In an effort to increase transparency and to provide the public with answer to the question of “what does medical care cost” the Obama Administration has released the raw billing data of what hospitals charge for the top 100 most common discharges. This information is supplied by Medicare and was compiled from the charges submitted to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services by the various hospitals.
Two different spreadsheets provide the data broken down by individual hospitals as well as the cost of the most common discharges broken down state by state. The results are quite eye opening. There are huge differences between what hospitals in the same state, in some case even on the same street, charge for the same medical procedures. Additionally, there is a pattern of which states cost more than others. The Washington Post analyzed the data and discovered that of the 10 most common medical procedures six states — California, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas — routinely had higher prices than the rest of the country.
Review the data, look for the hospital where you customarily treat and then compare it to other hospitals in your area. Hopefully your hospital is charging reasonable rates, but if not perhaps it is time to explore a new facility.
