Hospital bills are outrageous and there does not seem to be a good way to avoid being overcharged. I have fairly good medical coverage, but the bills I see our baffling. Most times I just give up, and do nothing but accept the charges whether I’m paying for it or my health insurance pays for it.
Digg.com posting, “10 ways to avoid outrageous hospital overcharges – Profit-hungry hospitals are overcharging consumers an estimated $10 billion a year. Some deliberately work to keep bills indecipherable. Here’s how to fight back.”
The referred to article from the Digg.com posting offers suggestions for lowering your hospital bills. These suggestions are definitely doable, but they are basically telling you to question every potential billings before you check into the hospital and and during your hospital stay. Hey I’m just trying to get well and really do not want to be in the position of having to manage my hospital costs. Why cannot hospitals bill us something like what happens when you buy a car using a simple-to-read purchase agreement?
Seems like hospitals could bill people much like consultants and contractors bill someone, and they could use the simple language of a car purchase agreement. In this scenario, the hospital would provide some ballpark pricing upfront where we would get an idea on how much it would cost us and our insurance company. Then when the hospital visit is over, they could present us with the actual bill. This bill would be in a simple language describing in detail all the services and products provided as well as their costs. I think hospitals should make a profit, but I do not think they have to baffle us to make their profit.