I applaud price transparency, but it’s not that easy:
Still, it’s harder to price hospital care than other items people purchase.Here’s why: hospitals establish basic charges for procedures, but those amounts are discounted through negotiations with health plans. In addition, patients have varying co-payments and out-of-pocket expenses as well. Procedures can also cost more if patients have chronic illnesses, allergies or other complications.
Related posts:
- Vaccines: Rising costs are putting children at risk
- ACP: Putting effectiveness into the health care equation: Rational or rationing?
- Containing health care costs
- Health Care Reform: Putting Patients First, medical bloggers at Washington, DC
- Our broken health care system, should we start all over from scratch?
- Why price transparency won’t affect health care costs
- Medicare and cutting health care costs
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Health care costs are also a function of rising diagnostic test cost and “brand-name” drugs that are often oversubscribed and/or unnecessary. We have set up a website called Honest Medicine (honestmed.com) to promote honesty and ethics in health care, as well as to function as a portal to reliable news and advocacy. Hope your readers will visit us!
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