Vestal: Hospital prices defy logic

At the heart of the lawsuit against the former owners of two Spokane hospitals is a reminder of the freaky, shady way hospitals set prices.

They seem to just … make them up. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say they set them very, very high as a kind of opening bid in a negotiation. The way the pricing scheme works says a lot about the unholy and opaque alliance between health care providers and insurers, one that drives up costs with an elaborate game of hide-the-ball-from-the-patient.

Obamacare hasn’t put much of a dent in that problem, though it has expanded the amount of information available publically – you can now look up prices and be befuddled, instead of simply in the dark. The proposed replacements in Congress, so far as I can tell, don’t bother to try, instead offering more opportunities for consumers to be blindsided and misled/ Shawn Vestal , SR. More here .

Question: Can you make heads or tails or your hospital bill?