LEHIGH VALLEY EXPRESS TIMES Editorial: … Are Americans ready to digest all this data and become self-guided experts in health-care finance? No, but we can insist that the government continue to shed light on comparative prices, and not just hospital procedures. Publicizing the prices of lab tests, basic doctor office treatments and the actual prices that insurance companies pay to providers would help, too.
There are plenty of reasons why prices vary from hospital to hospital — the cost of living in different areas, maintaining teaching and research functions, absorption of costs for the uninsured.
“It’s complicated” is an accurate assessment of healthcare price-setting and reimbursement — but it’s no excuse for the wide disparity in costs… (more)
