As noted earlier, Princeton economist Uwe Reinhardt bemoans the confusion and opacity surrounding health pricing.
Someone is doing something about that. The Surgery Center of Oklahoma has a public schedule of prices for common procedures. Furthermore, it has heard the term "competition."
It is no secret to anyone that the pricing of surgical services is at
the top of the list of problems in our dysfunctional healthcare system.
Bureaucracy at the insurance and hospital levels, cost shifting and the
absence of free market principles are among the culprits for what has
caused surgical care in the United States to be cost prohibitive. As
more and more patients find themselves paying more and more out of
pocket, it is clear that something must change. We believe that a very
different approach is necessary, one involving transparent and direct
pricing.
Gee, Congress better act quickly, because if this approach catches on it might not be necessary to enact a health care takeover bill that channels vast sums to favored interest groups, and then where would our politicians be?
Comments