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Posted by mrs. eliza humperdink on January 26, 2008, 2:26 pm
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> Many years ago I did some consulting work for the doctors group that
> supplied the ER doctors for a local hospital. About one third of their
> procedures (about $1 million out of $3 million in charges) had to be written
> off due to the patient not being insured. Those same people stiffed the
> hospital charges as well. Total up all the costs of the hospital and
> allocate them accordingly to all revenue sources, and you get a $35 charge
> for an aspirin tablet......
i see now. cost allocation is a way for the hospital to quietly
shuffle their losses from
treating deadbeats onto the bills of hard working, honest paying
customers. Isn't this
dishonest? Why should Congress permit hospitals to make paying
customers pay
for costs that deadbeat patients rack up? At the very least, the
hospital should be required to disclose the following on every bill:
1) our cash cost for the aspirin you ate: $0.07
2) what we pay the nurse to feed you the aspirin: $10
3) your share of deadbeat patients we treated: $24.95
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3) what we are billing you for your aspirin tablet: $35.00
Cost allocation is dishonest! Congress should pass legistlation to
outlaw it ASAP!
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