder removal. Insurance paid appx $7500 per their agreement, no copay since it was an emergency. Same with Medicare. Charge is, say , $1300, Medicare pays $450, Part D picks up an additional $90 per Medicare agreement with the provider. Actual charge is less than 50% of the 'charge'.
Hospital cost has to pick up their 'cost' as well as overhead, losses for uninsured and mandated coverages for those that come in to the ER and cannot pay, all of which come out of the overall 'profit' of the provider. Now, charging for an entire bottle of a medication when one pill is used is not supportable, but arguing that the costs are inflated when it only shows one side of the overall financial picture misrepresents the story.
And let's not forget that many emergency visits aren't emergencies at all, and the patient has no intention of paying the bill at all. SOMEONE has to cover those costs. Hospitals wouldn't be capable of providing medical care to indigents if they were made to charge "cost" or some arbitrary maximum profit.
And who will determine how much is the maximum? You? What happens when the government looks over the actual expenses that hospitals carry, plus the costs of doing business with indigents and others who either cannot or refuse to pay, and determine that they're actually UNDERcharging everyone? What happens when they impose a mandatory INCREASE, because clearly these hospitals can't possible be handling all these medicare underpayments, and government employee insurance snafus, and indigent/homeless drive-by-shooting, anonymous patients, and other common emergency visits that result in zero payment to the hospital?
Will you be complaining then, that you're not paying enough?
Yes, medical care at a hospital is expensive. It's crazy mad expensive. But if the concern is percentages, it's not bad at all, compared to other goods and services that you pay MUCH higher percentages over cost.
I keep seeing the reference to COST, just who is determining this COST, could it be the hospital itself? So in other words, whatever they want to throw into the bucket they can use to determine their COST.
Too actually figure out how much these hospitals are really overcharging one must first determine a realistic COST of those services. I'm sure those unrealistic salaries and bonuses that are paid to the hospital administrators are part of it, the building expansions they undertake, the endless advertising, TV, billboards, etc. all the educational trips and conferences are part, the latest and greatest equipment that might get used a few times a week get thrown in the pot.
I spent 22 hours in Gadsden Regional (#6 on the list) for thyroid surgery. For the privilege of using their hospital I was billed $37,600 which did not include the doctor or anesthesiologist and a couple other minor things I forgot. Saying they mark up from their cost a little over ten times tells me they have serious cost containment problems.
I assume it just means they have no reasonable expectation of collecting payments, so they mark it up, up front, and hope to recoup enough to cover costs with a few bucks left over to put in the "our parking lot is badly in need of repaving" fund for next year.
The problem is they are using Mediare payout as the basis for "cost". Sorry, but Medicare pays out a fraction of what it really costs. It's likely that the real cost is the "inflated" cost.
"They’re bad for privately insured patients who find themselves being treated at out-of-network hospitals. They’re bad for the uninsured, since people with no insurance have no one negotiating on their behalf with hospitals. " ...from the article posted
How is any of this the fault of the hospital??? It also compares costs from 30 years ago. Well, medical technology has changed dramatically since then. Back then CT scans were new and the bees knees in medicine and while they are useful today, certainly, you also have MRI's, PET scans and a whole host of other treatments that provide better outcomes. If they compared costs from 1964 to 1984, there would probably be an even bigger increase....
Lets revisit this in 5 years when most people have insurance and stop using the ER as their primary care doctor. A lot of insurance companies have stopped paying out for non-emergency ER visits now in hope of retraining people...
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
