I was a bit frustrated today. I was curious to see what health care costs--I mean pricing, how much doctors and hospitals charge--are for services. Theres almost nothing out there. There is a site (wahospitalpricing.org) where you can cost-compare among different hospitals in Washington state for different services. For instance, if I were living in Northeast King County, WA, and had a healthy pregnancy, Id look seriously at Evergreen Hospital, as their normal labor and delivery services are around $2000 less than other surrounding hospitals. There is the issue of quality, of course, but on pricing alone, Evergreen wins. But what clinics charge? Nada. Dentists? Nothing. Not even a general city/county survey. Even with health insurance, this could very well mean less money out of pocket, as insurance companies dont really pay 100% or 80% of costs, they actually pay 100% to 80% of ALLOWABLE cost, which could mean they end up paying only 50% of the bill. So you really do need to shop around. In contrast, when I lived in Germany, if I wanted to find out how much a doctor, hospital, or dentist charged for each service, all I needed to do was go to the doctors or hospitals website and I could view their list of services. What a concept! Since people over a certain income in Germany can choose to pay cash instead of have insurance (and doctors there like to deal in cash as it helps between delayed government and insurance payments), the fee schedule is out there, easy to find. Then theres insurance premiums. Ive not seen a lot of numbers--I mean actual pricing--with regard to the ACA in various states. However, after browing around for a bit, heres a pretty good analysis of whats in Washington State: forbes/sites/theapothecary/2013/06/23/even-in-over-regulated-washington-state-obamacare-will-increase-individual-market-premiums-by-34-80-percent/ As Forbes is a business-related site, Ill give them a bit of credence when it comes to numbers. Yes, the guy writing the article is a fiscal conservative, but he does give a nod to fiscal liberals concerns. Does anyone else have numbers for their states in the following areas? 1. Hospital service pricing 2. Doctor/clinic pricing 3. Insurance pricing Please keep the discussion to pricing, whether in increases or decreases or out-of-pocket expenses. Im looking for information, comparisons, etc. Please state what part of the country you come from, what services cost, etc. (Yes, Im a bargain hunter. Before I buy anything, I do my research.)
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 17:45:47 +0000
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