As I mentioned the other day to 'she who must be obeyed,’ I understand that Dayton just isn’t a large enough market to support two daily newspapers.
Nonetheless, surely the Dayton Daily News could afford to hire a reporter (or three) who would at least make an effort to explore more than one side of a given issue. Today’s rant is in response to this (literally) incredible headline:
The article, about a recent study done by the Service Employees International Union, begins by noting that a “patient without insurance coverage typically is charged more than twice as much for hospital expenses as an insured patient…”
No kidding!
In a related development, it was revealed that people with coupons paid less for a Taco Salad than those without.
Please don’t assume that I am heartless or uncompassionate about the plight of (many of) the uninsured. But nowhere in the article will you find the terms “insurance network” or “negotiated rate.” Because of such agreements, providers are PROHIBITED from charging more than a specific amount. If you’re not a party to the contract (i.e. an insured with access to network providers), then you don’t get the discount. And that is the WHOLE point of the exercise: all the rest – Medicare, medical bankruptcies, garnisheed wages – are simply red herrings. They have nothing to do with the situation. They’re there simply to make insurers and providers seem like heartless, greedy sharks. No doubt some of them are, but this does not advance the cause.
So, absent a pre-negotiated and agreed-upon set of discounts, the provider can – and should – charge what they will. It’s called the free market. Providers that charge too much, or who are unscrupulous or engage in discriminatory practices, will eventually be run out of business, or be subject to fines, or worse. Those that find ways to attract paying customers will see their business grow.
I love this conclusion: "The solution is to make sure everyone has adequate health coverage."
Yeah, like that’s worked out so well for auto insurance.
Me again . . .
ReplyDeleteOK, we are definitely on the same song sheet here. No real surprise here.
And I definitely agree with every one of your salient points (as well as those that may not be salient). However, one very GLARING omission, from your post (and presumably from the newspaper article as well) is this.
It really does not matter what the uninsured are charged . . . for they will (almost) never pay a dime! Local (Atlanta) hospitals write off over 95% of bills generated by the uninsured. So on an average $100,000 bill, the patient will pay (about) $5,000 and the hospital will EAT the remaining balance.
So it really doesn't matter if that $100,000 is discounted or not. The uninsured STILL wont pay it.
Bob Vineyard, CLU
Interesting that you would bring up the write-offs. Just had a conversation about this with my CE partner, who brought up the same point.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge is that this was never addressed in the article, and I chose in this post to concentrate on the blatent stupidity of the article itself.
OTOH, I'm thinking that this will make great blog fodder.
;-)