Healthcare Digest 5/8: Same Healthcare Condition, Radically Different Prices

Here’s a fun game that will lead to tears: comparison shop hospitals! Via The Washington Post:

“For the first time, the federal government will release the prices that hospitals charge for the 100 most common inpatient procedures. Until now, these charges have been closely held by facilities that see a competitive advantage in shielding their fees from competitors. What the numbers reveal is a health-care system with tremendous, seemingly random variation in the costs of services.”

For instance, in Miami, Florida, where nothing but terrific things happen if my years of not watching “Miami Vice” have taught me anything, one hospital will charge you $166,174 for treating your heart attack, while another will only charge you $89,027.

What gives? “Experts attribute the disparities to a health system that can set prices with impunity because consumers rarely see them — and rarely shop for discounts. Although the government has collected this information for years, it was housed in a bulky database that researchers had to pay to access.”

While it may be impossible in the case of emergency services — maybe a good habit to get into is to ask, “And how much is this going to cost me?” It’s your health. It’s your money. You get to be the boss of both.

Wednesday’s Headlines

Of Course, This Guy Says Healthcare Costs Are Going Down…: “Finally there may be some good news about the cost of health care in America. Over the last few years costs have been going up more slowly, but this has generally been attributed to the recession: People and employers alike have had less to spend on medical matters. Now two studies in the new issue of Health Affairs suggest there may be deeper and longer-lasting causes for the slowed growth, which could add up to savings of hundreds of billions of dollars in coming years.” [Forbes.com]

Here’s a Question You’ve Probably Never Asked: Q&A: Why healthcare services lag behind digitally. [USA Today]

Texas Healthcare Politics: “A bill to provide health care to the neediest Texans is likely dead, the author said Tuesday.” [Houston Chronicle]

If They Can Recoup This, It’ll Fund a LOT of Healthcare: “DOJ prosecutes Florida 63 million dollar healthcare fraud scheme.” [Examiner.com]