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I know larger cities are the norm but everyone else is acting like everyone has a choice. My town has an urgent care center and a hospital that serves the entir
by undersuit 7y ago
I know larger cities are the norm but everyone else is acting like everyone has a choice. My town has an urgent care center and a hospital that serves the entire county. The next nearest hospital is two hours away. Even then we still have people Life Flighted out to Spokane on a regular basis from both hospitals.
All transparency will do is put a number in front of my single choice.
- awakeasleep 7y agoI agree that it's not a solution to the healthcare nightmare we face in the USA... but do you think it's a step in the right direction?
- undersuit 7y agoYes, it will help with some procedures, and especially benefit those that don't have health insurance.
- foota 7y agoI don't think this is true for non immediate care though. If you had something that needed to be done in a number of weeks would you be willing to to to a different hospital to save.. a couple hundred? A couple thousand?
- amanaplanacanal 7y agoExactly. For some things people fly to other countries because the price difference is enough to pay for their mini-vacation.
- undersuit 7y agoDepends. I can travel to another city, but do I go home to recover after a multi-hour car ride or do I recover in that city? If I have an issue post operation does my home city have the resources to handle it? Who's going to drive me if I need a driver?
- arwineap 7y agoNo net change for you, but net benefit for a large section of the population. What's your argument against it?
- undersuit 7y agoI don't think it's been settled that this is a net benefit yet.
- jessaustin 7y agoThe only argument I've heard that this is harmful comes from self-interested industry groups saying, in essence, "we make more money if patients are uninformed." That settles it for me.
- sailfast 7y agoThis would allow you to choose your insurer based on rates and copays for common treatments - that could be a win even if there is only a single provider. Furthermore, if other competing providers see room to compete on price because of transparency you might actually get more providers.
- undersuit 7y agoMy insurer is provided by my employer, price transparency is going to change this?
- 0xffff2 7y agoIf you cared enough, it might influence your choice of employer. Also some employers offer plans from multiple insurers. At my current employer I can choose between a Kaiser HMO and a Cigna PPO.
- Sargos 7y agoEven in the high demand field of software engineering the vast majority of people don't have the option to choose between multiple jobs to take. You take what you can get. Not unlike healthcare in which you usually have no say in what healthcare you get when you need it.
- subhobroto 7y agoAgreed. It's insane the employer gets to dictate what doctors I get to see! How is that even reasonable and acceptable? I wrote a response to this article here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20281150 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20281150 Would love any input!
- sailfast 7y agoIf your employer is of smaller size, they will have greater leverage to match rates with larger plans because of transparency which could help you a great deal. Further, your company could have leverage with their insurance broker to provide better pricing / options based on public data.
- subhobroto 7y agoEXACTLY! People seem to assume publicly listing prices would lead to a lower bill I wrote a response to this article here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20281150 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20281150 Would love any input!