Hospitals charge ‘whatever the market will bear,’ study finds:
“We see what appears to be hospitals charging whatever the market will bear,” said Peter Lee, chief executive officer of the Pacific Business Group on Health
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Emerson said private insurers have long had to make up for shortfalls caused by Medi-Cal and Medicare. “We all know we have a broken health care system,” she said. “We all know government payers don’t pay their share, so commercial purchasers have to make up for that.”
Steven Rousso, principal with HFS Consultants, a hospital financial consulting firm in Oakland, said it’s no secret that large networks command greater negotiating power than stand-alone hospitals. “The health care market is no (different) than any other marketplace,” he said.
No different than any other, except private payers cover subsidized payers. On one hand, hospitals recovering costs is just like a normal business. On the other, hospitals aren’t (for the most part) allowed to pick and choose who walks in the door or the terms by which they will pay.
