Comments on: On the absurdity of not having health insurance http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html Life on the pharm Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:29:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: “What’s this made out of? Gold?” :: OnThePharm http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html/comment-page-1#comment-45755 “What’s this made out of? Gold?” :: OnThePharm Tue, 03 Apr 2007 16:29:11 +0000 http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html#comment-45755 [...] 1L of normal saline: $100** [...] [...] 1L of normal saline: $100** [...]

]]> By: Okulus http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html/comment-page-1#comment-15596 Okulus Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:39:42 +0000 http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html#comment-15596 >>" It almost seems like it’d be a good idea for a NPO to form for some small nominal fee to cover administrative costs that would give them a discount card on basic healthcare. " Oh, you mean like Blue Cross/Blue Shield was when they were first established. They were the affordable nonprofit insurer that wrote coverage for schoolteachers and nurses and other public employees that couldn't afford insurance at the prevailing for-profit companies' rates. >>" It almost seems like it’d be a good idea for a NPO to form for some small nominal fee to cover administrative costs that would give them a discount card on basic healthcare. "

Oh, you mean like Blue Cross/Blue Shield was when they were first established. They were the affordable nonprofit insurer that wrote coverage for schoolteachers and nurses and other public employees that couldn't afford insurance at the prevailing for-profit companies' rates.

]]> By: South Dakota to provide Gardasil for free :: OnThePharm http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html/comment-page-1#comment-8855 South Dakota to provide Gardasil for free :: OnThePharm Wed, 10 Jan 2007 01:07:48 +0000 http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html#comment-8855 [...] Thinking out loud here for a minute, the $288 for the three shots isn’t very expensive compared to the cost of treating cervical cancer. How many cases of cervical cancer can you prevent with the amount of money you’d spend treating even one case? Well I have no idea, but assuming it costs $100,000 to treat an average case of cervical cancer — a figure that could be wildly off-base, but I doubt it — you could vaccinate 347 girls. Assuming 10% of the population is between 11-18, and half of those are women, that leaves about 40,000 girls in that age range. [...] [...] Thinking out loud here for a minute, the $288 for the three shots isn't very expensive compared to the cost of treating cervical cancer. How many cases of cervical cancer can you prevent with the amount of money you'd spend treating even one case? Well I have no idea, but assuming it costs $100,000 to treat an average case of cervical cancer — a figure that could be wildly off-base, but I doubt it — you could vaccinate 347 girls. Assuming 10% of the population is between 11-18, and half of those are women, that leaves about 40,000 girls in that age range. [...]

]]> By: Carol http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html/comment-page-1#comment-5568 Carol Sat, 02 Dec 2006 02:26:42 +0000 http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html#comment-5568 Case in point: A woman goes to hospital for hysterectomy. The day she is brought back to her room from surgery, someone brings in one of those ubiquitous plastic tubs. In the tub (which we never touched) was a large sealed bag of "maternity maxipads". The patient never had a speck of vaginal bleeding. The package was literally never touched. When we were leaving I told the "discharge counselor" that I didn't want the hospital to bill the insurance company for this pristine package of pads. I was told that they WOULD be billed because the patient had been supplied with the product. I then picked up the package and gave it to the "counselor" and told her that she needed to return it to central supply, that it was in perfect condition. She refused. I took out my handy dandy digital camera. Took a picture that showed the "counselor" and the package sitting on the table in front of her. I told her I would be mailing it to the insurance company along with a letter requesting that they not pay for it, and I would include her name. Suddenly, she was willing to not bill for it. Oh, the cost that she was going to charge? $156! For a freaking bag of 10 maxipads! For shame. Case in point: A woman goes to hospital for hysterectomy. The day she is brought back to her room from surgery, someone brings in one of those ubiquitous plastic tubs. In the tub (which we never touched) was a large sealed bag of "maternity maxipads". The patient never had a speck of vaginal bleeding. The package was literally never touched. When we were leaving I told the "discharge counselor" that I didn't want the hospital to bill the insurance company for this pristine package of pads. I was told that they WOULD be billed because the patient had been supplied with the product. I then picked up the package and gave it to the "counselor" and told her that she needed to return it to central supply, that it was in perfect condition. She refused. I took out my handy dandy digital camera. Took a picture that showed the "counselor" and the package sitting on the table in front of her. I told her I would be mailing it to the insurance company along with a letter requesting that they not pay for it, and I would include her name. Suddenly, she was willing to not bill for it. Oh, the cost that she was going to charge? $156! For a freaking bag of 10 maxipads! For shame.

]]> By: RJS http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html/comment-page-1#comment-2721 RJS Wed, 11 Oct 2006 11:46:21 +0000 http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html#comment-2721 You are exactly right, actually. It is my understanding that hospitals break even plus a tiny bit extra with the average reimbursement from health insurance companies. They often lose money on those that can't pay, or with medicare/medicaid patients. What they lose is more than what they make on people who are insured. So it falls to those that can't form any sort of economies of scale. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an easy way for uninsured <em>individuals</em> to form the necessary scale. It almost seems like it'd be a good idea for a NPO to form for some small nominal fee to cover administrative costs that would give them a discount card on basic healthcare. Like $50/year, which would more than make up for itself. For instance AAA gives discounts on prescription medications, and I know several people who have made up for their yearly membership just buying one med, which is kind of cool. For all I know, such things exist. I've never not been insured so I've never had ocassion to look into it... You are exactly right, actually. It is my understanding that hospitals break even plus a tiny bit extra with the average reimbursement from health insurance companies. They often lose money on those that can't pay, or with medicare/medicaid patients. What they lose is more than what they make on people who are insured. So it falls to those that can't form any sort of economies of scale.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be an easy way for uninsured individuals to form the necessary scale. It almost seems like it'd be a good idea for a NPO to form for some small nominal fee to cover administrative costs that would give them a discount card on basic healthcare. Like $50/year, which would more than make up for itself. For instance AAA gives discounts on prescription medications, and I know several people who have made up for their yearly membership just buying one med, which is kind of cool.

For all I know, such things exist. I've never not been insured so I've never had ocassion to look into it…

]]> By: misterbeans http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html/comment-page-1#comment-2705 misterbeans Tue, 10 Oct 2006 23:48:30 +0000 http://onthepharm.net/2006/10/price-gouging-hospital-patients.html#comment-2705 Not that I support price-gouging (I also agree that those prices are ridiculous), but I think the hospitals are doing it to recoup their losses from other money losses in the hospital: unpaid hospital bills, medicare reimbursement rates, etc. What needs to happen is hospitals/doctors/America in general needs to get their act together on how to keep health care costs down, so that there isn't so much money to be lost (and therefore needing to be replaced by folks like you). Uninsured but working Americans are the ones who get screwed the worst: insurance co's have enough clout to talk down the prices a lot, the really poor people either have medicaid or are written off of the books as "indigent care" and whatever is left over gets charged to the uninsured guy who they'll come after to pay. Doesn't really seem fair... Not that I support price-gouging (I also agree that those prices are ridiculous), but I think the hospitals are doing it to recoup their losses from other money losses in the hospital: unpaid hospital bills, medicare reimbursement rates, etc.

What needs to happen is hospitals/doctors/America in general needs to get their act together on how to keep health care costs down, so that there isn't so much money to be lost (and therefore needing to be replaced by folks like you).

Uninsured but working Americans are the ones who get screwed the worst: insurance co's have enough clout to talk down the prices a lot, the really poor people either have medicaid or are written off of the books as "indigent care" and whatever is left over gets charged to the uninsured guy who they'll come after to pay. Doesn't really seem fair…

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