30 Days of US Healthcare: Hospital Price Transparency

Day 18

30 Days of US Healthcare

[Yakmage]

“But the prices were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes, ” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”

[elaexplorer]

Can you imagine if any other business decided the price was a business secret?

Store: "Ok, let's see... that'll be $56.87."

Customer: "What!? I can't afford that. All I got was a loaf of bread, a quart of milk, a dozen eggs."

Business: "Oh, right. Well there is the cost of the bag, and the cashier charge, you did use a basket and we do have to clean the store. But since you didn't use grocery insurance we can get this down to... $45.12."

Customer: "There was never any mention of being charged to use a basket or bag. I have mine own, I could have used."

Business: "Oh, no, sorry you can't use outside bags or baskets. They might be contaminated and cause more harm then good. We must insist you use ours. The bag was only $8, I don't know what the issue is."

[semja]

I've been arguing this for years. A lack of transparency is half the reason hospitals can overcharge

[therealdrjesse]

I was not expecting the placement into the PM&R page. As a physiatrist, I appreciated the hilarious acknowledgment!

[windrapier]

My sister was charged so, so much for her gall bladder surgery and asked for an itemized list of charges because it was more than it should have been. Suddenly a mistake was found that the time had been 'recorded wrong' and the cost was quartered

[aslansown]

Just learned a new word: turbidity. Plus I've never seen a hospital post their prices.

[piyawatamornthatri]

Next time in my mathematical for chemists class, I will tell my professor “Fourier Transform not only applicable on chemistry-related method only but also to access a price transparency posted by US hospital.”

[DrCooley]

The prices are wildly all over the place too. At my hospital a CBC with diff was cheaper than a CBC without. But even if you know the prices, it’s impossible to tell the patients what they will actually pay since we have no idea what amount the insurance will end up covering. So much for it being a “free market” system.

[siamak]

Once needed to get a knee MRI but I had high deductible insurance. So I called a few places to check prices. They are instructed not to give a clear answer. You have to tell them you don't have any insirance to get an actual number. The range was from $900 to $4000

[Descriptor]

As an electrical engineer, I thank you for your inclusion of fourier transforms. I finally get to understand a piece of technobabble on this channel! It's a good feeling.

[jochenau]

Medical expenses work just like quantum mechanics. Until you actually receive the product or service, it simultaneously has every possible price, with some prices more likely than others. Once you're legally on the hook for the cost, the wavefunction collapses and the final price is revealed.

[sevenandthelittlestmew]

Poor PM&R! Physiatrists and PM&R therapists are so underrated, and yet they’re absolute lifesavers.

[marcoa.]

In Germany, the prices are fixed nationwide and made public. When you do any of the listed treatments, you get what you refer to.

[GabrielDesmond]

Bimothy, please. Transparency would slightly impair the rate at which corporations, lobbyists, and pocket politicians can profit from renting out human rights at exorbitant prices. You don't want to make CEOs cry, do you?

[sherimcmahon]

That is hilarious (and I speak as one who knows calculus and fourier transforms). A year ago I spent countless hours tracking down pricing information for an out of network (and therefore not covered, and also just plain not covered) surgical procedure, looking at two facilities where the procedure might be done. In the end I got most, but def not all of the information, and it was very, very, very hard.

[SuruLereinLasGidi]

this whole series - prescient. You’re doing the Lord’s work.

[apint]

Finally, my teaching of Fourier Series in Differential Equations pays off. I'm looking forward to the bump in enrollment!

[doomsdayaddams]

YES! I am in late middle age and have had one form or another of BCBS insurance for decades. Even if I call them to check, I never have clue what my out-of-pocket expenses will be. Ever.

[MrFrenchfanfan]

Today I learned :

Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air.

The Fourier transform is an extension of the Fourier series, which in its most general form introduces the use of complex exponential functions.


Thanks doc

[rebekahjollie]

Just went to my local hospitals price list, if you didn’t have insurance and needed an appendectomy (no complications) the cost of surgery would be $93, 000. That’s not including the cost of emergency room visit or possible hospital stay. For those without insurance, pray your appendix never acts up.