Hospital Charges in US Vary Wildly

As discussed in the Time article on "The Bitter Pill", the government is publicly revealing how much hospitals charge, and the differences are astounding: Some bill tens of thousands of dollars more than others for the same treatment, even within the same city.

 For example, the average charges for joint replacement range from about $5,300 at an Ada, Okla., hospital to $223,000 in Monterey Park, Calif., the Department of Health and Human Services said. That doesn't include doctors' fees.

 "It doesn't make sense," Jonathan Blum, Medicare deputy administrator, said Wednesday. The higher charges don't reflect better care, he said. Blum said the Obama administration hopes that releasing the information, at www.cms.gov online, will help lead to answers to the riddle of hospital pricing - and pressure some hospitals to lower their charges.

 The database also will help consumers shop around, he said. "Hospitals that charge two or three times the going rate will rightfully face scrutiny," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told reporters. Moreover, consumers will get insight into a mystifying system that too often leaves them with little way of knowing what a hospital will charge or what their insurance companies are paying for treatments, Sebelius said.

Here are hospital charges in Tucson:

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