Study Finds 20 FL Hospitals Charge Uninsured 10 Times the Cost of Care
Posted June 11, 2015 05:58 am
TALLAHASSEE, FL - A new study about high charges by hospitals names 20 Florida facilities among the 50 worst offenders nationwide - with number one being North Okaloosa Medical Center in the panhandle.
The study, published in the journal Health Affairs, compared the price hospitals charge with the rates Medicare pays and found many mark up services by 1,000 percent or more.
Study co-author Ge Bai, an assistant professor of accounting at Washington and Lee University, says people with insurance don't feel the pain, but the uninsured are hard hit.
"So, our hospital pricing system charges the highest amount to the most vulnerable patients and the patients with the least amount of power," she points out.
Community Health Systems (CHS), which owns half of the
hospitals on the list, released a statement saying it
offers significant discounts to uninsured patients and
offered $3.3 billion in charity care last year.
Bai maintains government should cap what hospitals can
charge, but adds the public would need to demand change.
"So, we really want to raise public awareness of this
problem with our hospital pricing system," she stresses.
"And we need to fix it."
Only West Virginia and Maryland regulate hospital
pricing.
Editors note: CHS leases Shands Lake Shore Hosp from the Lake Shore Hosp Auth. Read more about the Lake Shore Hosp Auth here.
Photos/graphics; links: added/updated by the Observer
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