After
his 36 page cover story for Time magazine, Steven Brill joined Hardball on
Monday night to discuss his medical findings.
In
the seven months Brill took to research eight cases - with corresponding
hospital bills, he uncovered some atrocious charges , for example, Gauze pads
were charged $77 a box, A single diabetes test strip was charged $18, $50 for a
Tyenol which meant a 10,000% mark up.
What is Medicare / Medicaid?
Medicaid / Medicare are different governmental programs that provide medical and health-related services to specific groups of people in U.S. and managed by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
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A patient paid $474,000 for a month in a Texas hospital when he was treated for pneumonia. Only 20% was covered by his insurance. Brill lays the blame on marked up prices by the manufacturers and hospital administration. The non-profit hospitals made higher profits.
According
to him the wrong issue is under fire - instead of who should pay the bill, it
should be why are bills so high?
"Over the past few decades we've enriched the labs, drug companies, medical device makers, hospital administrators and purveyors of CT scans, MRIs, canes and wheelchairs," Brill writes. Meanwhile "we've squeezed everyone outside the system who gets stuck with the bills."
![Health Insurance]( "Health Insurance")
He questioned President Obama's Affordable Care Act's ability to fix the chaos. Obamacare required all citizens to obtain health cover or pay a penalty, states setting up health exchanges - where people could buy health insurance and letting young adults stay on parents cover for longer. Insurers could not refuse to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Would all this save costs was Brill's contention.
"The fair thing to say is [the Obama Administration] tried," he told guest host Michael Smerconish, but added ACA "did nothing to cut the profits of everyone involved. In fact, if anything, it's going to add to the profits because it will put more people into health care, which is a good thing—they're going to have insurance-but the taxpayers are going to subsidize that insurance."
Brill added that one reason why the ACA passed because "it didn't do anything to cut into profits of the drug companies, of the hospitals, the exorbitant prices that your local, non-profit hospital makes."
Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, who worked on the Affordable Care Act as a senior adviser for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, said Obamacare had some steps to curb the problem but acknowledged that more could be done. She pointed to ACA's expansion of bundled payments, where one could pay a flat fee per episode of care, rather than Medicare receiving separate bills from each provider. Tanden argued that would help create incentives to lower the price of individual items.
"We should take additional steps...but it's not that we haven't done anything," said Tanden.
References:
Hannah Punitha (IRDA Licence Number: 2710062)
Aliyah Frumin, March 2013
Source: Medindia
"Over the past few decades we've enriched the labs, drug companies, medical device makers, hospital administrators and purveyors of CT scans, MRIs, canes and wheelchairs," Brill writes. Meanwhile "we've squeezed everyone outside the system who gets stuck with the bills."
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He questioned President Obama's Affordable Care Act's ability to fix the chaos. Obamacare required all citizens to obtain health cover or pay a penalty, states setting up health exchanges - where people could buy health insurance and letting young adults stay on parents cover for longer. Insurers could not refuse to cover people with pre-existing conditions. Would all this save costs was Brill's contention.
"The fair thing to say is [the Obama Administration] tried," he told guest host Michael Smerconish, but added ACA "did nothing to cut the profits of everyone involved. In fact, if anything, it's going to add to the profits because it will put more people into health care, which is a good thing—they're going to have insurance-but the taxpayers are going to subsidize that insurance."
Brill added that one reason why the ACA passed because "it didn't do anything to cut into profits of the drug companies, of the hospitals, the exorbitant prices that your local, non-profit hospital makes."
Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, who worked on the Affordable Care Act as a senior adviser for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, said Obamacare had some steps to curb the problem but acknowledged that more could be done. She pointed to ACA's expansion of bundled payments, where one could pay a flat fee per episode of care, rather than Medicare receiving separate bills from each provider. Tanden argued that would help create incentives to lower the price of individual items.
"We should take additional steps...but it's not that we haven't done anything," said Tanden.
References:
Hannah Punitha (IRDA Licence Number: 2710062)
Aliyah Frumin, March 2013
Source: Medindia
Underinsured Face Daunting Medical Bills, Look For Help From Congress
While much of the American health care discussion has focused on providing coverage to the country's 46 million uninsured, there is growing concern about millions more who are underinsured...
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 Melamine Milk Scam: Compensation Ensured for Child Medical Bills Till 18 Years AgeThe compensation fund for victims of a tainted milk scandal will pay for medical costs the sickened incur until they reach 18, affected families said Tuesday. | Advertisement
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