Trump signs executive order calling for upfront disclosure of hospital costs

President Trump on Monday signed an executive order demanding the upfront disclosure by hospitals of the actual prices for common tests and procedures.

Trump's order also requires that patients be told ahead of time what their out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and copays will be for many procedures.

“This landmark initiative continues our work to put American patients first,” Trump said at the White House. “We are fundamentally changing the nature of the health care marketplace.”

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Good optics and politics I guess, but the action will only benefit the uninsured and add to the already burgeoning layer of bureaucracy that faces the medical industry. What the vast majority of us pay for healthcare is already determined by Medicare or insurance carrier determined copays and deductibles. What we pay is not the published price on a hospital's charge description master.

Price lists are not really fesable for hospitals. there are just too many variables. There can be prices for some seervices but not for all.

When I checked into the hospital, they made me sign a bunch of forms. One said, basically: “I will pay the charges, whatever they are.” That violates basic contract law, how can someone agree to something when they don’t know what it is? Courts have let these places get away with this for YEARS.

Wife was admitted to the ER, then had treatments, admitted for 2 days. On Medicare. Original bill was $63,000. Medicare approval and total payments appx $1200. We are 9n the hook for our Medicare deductible of $1300. So a total of $2500 for a hospital that billed $63,000. How can the individual know what is a reasonable cost and what is not?

Something in hospital care is rotten in Denmark! Recently, I took my wife to the local hospital because a viral infection wasn’t resolving. She was there for no more than two hours. They did a chest X-Ray with a portable machine in the exam room and routine blood and urine tests. The prescription they wrote went to our pharmacy so it’s cost was not included. The bill they sent Medicare was $25,000.! Medicare paid them less than $1,000. There is something radically wrong with this process, and if the $25k figure is right, I pitty the poor White Guy w/o insurance that gets stuck with the bill!

There are no moral people running these mills. CEOs must be paid their $500,000 a year. I to use a health sharing ministry. Abusive hospitals threaten our very existence. Unfortunately almost every business these days are out to get whatever they can from customers. It’s the modernist way, the hell with any morals.

We are so far away from a competitive healthcare market that making a price list will do nothing but add more to the cost of healthcare...the bureaucratic cost of creating/maintaining/posting the list. Are they going to list the government/Medicaid/Medicare 15% reimbursement price?, cash price?, “retail” price? Average of all those or ???

“What did you actually wind up paying?” We have Medicare with an Aetna Plan “F” supplement each of us obtained through AMAC ( the AARP for Decent People). As a consequence, we paid NOTHING! I cannot recommend AMAC’s insurance department highly enough. The Plan “F” Supplements are around $300 a month apiece. I think mine is about $20 a month more because I am two years older than my wife. With this insurance, my wife has had three serious back surgeries and an open-heart surgery to replace a heart valve. All of that, and we haven’t paid a dime!

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Source: Freerepublic.com

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