Why do hospitals need any type of money or equipment from the taxpayers who have to pay these outrageous medical prices?

2020-03-21T20:47:07-04:00

Explain to me how hospitals lack funds and materials for this virus when it costs 395 to 600 dollars just to walk into the ER! They charge you 5dollars for each pair of gloves used out of a box that costs 5 dollars! I could get more in depth but it’s ridiculous that our government has to fork out equipment and funds to a place that charges over 5000dollars to tell you you have a cold! Your hospital bill is separate from the physician, lab, X-ray dept, ect. Ect.!! So explain to me how they need any type of money help or equipment help at all from the taxpayers who have to pay these outrageous medical prices in the first place???

Response by MSgt Steven Holt, NRP, CCEMT-P made Mar 21 at 2020 9:05 PM

2020-03-21T21:05:53-04:00

Lemme see if I can put this into perspective....
$5 for a pair of gloves sounds expensive. For every $5 a hospital submits to an insurance company or bills the patient directly, they MIGHT recoup $1. Most will go unpaid. Same with medications, equipment, and staff (doctors, nurses, techs, etc). I worked EMS for several years. For a typical cardiac arrest response, there was me (the Paramedic), my partner (usually an EMT), and usually a Firefighter or Rescue Squad member to drive for us while my partner and I were in the back of the ambulance. I would use, on average, $1500 worth of medications, IV supplies, airway support devices, etc. Plus the fuel costs and wear/tear on the vehicle itself that always incurs maintenance costs. IF we were lucky, most insurance companies would reimburse $400. That doesn't even cover the cost of the cardiac medications, much less my salary or fuel costs to operate that ambulance. The rest goes unpaid and has to be written off as a loss. This is the chief reason many smaller hospitals and EMS services are shutting down. They simply do not have the financial standing to continue operating.

Response by 1st Lt Padre Dave Poedel made Mar 21 at 2020 9:37 PM

2020-03-21T21:37:13-04:00

Medical pricing is a Byzantine system of who is being billed, how the bill is being paid and many other factors. The greatest cost of a hospital is people...the myriad of people it seems to take these days to do a medical procedure. Then there is the physical plant, the debt for each expansion, contracted vs. retail pricing, lawyers and their merry band of bureaucrats, and the list goes on to the point of absurdity. Only one time did I pay retail price for my care was after a motor vehicle accident. Because the person who hit me’s insurance company was responsible for my bill, the hospital sent me this outrageous bill and then when the insurance company finally paid it they paid a lower contracted price. The hospital bill doesn’t reflect anything real, just this crazy system that the government, the trial lawyers, the hospital companies and the various groups from Congress to physicians to nurses to God knows who else.....

Response by SP5 Dennis Loberger made Mar 21 at 2020 10:26 PM

2020-03-21T22:26:42-04:00

When you go to a restaurant and pay $20 for a meal the cost of the ingredients is $3. You are paying for rent or mortgage payment, wages, service of the hostess, chef, server, equipment, supplies, accountant and insurance; all of which are necessary to provide you with a meal. It is not just the cost of the item that enters into the price.