My wife is investigating knee surgery. We pay for our own health insurance with a large deductible plus we probably will not be covered because of a prior condition.
So we are part of a very small sector in America that actually cares what the medical service will cost and are shopping around.
In her investigations she came across the Surgery Center of Oklahoma. On its web site it makes this pitch “If you have a high deductible or are part of a self-insured plan at a large company, you owe it to yourself or your business to take a look at our facility and pricing which is listed on this site. If you are considering a trip to a foreign country to have your surgery, you should look here first. Finally, if you have no insurance at all, this facility will provide quality and pricing that we believe are unmatched.”
And in an email from one of the doctors at the Center he said “I’ve made very few friends in the medical community by publishing our prices.”
This is something the Federal Government should actually be focusing on in health care reform. First, they should structure more mechanisms (like health care saving accounts and large deductibles) that cause patients to shop around for better prices. Second, the Federal government should mandate transparency in pricing for health care providers. Let’s not let defacto monopolies keep their monopolistic prices secret until they drop the bomb on you at the end. And finally there should be a maximum range between the lowest and highest amount they charge for a service. If you have ever looked at what you are billed by the health care provider versus what the insurance deems and pays as reasonable and customary you see the stark contrasts. The MRI center bills $2,900 for a knee MRI and the insurance company knocks it down to $300. If you don’t know better and don’t have insurance you can end up paying almost ten times what others are paying for the same service. If this is not gauging then what is?
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