Take hip replacements. What happens if you call your local hospital and ask how much they charge to perform one? Even if you get past the phone tree, chances are that no one you talk to will even understand your question. Which price do you mean, and who’s paying? Do you mean for the surgeon or the anesthesiologist, for your meds or for your meals? There are different prices for each, and each price is different for different people. Read Full Article »
Why Hospitals Keep Their Prices Secret
A cy
nic, Oscar Wilde famously observed, is “a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Yet when it comes to health care in the United States, the quip doesn’t get it quite right. In that realm it’s not too cynical to say that no one even knows what the prices are, much less what the value of any particular doctor or hospital really is.
Take hip replacements. What happens if you call your local hospital and ask how much they charge to perform one? Even if you get past the phone tree, chances are that no one you talk to will even understand your question. Which price do you mean, and who’s paying? Do you mean for the surgeon or the anesthesiologist, for your meds or for your meals? There are different prices for each, and each price is different for different people. Read Full Article »
Take hip replacements. What happens if you call your local hospital and ask how much they charge to perform one? Even if you get past the phone tree, chances are that no one you talk to will even understand your question. Which price do you mean, and who’s paying? Do you mean for the surgeon or the anesthesiologist, for your meds or for your meals? There are different prices for each, and each price is different for different people. Read Full Article »
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