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Leaked Scripps records reveal huge mark-ups for hospital care - Los Angeles Times
notingA former nurse at Scripps Memorial Hospital showed columnist @Davidlaz screenshots of the facility’s electronic health record system.
The screenshots show price hikes ranging from 575% to 675% being automatically generated by the hospital’s software.
“Scripps’ automated system took the actual cost of sutures, imposed an apparently preset 675% markup and produced a billed amount that was orders of magnitude higher than the true price,” @Davidlaz writes.
Another screenshot showed the pricing for an antimicrobial solution to clean the patient’s wound.
Scripps’ cost per unit was $73.50.
The billed amount was $496.13 — "$496.13 = $73.50 + ($73.50 x 575%)”.
The below screenshot shows a $117.97 charge for surgical equipment being automatically increased by 575% to $796.30.
Call it institutionalized price gouging, @Davidlaz writes.
"It’s apparently widespread because the same or similar software is used by other hospitals nationwide, including UCLA, and around the world."
Leaked Scripps records reveal huge mark-ups for hospital care - Los Angeles Times
Big Pharma’s INSANE 500% Mark Up On Medical Care - YouTubeRidiculous, seemingly arbitrary price markups are a defining characteristic of the $4-trillion U.S. healthcare system — and a key reason Americans pay more for treatment than anyone else in the world.
But to see price hikes of as much as 675% being imposed in real time, automatically, by a hospital’s computer system still takes your breath away.
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Healthcare providers routinely ignore the actual cost of treatment when calculating bills and instead cook up nonsensical figures to push reimbursement from insurers higher.
For the millions of people without health insurance, those sky-high prices are what they’re stuck with (although most hospitals, including Scripps, typically will offer discounts in such circumstances).
Ana Kasparian mentioned what that article mentioned, that those markups are a negotiating strategy with the insurance companies. But people who are uninsured or out of network get screwed over badly, especially if they are not very good at haggling over medical-treatment prices.Big Pharma and the American healthcare system have been imposing ridiculous and arbitrary price markups for years, and now they’re using computer programs and software to calculate price markups for procedures and equipment. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.