Uninsured Hospital Patients Charged More Than Insured

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http://mercola.com/2003/apr/2/uninsured_patients.htm

 

Uninsured Hospital Patients Charged More Than Insured

 

 

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People who don’t have health insurance are often charged far more for their

medical care than large insurers, health-maintenance organizations or even the

U.S. government.

 

 

 

For example, a hospital could bill HMOs about $2,500 for a procedure such as an

appendectomy with a two-day hospital stay but a patient with no health insurance

could be charged $14,000, plus doctors’ fees, for the same procedure. According

to the report, government programs such as Medicaid and Medicare pay the

hospital $5,000 and $7,800, respectively, for the same procedure.

 

 

 

While most major U.S. hospitals are required to set charges for their services,

the set charges are rarely charged to insurance companies or the government.

This is because hospitals agree to discount or ignore their set charges when

getting paid by institutions. Uninsured individuals, however, get charged the

set amount.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, hospital charges have increased significantly in recent years, partly

because of the increasing costs of drugs and procedures, though some hospitals

say they are raising charges to make up for the low reimbursements they receive

from HMOs, insurers and the government.

 

 

 

The inequity in health care pricing prevails despite its roots in a policy

designed to prevent such inconsistencies. In many cases, hospitals have raised

charges far beyond what is necessary to cover the costs of treatment, and in

most states deregulation of the hospital industry has removed limits on charges.

In California, for example, charges have increased to 178 percent above costs.

 

 

 

According to the report, charges beyond costs of treatment can even include the

Bad Debt and Charity Care Pool, a state fund that compensates hospitals for

caring for the uninsured. While insurance companies and the government have

negotiating power against these costs, people without insurance have no one to

negotiate for them.

 

 

 

Hospitals say they have to give discounts to HMOs and insurers in order to do

business with them. They also note that many uninsured patients don’t pay their

bills, yet hospitals are required to treat all emergencies regardless of

insurance status.

 

 

 

Nonetheless, supporters of the uninsured say that low-income people without

insurance should receive the same rates that Medicaid pays.

 

 

 

The Wall Street Journal Online March, 2003

 

 

 

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

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The costs generated for one of the few legitimate needs for traditional

medicine, acute trauma and surgical emergencies, have skyrocketed out of control

as the above story illustrates. It is sad that the only way many people can

afford these costs is to declare personal bankruptcy.

 

It is important to realize though that this is a reactive situation and is

exactly what one would expect from an out of control drug-based paradigm that

rarely focuses on the cause of the disease. Once the causes are addressed with

inexpensive dietary and emotional tools, the need for the vast majority of the

expensive interventions disappear and we can easily afford trauma care.

 

As I said last year:

 

There is clearly no question that we have an ever-increasing medical insurance

crisis in this country. Please don’t let the media persuade you otherwise--this

problem is only going to get worse.

 

Until a radical change in the paradigm occurs, health care costs will continue

to escalate. The traditional media will, of course, claim that the solution is

to levy some new tax to provide these health care benefits to those that cannot

afford them.

 

This is a prescription for disaster. Another socialized medical system will only

repeat the Medicare catastrophe we already have.

 

The solution is to change the entire system. Unless we change the system, drug

companies will continue to extract hundreds of billions of dollars from our

economy while providing virtually no benefit--other than making themselves

richer.

 

Our country will become increasingly unable to support such an expense without

major sacrifices by millions of people.

 

The solution is to redirect the spending to care that will build the health of

the country and provide people with the energy to be more productive. The extra

productivity would theoretically create more than enough additional wealth to

pay for all the health care that we would need.

 

When our nation is focused on health achievement, rather than disease treatment,

the total cost of providing medical care would dramatically decline, because

healthy people require fewer medical resources.

 

Related Articles:

 

Health Insurance Gaps Stress US Families

 

Health Insurance Rates Continue to Climb

 

High-Income Americans Opt Out of High-Cost Health Insurance

 

 

 

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