The New York Times :Why We Should Know The Price Of Medical Tests. http://nyti.ms/1ooBGQP
My comment:
Oh come on … the outrageous amount we spend on health care isn’t driven by saving a few bucks here and there on price-shopping.
Just for starters, Medicare pays $300 million a year for pre-op tests for outpatient cataract surgery, when research shows these tests have no impact on outcomes. Then there are billions spend on “end of life” care because doctors and hospitals disregard DNR and DNI, even when the correct forms are in the charts.
And the billions spent on “preventive care” that doesn’t prevent anything; at most you get risk reduction, usually a small amount.
And the inflated hospital charges ($147 for a Tylenol, $500 for a bag of salt water). I’d be willing to bet that 30-50% of these “medical tests” are not even necessary.
So now they want sick people to shop around to save a few bucks? And a hospital can say, legally, that prices are secret so you can’t even if you want to?
No wonder we’re not hearing much about the Mafia. They’re probably running the medical industrial complex.
