How much does a heart attack cost?
The price of a medical procedure can vary wildly depending on the facility. New government data reveal what different hospitals charge for the same treatments, stripping away some of the mystery of medical bills — and the numbers may surprise you.
They charged how much?
The Obama administration delivered quite a shock to the health care community last week when it unveiled a massive database showing exactly how much hospitals charged in 2011 for common medical procedures.
Most of us haven’t had access to this kind of information before. Hospitals generally don’t want you or their competitors to know their fees in advance — and now we can see why. One hospital in Los Angeles charged $22,550 to treat a complicated case of kidney failure, while another in the same city charged $60,650.
By making these numbers available to everyone, the government has pulled down the veil of secrecy hospitals have crafted around their charges. Will this new pricing transparency overhaul the system? Probably not. Will it give patients — especially those without insurance — more knowledge and power when it comes to their health care choices? Definitely. Keep in mind — these aren’t the actual charges paid by people with Medicare or other health insurance plans that negotiate the fees down. But they might be exactly the charges that people with no health insurance see.
