The U.S. could slash health-care costs with two fundamental changes

Re:The U.S. could slash health-care costs with two fundament... by georgeecollins on Tuesday November 12, 2019 @03:46PM (#21517997)

I agree with everything this article suggests, but to be fair to hospitals, they can't really tell you what some procedures will cost for obvious reasons. A delivery may ordinarily cost $x, but if a caesarean is required it may be $x + $y.. etc. A car mechanic will give you an estimate for what it will cost you to fix something, and then call you if it turns out to be more expensive. In a delivery (or a surgery) they can't really ask you if you are OK with an additional cost that may be required, they have to just do it.

However, a hospital could provide a list of prices that are commonly billed. What a list of prices would do is give you a sense if one hospital costs a lot more than another in general. If you knew you might change which hospital you go to and.. you know markets etc.

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Re:The U.S. could slash health-care costs with two fundament... by jdmichal on Tuesday November 12, 2019 @04:57PM (#21518611)

Your first example is funny, considering that the hospital where my son was delivered sent us a letter about a month before his due date with an estimate of the cost for both normal delivery and caesarean.

Of course it didn't cover every possible contingency... That's what an "estimate" means by definition. But that doesn't mean that it's impossible or even unreasonable to provide a baseline price, along with some of the more common events that can modify that price.

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