Slate ran a great article about how America’s Hospitals are Robbing Us Blind. Given that Ted Cruz has announced his bid for President, and vows to end Obamacare, I thought I’d take Slate’s lead and breakdown what really is the biggest problem in America’s healthcare system: the hospital.
 
I’ll start with an  anecdote, then get into the nitty-gritty of the legal consequences at hand.
 
When I was in undergrad (read: dumb),  I pierced my left calf muscle trying to climb over a wrought-iron fence. It hurt a lot. I went to Emory Hospital, moments away from where the incident transpired. In the emergency room, I signed a “consent to treat” form, gave my insurance information, and waited for the doctor.
 
Some medical technician came in and said “we need to take you to x-ray.” I retorted: “how much is an x-ray.” She was bewildered. She didn’t know the answer. They didn’t teach her medical billing at medical coding school, clearly. She left, another tech came in and the same conversation transpired, with the same results. 3 different people couldn’t tell me what an x-ray costs, and I refused to get one without an answer as to how much I would have to pay. Long story short, the doctor came in, said i didn’t even need  an x-ray, and stitched  me up, for a grand total of $600.00.
 
Here’s the problem: health insurance doesn’t cover everything, and health insurance just makes it easier for a healthcare provider to be  deceitful and deceptive about healthcare costs and necessary treatments.
 
The problem is, very few people are as lucky as I was to not be  in a life threatening situation with the ability to select which services I am willing to pay for and not willing to pay for. Most patients are captive consumers, with no ability to use the free market of price competition to pick the best value healthcare for the lowest price. Steven Brill, author of the Bitter Pill, explains it better than I.(see the video below)
 
The long and short is this: they don’t tell you what an x-ray costs, because they have no idea, and don’t care to tell you if they do. At the end of the day, when everybody has health insurance pursuant to the requirements of Obamacare, then no one will care that they are charging upwards of $1,000.00 for an x-ray (I know, because I do personal injury work) until they find out that their insurance requires them to pay 20% of the costs, after the fact.
 
Hospitals don’t care, because they’re making money hand-over-fist, and you have no choice,  because you need the treatment (or so says the medical coding technician.)
 
Follow me at @DavidTDorer, listen to the David Dorer Show live every Friday (Available on iTunes and on Stitcher). Also, make sure to check out Talking Law with David Dorer every Wednesday. (Available on iTunes and on Stitcher).
 

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