Why an MRI costs $1080 in America and $280 in France

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...m_business_pop

Interesting. The article is a bit misleading in that it makes its main assertion:

“The United States spends more on health care than any of the other OECD countries spend, without providing more services than the other countries do,” they concluded. “This suggests that the difference in spending is mostly attributable to higher prices of goods and services.”

and then lays the blame on "providers."

“Other countries negotiate very aggressively with the providers and set rates that are much lower than we do,” Anderson says. They do this in one of two ways. In countries such as Canada and Britain, prices are set by the government. In others, such as Germany and Japan, they’re set by providers and insurers sitting in a room and coming to an agreement, with the government stepping in to set prices if they fail.

"Providers" really sounds like "doctors" in this situation because we provide the care. But they really aren't talking about us.

The result is that, unlike in other countries, sellers of health-care services in America have considerable power to set prices, and so they set them quite high. Two of the five most profitable industries in the United States — the pharmaceuticals industry and the medical device industry — sell health care. With margins of almost 20 percent, they beat out even the financial sector for sheer profitability.

They're actually talking about pharma and the device manufacturers.

So if you're ever having trouble convincing yourself that the public and the press hate doctors think about why they don't make that distinction clear.

Consultants are annoying.

“The United States spends more on health care than any of the other OECD countries spend, without providing more services than the other countries do,” they concluded. “This suggests that the difference in spending is mostly attributable to higher prices of goods and services.”

So.....it costs more because it costs more. They probably got paid more than any health care worker makes to come to this breathtaking conclusion.

Because the US doesn't have single payor health care, you pay a lot more for administrative costs, dealing with all those insurance companies. Also, there are the staggering compensations for executives in those HMOs, who get paid millions of dollars. Such salaries don't exist in Canada's health care system, for instance.

The most cursory googling finds that the high cost of the US health care system is emphatically not due to compensation to front line health care workers.

Agreed... William McGuire, former CEO of United Health Group, made 365 million in one year.

As for 'provider' I read that as 'hospitals/clinics' or other overall providers, not an individual, like a physician. A physician doesn't set the MRI charge unless it is their practice, the hospital admin sets it. As this article points out, in the US, that admin person will set the number as high as possible. As for health insurance companies, well... I have Anthem BCBS. On a ~$1000 bill, they paid $200, I paid $80, for a total of less than 30% of what was billed. Most of that money went directly to the clinic (170 paid by BCBS, 40 by me), only ~$70 went to the testing lab. The lab billed ~$700, they received 1/10th of what they asked for. There are huge issues with what is billed, what should be billed, and what is paid for services... If a hospital can easily wipe 50% off of a bill (as was done for my mother), they are probably charging too much...

Originally Posted by SBB2016

As for 'provider' I read that as 'hospitals/clinics' or other overall providers, not an individual, like a physician. A physician doesn't set the MRI charge unless it is their practice, the hospital admin sets it. As this article points out, in the US, that admin person will set the number as high as possible.

The term "provider" is used most often to denote doctors and others who patients are familiar with. In fact the insurance industry has been aggressively using the term rather than doctor or physician to make patients more comfortable with midlevels as their "providers." Many patients just don't understand that doctors don't set prices.

Totally get that, it's just not how I read it, but we're all biased...

Recent lumbar MRI, no iv contrast, 20 min at freestanding MRI center affiliated with big Hospital system.
Bill...







>$5800, excluding radiology reading fee which is separately billed.