Uninsured patients at 50 hospitals around the nation are being charged more than 10 times the cost of health care, a new study finds. Of these facilities, 20 are located in Florida, with its large population of retirees. Most of the hospitals on the list of the priciest in the nation are not located in wealthy neighborhoods, or in large cities, where prices for goods and services are tend to be higher.
The North Okaloosa Medical Center near Pensacola, Fla., was found to charge noninsured patients the highest markups, at 12.6 times the original cost to the facility. The hospital houses patients in 110 beds on the Florida Panhandle.
Community Health Services, an organization of 107 for-profit hospitals around the nation, operates 25 of the 50 most expensive hospitals in the nation. HCA, Hospital Corporation of America, manages another 14 of the priciest hospitals in the United States.
Researchers believe these massive markups are due, in part, to a lack of regulation over how much health care centers can charge for services and medicine. This lack of a price ceiling, combined with limited competition in many locations, drives prices higher, critics state. These higher prices affect both those without insurance, as well as those with coverage, through rising health costs, the study concludes.
"There is no justification for these outrageous rates, but no one tells hospitals they can't charge them. For the most part, there is no regulation of hospital rates and there are no market forces that force hospitals to lower their rates. They charge these prices simply because they can," said Gerard F. Anderson from the Department of Health Policy and Management at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
To determine the ratio of hospital costs to prices charged to those in need of medical care, data from Medicaid and Medicare was analyzed, basing costs on Medicare figures. Charge-to-cost ratio is an indicator of how much hospitals are marking up charges beyond what Medicare agrees to pay for those with its government-subsidized health insurance. Hospitals averaged a markup of 340 percent on health care, while the 50 most expensive averaged roughly three times that rate. At those rates, care that costs hospitals $100 will set back patients $340 in most health care centers, and $1,000 at one of the highest-priced facilities. All figures were based on 2012 reports of costs and prices.
In addition to those without insurance, patients who experience the highest medical bills also include those people treated at hospitals that are not on their employer's list of preferred treatment centers, or cases paid by worker's compensation or automobile insurance.
Analysis of the most expensive hospitals in the country, and the amount they charge patients without insurance was published in Health Affairs.
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