Authorities Split Over Reasons For Spokane’S Higher Health Care Costs

Why does health care cost so much more in Spokane than in most places across the country?

Nobody seems to be able to explain that satisfactorily.

A few weeks ago, an item in this column reported figures contained in a Cost of Living Index compiled quarterly by the American Chamber of Commerce Researchers Association. The index showed that health care costs in Spokane are one-fifth higher than the national average. This drives local living costs above the average of American cities.

Medical doctors, in particular, took issue with the numbers. They didn’t question the article’s accuracy. Instead, they challenged the validity of the index data.

Realtors also didn’t like the data, which showed the cost of shelter in Spokane is 14 percent higher than the national average.

Representatives of Spokane hospitals, the Spokane County Medical Society, the Spokane Association of Realtors, the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Regional Information Service at Gonzaga University’s Foley Library huddled and searched for answers.

The Washington State Insurance Commissioner’s Office, which also is studying the matter, wasn’t invited.

The Regional Information Service (RIS), which researches costs in Spokane that plug into the index, surveys prices for 59 goods and services, using a standard formula.

In the health care category, surveyors gather costs for a routine exam at a doctor’s office, a semi-private hospital room, a 12-ounce tube of Polysporin antibiotic ointment, and a dental appointment for teeth cleaning and periodic exam.

In Spokane, a visit to the doctor runs $48.21. That’s the lowest in the state, and pennies under the national average of $48.76.

A hospital room costs $519.25 a day in Spokane. That is the second-highest cost in the state, just behind the Tri-Cities, and $127.16 more than the national average of $392.91.

The Spokane price for Polysporin ointment is the highest in the state - $4.70 a tube. Vancouver is low at just $4.15. The national average is only $4.27. This is not good.

But dental care was a real shocker. While a visit to the dentist costs less in Spokane than most other places across this state, Washington is far above the national average in costs. In Spokane, the average dental visit runs $83.50. That’s one-third more than the national average of $60.84.

Based on this, Dr. Rodney L. Trytko, vice president of the Spokane County Medical Society, concludes the main reason for higher health care costs in Spokane is dental care.

David Buxton, director of RIS and therefore responsible for gathering the data, says of the price differential, “I’m baffled by it.”

Health industry officials cite many variables which may bear on the disparity in costs. However, the methodology for collecting data is designed to exclude all such variables by specifying precisely the process to be followed. Whether or not the index accurately tracks costs may well be open to question.

Maybe health care costs more in Spokane because it’s better.

“West Coast dental care is considered to be very high quality,” says Michael Aslin, president of the Spokane District Dental Society. “Washington is a West Coast state. Seattle is higher than Spokane. Spokane is higher than Montana and Idaho.”

Perhaps the explanation for higher costs is as simple as that. Or maybe it’s the water. Could fluoridated water (Spokane’s isn’t) reduce cavities and lower costs? Or maybe Spokane has too many incredibly costly unused hospital beds. Or too few dentists. Or maybe other cities fudge their data so they can look good.

Whatever, says Aslin, dentists aren’t the culprits some have made them out to be. “Our share of the total consumer health care bill is only 5 percent,” insists the dental spokesman. “In line with this, our impact on overall costs is small.”

Go golfing, and support education

As if taking time off work to play golf were not already too tempting to area business leaders, Eastern Washington University has concocted a scheme to make playing hookey a corporate duty.

It’s a golfing fund-raiser for college scholarships to help educate the next generation of business brass.

The annual benefit of the EWU College of Business and Public Administration is set for Friday, May 1, at the MeadowWood links in Liberty Lake. Registration at the clubhouse opens at 11:30, with a shotgun start at 1. Entry charge - including greens fees, cart and dinner - is $70 per player, $250 per corporate team. A corporate hole sponsorship costing $475 includes greens fees, two carts, course signage, recognition throughout the day, and dinner for four.

Phone college development director Ric Thomas at 358-2236 for advance signup.

Unclaimed goods to be auctioned

Contents of more than 1,000 abandoned safe deposit boxes will be sold by lot to the highest bidder at the Washington State Revenue Department’s unclaimed property auction May 2 and 3 in Fife.

Valuables include an 1896 Cosmopolitan magazine, confederate money, gold coins, pioneer pocket watches.

To request a catalog, call 360-664-8750 or 360-753-5553, or go to the department’s home page at http://www.wa.gov/dor/ wador.htm.