For five years, Caren Blanzy received the same treatment at the same medical office in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The regular injections gave her relief from involuntary muscle contractions caused by a neurological disorder, she said. Her insurance picked up the tab. Then, the health system that owns her doctor’s office changed how it billed for […]
Marty Makary’s July 12 op-ed, “For a wasteful Medicare rule, location is everything,” made a clear case: Too many Americans have been blindly led into a health-care affordability crisis. Even if they never set foot in a hospital, patients receiving care from hospital-affiliated providers face higher prices caused by so-called site-of-service payment differentials. As a […]
Georgann Boatright’s local hospital told her she’d need to pay an $8,000 “operating room” charge for a test she was pretty darn sure wouldn’t involve an operating room. So she went elsewhere, even though it meant driving to another state. Avoiding that charge required more than just a willingness to go — literally — way […]
For years, the price of an operation at my hospital has been radically different depending on the floor where it’s performed. Why? One spot was designated a hospital space; the other a non-hospital space. Patients were sometimes ushered to the location that generated the biggest profit based on their insurance type. It makes no sense, […]
