Category: Consumer-Driven Health Care

Friday Links

Posted on by John C. Goodman

Surgeon quality matters. HT: Tyler

Where health care research misses out.

The healthcare system tracks data on people who are patients, not on people when they aren’t.  We’re not looking at the people when they don’t need health care; we’re not gathering data on what it means to be healthy.  I.e., the “missing patients.”

Medicare is paying doctors to be woke.

Senate votes to revoke Biden’s preschool (Head Start) mask mandate. (7 Democrats voted with all the Republicans)

Apple employees to Tim Cook: Making us go back to work is racist.

Face-lifts for the price of a sports car.

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Why the Markup on a $50,000 Knee Surgery is 500%

Posted on by Devon Herrick

Few hospitals in the United States have any idea what their costs are to perform various surgeries. The second most common surgery in U.S. hospitals after those related to childbirth is knee replacement. The price is more than $50,000 at Gundersen Health System’s hospital in La Crosse, Wisconsin.  The facility has been systematically raising the price of knee surgery about 3% every year. None of administrators had any idea how much was profit and how much was the cost of nursing care, labor, overhead, supplies, etc. Gundersen, like most U.S. hospitals, didn’t know the cost because they do not face still competition and are not competing on price. Unlike most U.S. hospitals, however, Gundersen set out to find out its cost.

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Medicare Drug Prices Change Frequently, Seniors Should Learn about Options

Posted on by Devon Herrick

An article by Kaiser Health News explained that Medicare Part D drug plans can change individual drug prices and/or cost sharing soon after open enrollment closes. For instance, a recent analysis by AARP found that about a month after Medicare drug plans went into effect, prices had risen by 8% on 75 of the most frequently used drugs. Seniors who select a plan specifically for its price on a given drug are likely disappointed when prices rise, or copays increase. Yet, once in a plan seniors cannot switch to another plan until the next open enrollment period at the end of the year.

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Obamacare (and Hospitals) Increased Medical Debt

Posted on by Devon Herrick

Medical debt is the most common third-party debt collections listed in credit reports, at 58% of debt in collections. There are no reliable estimates of the number of patients sued or exposed to debt collection harassment, but it could number into the hundreds of thousands each year.

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