As Hospital Prices Soar, a Single Stitch Tops $500

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stitchesIn a medical system notorious for opaque finances and inflated bills, nothing is more convoluted than hospital pricing, economists say. Hospital charges represent about a third of the $2.7 trillion annual United States health care bill, the biggest single segment, according to government statistics, and are the largest driver of medical inflation, a new study in The Journal of the American Medical Association found.

A day spent as an inpatient at an American hospital costs on average more than $4,000, five times the charge in many other developed countries, according to the International Federation of Health Plans, a global network of health insurance industries. The most expensive hospitals charge more than $12,500 a day. And at many of them, including California Pacific Medical Center, emergency rooms are profit centers. That is why one of the simplest and oldest medical procedures – closing a wound with a needle and thread – typically leads to bills of at least $1,500 and often much more.

At Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, Daniel Diaz, 29, a public relations executive, was billed $3,355.96 for five stitches on his finger after cutting himself while peeling an avocado. At a hospital in Jacksonville, Fla., Arch Roberts Jr., 56, a former government employee, was charged more than $2,000 for three stitches after being bitten by a dog. At Mercy Hospital in Port Huron, Mich., Chelsea Manning, 22, a student, received bills for close to $3,000 for six stitches after she tripped running up a path. Insurers and patients negotiated lower prices, but those charges were a starting point. Read more at the New York Times.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}


2 COMMENTS

  1. No hatzalah ambulaneces available one night so they called city ambulence for me.From Kings Highway to maimonides hospital 4 miles away it cost $1,600 dollars. Taxi would’ve cost me $12.00.

    conclusion:
    DONATE TO HATAZALAH,ITS ALL VOLUNTEER THAT EVEN THEY HAVE EXPENSES,ambulences,garages etc.
    DONATE TO MISASAKIM,at that time of need they are in your house setting up within an hour.
    they are all volunteer that also has fixed expenses, chairs tables whatever…they are with you…no need to say more on their service

    support ‘chaverim’, I was locked out and they came with ladders and ‘lock picks’ to get me inside on a cold freezing night.

    IN SHORT THEY ALL ARE SERVING HASHEM.
    THIS IS WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.
    THEREFORE, SERVE HASHEM AND PRAY A LITTLE MORE
    THAT WE DONT NEED THESE SERVICES

    DONATE TO MISASKIM

  2. “Insurers and patients negotiated lower prices, but those charges were a starting point.”

    So the fine print is that these figures are nonsense. The hospital wants to be paid a lot and the patient wants to pay a little, so they settled on somewhere in between. Is that a problem?

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