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Cry me a river. The more I've learned about it, the more it seems like hospitals are the ones making the majority of the profit in the US's strange and byzantin
by QuadrupleA 8y ago
Cry me a river. The more I've learned about it, the more it seems like hospitals are the ones making the majority of the profit in the US's strange and byzantine healthcare system. The cost of their services are generally absurd, and not adequately balanced by customers and competition because 'insurance will pay for it'.
- opportune 8y agohospitals are simply the PoS of many other overpriced goods and services, so that’s where you notice the bloat
- maxerickson 8y agoThere's also a weird dynamic where they deal with increasingly complex medicine. As the medical system has grown, care has moved out of hospitals, leaving them with the more complicated (and more expensive) cases.
- themodelplumber 8y agoYes, a friend of mine, a doctor at our local hospital, has shared his pessimism about the hospital's pricing and profit stance with me. In his mind they capitalize on our rural economy and only an idiot would get treated locally rather than drive to the bay area where the pricing is much more reasonable (!). Even worse (in my mind), the hospital bears the name of a major religion. As if God needed this kind of PR...
- WrtCdEvrydy 8y ago> the hospital bears the name of a major religion Islam? Joking. I wonder how well an islamic hospital would do in the US.
- maxxxxx 8y agoChristian Science hospitals would be pretty cheap.
- donarb 8y agoIt’s estimated that 50% of hospitals in the US are currently owned by Catholic organizations. For some this is thought to be good because as religious organizations they can run as non-profits and non-taxable. But this comes with other problems such as being denied care like abortions or end of life care that conflicts with church beliefs.
- iNate2000 8y agoI don't know about the other groups involved, but Intermountain Healthcare is non-profit.
- noelsusman 8y agoThe overwhelming majority of hospitals in the US are non-profits. You can look at their financial disclosures. Spoilers: you won't find big profit margins.
- ummonk 8y agoYou can keep your profit margins arbitrarily low by paying yourselves exorbitant salaries.