Medical Charges for important Malady more than Double in a One Year
The following New York Times Article written by Julie Cresswell, et.al. is quite alarming on many fronts. It describes the billing practices for a hospital in Florida. Patients admitted in 2011 for severe irregular heartbeat were charged $25,000. A year later they were charged $54,000!
The most plausible explanation for this unfair and exorbitant medical procedure price increase is the game hospitals and doctors play with insurance companies. It is well known that they both over bill insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield. They take whatever the insurance companies give them and then write off the rest of it for tax purposes.
Another point of concern is that insurance companies will suddenly decide that they are going to pay more for various surgeries and procedures. Guess what happens then? That's right.... a spike in those very medical procedures and surgeries occur! But not because more people urgently need them, but because its a bigger pay day for the surgeons.
Also it is not just this heart malady that saw irrational treatment price increases. There was an overall dramatic increase in the medical costs for around 80 common ailments. Sounds like an unjust abuse of the economic principle of supply and demand to me!
We may move to the Philippines where the medical care is very affordable and of comparable quality. There is no stress of making appoints and waiting two months. You can just go the mall walk in just like a barber shop or restaurant and see a qualified physician then and there. No referrals and no BS. The doctors in the Philippines are regular people who don't own the BMW status symbols or rush you out of their examination room in less than 10 minutes.
In 2011, the Wuesthoff Medical Center in Rockledge, Fla., a hospital with 300 beds near
Cape Canaveral, charged patients admitted for a severe irregular heartbeat an average of $25,361. A year later, the average charge more than doubled to $53,597.
The most plausible explanation for this unfair and exorbitant medical procedure price increase is the game hospitals and doctors play with insurance companies. It is well known that they both over bill insurance companies like Blue Cross Blue Shield. They take whatever the insurance companies give them and then write off the rest of it for tax purposes.
Another point of concern is that insurance companies will suddenly decide that they are going to pay more for various surgeries and procedures. Guess what happens then? That's right.... a spike in those very medical procedures and surgeries occur! But not because more people urgently need them, but because its a bigger pay day for the surgeons.
Also it is not just this heart malady that saw irrational treatment price increases. There was an overall dramatic increase in the medical costs for around 80 common ailments. Sounds like an unjust abuse of the economic principle of supply and demand to me!
We may move to the Philippines where the medical care is very affordable and of comparable quality. There is no stress of making appoints and waiting two months. You can just go the mall walk in just like a barber shop or restaurant and see a qualified physician then and there. No referrals and no BS. The doctors in the Philippines are regular people who don't own the BMW status symbols or rush you out of their examination room in less than 10 minutes.
In 2011, the Wuesthoff Medical Center in Rockledge, Fla., a hospital with 300 beds near
Cape Canaveral, charged patients admitted for a severe irregular heartbeat an average of $25,361. A year later, the average charge more than doubled to $53,597.
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