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September 30, 2005
Hospital Bills a Rip-off?
Finding out how much a hospital charges before you are actually billed can be very difficult. If pressed, most of them will finally come up with a number that has very little basis in reality. The reason is their official price will be four to five times (that's 400 to 500 percent) what they actually charge a PPO patient for the same service. Since 90% of the customers of the non-indigent patients of the hospital will be covered by a PPO, this over-charging only applies to those who don’t have health insurance.
The Lawsuits are coming…
Richard Scruggs, the attorney who made much of his fortune taking on asbestos manufacturers and the tobacco industry, has filed suit against several hundred not-for-profit hospitals in over 20 states. I certainly believe that the U.S. is way to lawsuit-happy, but it will be interesting to see how the hospitals explain a pricing system in which only a very small minority actually pays their stated price. Hopefully the result will be a real pricing system in which patients have the opportunity to shop and compare rates before choosing their hospital.
Posted by Wiley Long at September 30, 2005 01:21 PM
Comments
I sure would like to talk to that lawyer concerning a non profit hospital in albany, ga who took an inflated a emergency room headache to a charge of over $3,000.00 because they see that I had two Insurance card. An that is just outrageou for them to just take advantage of citzen an they are suppose to be a non-profit organization. But they bulling everyone around in the city who don't agree with them. They own clinic everywhere an when a smaller hospital want ted build a clinic in a near by county they are helping to block it from coming to the county.
Posted by: eddie g dixon at December 19, 2006 12:27 PM