Quote:
Originally posted by island911
The hospitals claim that "everyone is charged the same. . . it's just that some are 'discounted' " (WTF?)
How is it, that when the extra red-tape is involved, the charge is only 40% (of the charge) of guy paying cash directly!?
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Here's how it (doesn't) work:
Federal law forbids more that one price list. They are, however, allowed to do group discounts, etc. (WTF? is exactly right.) The reason for the law is so that hospitals don't charge Medicare (the Government) rates higher than they would charge your average uninsured patient.
Unbelievably, Medicare pays big bonus $ to hospitals for cases that are more "complicated" than most. How do they determine which cases are more complex and worthy of bonus money? The size of the bill! So hospitals have these ridiculous fee schedules that are intended to defraud Medicare, not the few uninsured patients who can't pay anyway. As a result, ordinary folks who are uninsured or underinsured are caught in the death-grip of greed that dominates hospital administrations. Sad, but true.