Trump announces rule requiring hospitals to reveal rates

Sweden (as well many other single payer and universal systems) has gone to a more hybrid system as the United States as the cost of these systems are just unsustainable.

https://reason.com/2014/01/22/socialist-swedes-take-to-private-health/

'Socialist' Swedes Take to Private Health Insurance

 

I remember my Kiwi girlfriend being on a waiting list. Why? Because they knew how much it would cost, and governments don't give blank checks. So if a guy making $30,000 per year was paying 60% income tax to pay for that socialized medicine, she still had to be on a waiting list, because even socialist countries have budgets.

 

Exactly. As these countries get bigger and as they acquire more internal debt (pensions, increased costs, more patients, etc), the current system gets strained and they need to look outside of a true socialist system. It's why socialism always, ALWAYS, fails in the end. It cannot sustain itself.

Sweden has so many issues right now that the government actually offered pizza to gang leaders in an attempt to get them to sit down and discuss crime. Seriously. I guess their experiment of taking in all of those migrants backfired spectacularly.

 

I will admit I DO like pizza, but I'd need some deep dish at the very least to sit down for serious negotiations, no Dominoes.

 

You seem to be missing the point.

Do you have any idea how many procedures are non-emergency and/or can be shopped around? From joint replacements to child birth to cancer treatment, these are all scenarios where you could shop around.

Right???

I agree. The fact that this doesn't have blanket bipartisan support just shows how far gone some lefties are with their Trump hate. It reminds me of the joke that if Trump cured cancer, Democrats would complain because he'd put doctors out of business.

I agree on all points.

 

ACA created a vacuum to which a large portion of Americans were forced into high deductible savings accounts so they NEED to shop for the best prices as their OOP is substantial until they hit their deductible cap. I think you are GREATLY misinformed if you think healthcare is primarily covered by insurance.

 

no expert on this situation, but IMO they already have found an acceptable balance, the insurance industry regulates them to some degree due to their reimbursement rates, medicare as well, the issue, as I understand it is partially the (sometimes) unnecessary stuff that patients are charged for (bedpans that aren't used are still on the invoice, etc, additional testing ordered to avoid litigation). The big issue is how much the charges go for if you don't have coverage (insanely high) and/or the write offs related to uninsured.

Elaborating on the write offs, I had a good friend he has an individual policy but his wife lost her coverage when she switched jobs and decided to gamble by not purchasing cobra or individual coverage because it was expensive (no kidding!). They could afford the coverage but she was waiting for here new employer coverage to kick in, basically they decided that health insurance wasn't a big priority.

She ended up having a severe intestinal problem and was in the hospital for 10+ days, and had surgery to repair the bowel. I don't recall the exact figure but the total bill was well over 100K, and every penny from the hospital was written off, no charge, because it was over a certain % of their income. The only charge they received was from the surgeon and the anesthesiologist, with whom they are making payments. (7K I think).

Basically they skipped 5 months of insurance premiums, had no deductible and ended up with a 7K out of pocket expense, ahead of the game, rewarded for deciding to ignore the risks and go without coverage. Good for them, but bad for the rest of us because you know who ultimately pays for all those write offs. Again, I was happy it worked out for them but extremely frustrated individually because in the end i'm paying more because other people are ignoring their responsibilities.

If they were dead broke i'd be less annoyed, but they weren't broke, just cheap.

 

generally speaking the ACA plans with the highest subsidy is/was an ugly plan with massive out of pocket's, at least by the standards i'm used to with company offered coverage. For most employer plans the deductible and out of pocket are quite manageable.

 

When I had a HSA, it was cheaper to pay the cash option for the visit than the Co-pay. Cash visit was $63 and the Co-Pay for the same visit was $95.

 

Ha. Cost cutting is a concern if pricing is transparent. But not if pricing is dictated. Ha.

 

There is limited customer service and most companies offer two options...a low deductible and high deductable from the same provider. The end user is of limited concern to the insurance company. Their market is the company. The medical providers are only concerned about the insurance company. It's the end user that is concerned with transparency and is left out in the cold.

I remember the hell I went through a couple of years back trying to get the contracted cost of a procedure so that I could figure our upcoming cost when we paid 20% after deductible. Neither the hospital or the insurance company was willing to help me out because their contracted rates were "confidential".

I guess my only option was to change jobs?? Changing insurance companies was not an option.

 

Sounds like the rationed health care that is so common to universal "free" health care for all. No one works for free, except the privately funded charities and there are not enough of those to go around, by far.

 

Politics aside, I agree hospitals over charge for services and medication.

 

It's a partial solution though, one that's worthy of praise even if it doesn't go far enough.

 

yip! My wife experienced the same thing with the chiropractor

not sure if that would have helped. I asked the simpliest of all questions to my dr's office when getting a physical. Which is an extremely common event.

"what is the charge for this procedure"
"your co-pay is $25"
"I know that, but what is the total charge?"
funny look "$25" <dumbass I told you that already
"I know what my co-pay is, how much is the charge you will be submitting to the insurance co"
"sir that information isn't available, its handled by the billing department directly with the insurance company"
"ok great, give them a call, I'll wait"
"sir that information isn't available at this time, you can get that from your company when they provide the EOB"

and around we go, zero transparency, I can ONLY find out they charged $320 for a simple office visit after the procedure is done

quite honestly, its BS that a simple procedure like a routine physical doesn't have transparent pricing.
I don't tolerate that from my mechanic, my grocery store, home depot, my plumber, my roofer, any service provider, but we tolerate that daily with the medical industry and its ridiculous.

Granted i'm probably already red flagged by my dr's staff because i'm the prick that will leave at 11:20 if i'm still in the big waiting room for my 11:00 appointment, and tell them they can reschedule when they are ready. I've even left when I was in the little dr's room 40 minutes after my appt, I just get up and head to checkout and tell them that I have other appointments that I can't be late for and since they are running behind we can reschedule. They don't like that one bit but screw them, run on time or reschedule, I can read a magazine at home.

Honestly if even 20% of the patients did the same thing, doctors would stop stacking us so HIS time isn't wasted. Now it certainly helps that i'm overall pretty healthy so i'm not feeling a need to sit around for 40 minutes to confirm that i'm still healthy, if you are coughing up a lung then they have you at their mercy.

 

It's awful, I totally agree. My doctor never takes me on time,and he always wants to schedule a follow-up, even if there's absolutely nothing wrong. It's clear he's just in it for the money. I'm looking for a new doctor for the new year.

If the current system works for providers and health insurance companies, why should they care if they're giving patients the shaft?

 

No, Fake solutions are not worthy of any phrase only derision and or condemnation.

 

Democrats have sent over 200 bills to the senate that have never even been allowed to be voted on. To directly answer your question, I doubt this is the case as trump would have tweeted about it and has not — but that is speculation. I have no knowledge either way.

 

Nope! We have mandated minimum nurse ratios, an independent accreditor, and scheduled equipment replacement but I have worked in private hospitals where profit outweighs care considerations

 

Finlands national healthcare went broke, what happened there?

 

No you are the one missing the point. None of the medical procedures or diagnosis procedures or prescriptions are emergency specific. I did note that elective surgery is something you can shop for. Joint replacement and joint repair is something that I see as an elective since there is a slight trend now away from replacement to physical therapy.
Of course the focus on the cost variance with joint replacement is on the Doctor and the brand of prosthetic joint he uses. There are just several companies that make them. I do not believe that there is a big variation is piece.

The thing is that price of medical care is not not and should not be the deciding factor. There is the reputation of the Doctor, the hospital, the lab etc. that is paramount.
From joint replacement to cancer treatment what is important in the decision is the success of the Doctor and hospital not just price.

There is another very important factor in Doctor and Hospital selection. That is your insurance company has networks and contracts with all types of providers so the price thatba hospital has as it's asking price will not be the contracted price an insurance company will pay.

I am disappointed that you closed out with making this a partisan issue because it is not. It us not leftist or rightist. It is what makes sense for the person for there family and for them.m

Remember when certain people floated the "cure" for insurance costs as letting people buy across state lines? Well that is bunk BS. Insurance companies can sell in any state that they are licensed in and if networks and contracts with Doctor groups labs diagnostic facilities and all of that.
Also a health insurance company vary well may not find it profitable to sell coverage in certain states or parts of states.

Again bottom line health care is not strictly price sensitive.

 

I said elective surgery such as cosmetic surgery you pay 100% for.
I retired from the insurance industry so your false rediculous allegation of me being uninformed or misinformed you sir are the malinformed one.

A Medical Saving Acount is an account where you fund with pre tax dollars and you use ( withdraw) amounts from the MSA to pay for qualified medical expenses. Deductibles are and have been part of all form of insurance and where neither invented by the ACA nor does the ACA force people into high deductibles. High deductibles have been touted by anti ACA people as a premium cost control method. The MSA is a form of self insurance.

Let me give you some advice since you shot your opinion off and and stupidly and falsely accused me of being " GREATLY misinformed". Self insurance to some decree is a method used not just by individuals but very often by major corporations for not only health care for their employees but for property casualty ( which includes lability) loss payments. You must not be aware but some major corporations insure upwards to at least the first million in self insurance and then can go into insurance or layers of reinsurance. They often hire insurance companies to process the claims so us insurance companies still make money.

Partisan BS will not explain nor solve the problems of insurance. Problems with insurance is not usually caused by partisan BS but some people who are not well informed use lazy partisan accusations to blame insurance related the problems on. Don't be THAT GUY,

 

#MHCGA

 

Sounds just like Harry Reid. I wonder.... does it really matter which party is in power? They all do the same stuff.

 

So much derp here.

Yes, you'd be better served not to know how much it's going to cost.

Yes, you couldn't possibly look up local hospital rates before you're rushed to the ER.

This is an AMAZING thing to do for so many reasons, yet you see none of them.

Amazing.