

15 charts showing US health care prices are totally insane - alok-g
http://www.vox.com/cards/health-prices/america-is-getting-gouged-on-health-care-prices

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stormqloud
Insurance companies negotiate discounts so they make massive profits.

Hospitals negotiate discounts so they can make massive profits.

The govt makes it illegal for medicare/caid to negotiate prices or buy in
bulk.

This is a massive transfer of wealth from the public to these companies.

The average citizen cannot negotiate and pays full price.

The people least able to afford the "retail" price pay the most.

Meanwhile the insurance companies/hospitals are making money hand over fist to
pay out to their CEO's.

It's simply a scam of legislation that is unlikely to end because the people
that benefit the most also have access to the most profit and can therefore
affords the most lobbying.

A bunch of lawyers, CEO's and politicians arn;t going to change the system for
a bunch of poor folk.

How do you expect them to send their kids to Harvard or pay for the shell
companies needed to hide income?

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carlosrt
There's ~3 hospitals in the USA that have transparent pricing.

If you're interested in disrupting healthcare the founder of The Surgery
Center of Oklahoma has a blog on pricing transparency.
[http://surgerycenterofoklahoma.tumblr.com/](http://surgerycenterofoklahoma.tumblr.com/)

Some additional resources:

Free Market Medical Association website.
[http://marketmedicine.org/members/](http://marketmedicine.org/members/) It
lists all the resources and providers that provide transparent pricing.

The Pricing Healthcare Blog and Pricing Healthcare website is a crowd sourcing
project where patients can input their medical bills and get the cash price of
procedures in their area. (The CEO of Safeway started a company with Safeway's
similar, proprietary, data, however they only sell the pricing data to
companies with ~10,000+ employees).

The Self Pay Patient is a blog and resource for those that choose to self
insure: [http://selfpaypatient.com/](http://selfpaypatient.com/)

The Health Care Blue Book lists the price insurance companies have negotiated
with providers:
[https://www.healthcarebluebook.com](https://www.healthcarebluebook.com)

Source: [http://www.quora.com/What-health-care-providers-in-the-
USA-o...](http://www.quora.com/What-health-care-providers-in-the-USA-only-
accept-cash-for-their-surgeries-and-services/answer/Carlos-Tobin)

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chrisBob
Which prices are those? When I go to the doctor I get an insurance statement
that says something like:

Billed: $800

Paid by insurance: $200

You owe: $0

~~~
stormqloud
Now you know how your insurance company makes so much money.

They pay $200 for a service you think costs $800 and WILL cost you $800 if you
buy it yourself.

You buy insurance based on the FULL cost of the procedure. If you could access
$200 yourself you wouldn;t need insurance. You can self insure at these
prices.

For the benefit of running the "self insurance" plan they are taking the
difference between $200 and $800

Anyone else have a company and know what usual profit margins are? Your local
pharmacy is lucky to pull off 35%.

This is 400% markup that a "retail" person pays over the insurance company.

It's not hard to make money when you buy at $200 and sell at $500-600-700
through an insurance policy.

This is how companies like AIG (anybody remember them) buy things like ski
hills for their executives.

See www.stowe.com

Americas are building up the next generation of their royalty.

Companies with a mission in "health care" that mae 400% margins and buy ski
hills for their executuves to use on "retreats".

Yup, that makes total sense, to a lobbyist, lawyer or other enemy of the
public and democracy.

Crony capitalism, not true capitalism and market economy that people think of
in the USA.

The insurance companies got a major windfall with Obamacare. That lobbying
really worked out.

He could has just as easily allowed Medicare/Caid to negotiate prices and take
over mre of the health care.

That wouldn;t give jobs to people that Obama really cares about. North east
Liberal lawyers.

~~~
maxerickson
Under the ACA, when the insurance company pays a hospital (or any other
medical provider) $200, it is allowed to spend $50 (less for larger programs)
on salaries and profits and other expenses.

If it gets $300 of premiums and only spends $200 on medical care, it has to
send the extra $50 back to the customers (larger programs have to send back
$65).

More here:

[http://kff.org/health-reform/perspective/beyond-rebates-
how-...](http://kff.org/health-reform/perspective/beyond-rebates-how-much-are-
consumers-saving-from-the-acas-medical-loss-ratio-provision/)

~~~
stormqloud
Clearly they have found ways around the rules or it's still way too much
money.

The fact health insurance companies invest in ski hills is very telling about
lack of focus on their real business.

Either their real biz makes so much money that they can spend it like drunken
sailors or they don;t care about the primary mission of the company and are
just buying perks they can use themselves.

Either way you split it, it's still a total mess and not what shareholders or
customers (patients) are expecting in an healthcare insurance company.

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frankydp
Anyone know how Vox created the highlighter effect on text select? It is not
just a color change.

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fallinghawks
And how much of these costs are being "invisibly" paid to a national
healthcare service via taxes?

~~~
matt__rose
In Canada's case, 100%. I have seen one hospital bill, and that was $200 for a
single room when my wife gave birth to my son. Which my supplementary
insurance then paid. It is the only time I've ever even had to use my work
insurance plan.

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zamnedix
Breaking news: The healthcare system in the US is broken.

