Medical Cost Alerts
Jaw Surgery Takes a $27,119 Bite out of One Man’s Budget
Article Summary: A Seattle patient discovers the hard way that you can still hit a lifetime limit for certain types of care. And health plans can vary a lot from one job to the next,… Read More
Hospital-employed physicians more likely to order unneeded MRIs, study finds
Article Summary: Study findings indicate that the odds of a patient receiving an inappropriate MRI referral increased by more than 20 percent after a physician transitioned to hospital employment. By Kelly Gooch, Becker’s Hospital Review,… Read More
Enough to Wreck Their Rest: $10,322 for a Sleep Study
Article Summary: The University of Miami Health System charged truck driver José Mendoza six times what Medicare would pay for an overnight test. He got trapped by his high-deductible health plan and sky-high billing. By… Read More
Hospitals and Insurers Didn’t Want You to See These Prices. Here’s Why.
By Sarah Kliff and Josh Katz. The New York Times, Aug. 22, 2021. This year, the federal government ordered hospitals to begin publishing a prized secret: a complete list of the prices they negotiate with… Read More
Free-standing ERs Charging Patients 10X More Than an Urgent Care Center or Doctor’s Office
By Phil Galewitz, Kaiser Health News, May 21, 2021. Colorado health officials so abhor the high costs associated with free-standing emergency rooms they’re offering to pay hospitals to shut the facilities down. The state wants… Read More
Top Hospitals Charging Patients up to 1,800% More for Services Than They Cost
The leading nurses union says the study highlights the need for a Medicare for All system to limit high markups By IGOR DERYSH, NOVEMBER 22, 2020, For Salon. Hospitals in the United States charge patients as much… Read More
A $52,112 Air Ambulance Ride: Coronavirus Patients Battle Surprise Bills
Congress was close to a solution before getting hit with millions of dollars of ads from private-equity firms. Then the pandemic struck. By Sarah Kliff, Oct. 13, 2020, The New York Times. An intubated coronavirus… Read More
Most Coronavirus Tests Cost About $100. Why Did One Cost $2,315
By Sarah Kliff, The New York Times, Jun 16, 2020. In a one-story brick building in suburban Dallas, between a dentist office and a family medicine clinic, is a medical laboratory that has run some… Read More
U.S. States Accuse 26 Drugmakers of Generic Drug Price Fixing in Sweeping Lawsuit
By Diane Bartz & Jonathan Stempel, Reuters, Jun 10, 2020. Twenty-six drug manufacturers were sued on Wednesday by the attorneys general of most U.S. states and several territories, which accused them of conspiring to reduce… Read More