3 ms·

What I don't get is how hospitals can justify the costs for a lot of the shit they charge for... Example if you have a baby and ask for an itemized list you mi

What I don't get is how hospitals can justify the costs for a lot of the shit they charge for... Example if you have a baby and ask for an itemized list you might see something like $49 for chest to chest time with baby... they're fucking charging you to hold your damn baby. Or $35 for a single ibuprofin for pain. Seriously? 100x markup? I can get a bottle of 100 ibuprofin's for < $10. Some things should just be free because it's a hospitality industry right? I mean you go into a restaurant and ask for extra napkins they just give them to you. They don't charge $2/napkin. Or at the very least - at cost.

harryh 7y ago
Hospitals are "hiding the umbrella." Contracts prohibit them from raising prices on some items, so they shift price increases to other items sometimes in the ridiculous ways you list.
- SilasX 7y ago
  Can you explain the metaphor "hiding the umbrella"? Google didn't turn up any obvious meaning. If I had to guess, it's a reference to the joke about turning in your expense report, after being told they won't reimburse you for the umbrella you lost, and so you overstaet expenses enough to cover the umbrella's cost. But that never made sense to me, since they demand receipts anyway...
  - harryh 7y ago
    Your guess is correct. And perhaps the metaphor isn't perfect (though many places don't require receipts below a certain value) but it gets the point across.
noelsusman 7y ago
The justification is that hospitals have enormous fixed costs, and somebody has to pay for care for people who don't pay and people on government plans that pay below cost. Also, nobody actually pays those prices, so hospitals have no incentive to give a shit about making them make sense.
tssva 7y ago
I can see if the chest to chest time is between the father and baby. The breast tissue of a mother regulates its temperature to maintain the baby at the proper body temperature. A father's chest does not and a baby can easily become overheated. When father to baby chest to chest time happens best practice is for nurses to regularly check on the status of the baby during this time. This means you are utilizing additional staffing resources which is what the charge is for.

harryh 7y ago

Hospitals are "hiding the umbrella." Contracts prohibit them from raising prices on some items, so they shift price increases to other items sometimes in the ridiculous ways you list.

SilasX 7y ago
Can you explain the metaphor "hiding the umbrella"? Google didn't turn up any obvious meaning. If I had to guess, it's a reference to the joke about turning in your expense report, after being told they won't reimburse you for the umbrella you lost, and so you overstaet expenses enough to cover the umbrella's cost. But that never made sense to me, since they demand receipts anyway...
- harryh 7y ago
  Your guess is correct. And perhaps the metaphor isn't perfect (though many places don't require receipts below a certain value) but it gets the point across.

noelsusman 7y ago

The justification is that hospitals have enormous fixed costs, and somebody has to pay for care for people who don't pay and people on government plans that pay below cost. Also, nobody actually pays those prices, so hospitals have no incentive to give a shit about making them make sense.

tssva 7y ago

I can see if the chest to chest time is between the father and baby. The breast tissue of a mother regulates its temperature to maintain the baby at the proper body temperature. A father's chest does not and a baby can easily become overheated. When father to baby chest to chest time happens best practice is for nurses to regularly check on the status of the baby during this time. This means you are utilizing additional staffing resources which is what the charge is for.