This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Rising Healthcare Cost and Price Transparancy

Imagine that you, as a business owner, knew what you could charge for a service but had no idea what the cost of providing that service actually was. That has been the reality across the board in the health care industry.

As a result, service was profit driven and encouraged more procedures for more reimbursement pay, regardless of the actual cost of care and with no real regard for how successful that treatment was. It’s no wonder costs have spiraled out of control- the system worked when you stayed ill and kept coming back for more. No  small business can afford to operate that way.

Add to that the fact that pricing and negotiated services were not standardized in any geographic area. You would expect a hospital in New York to charge more than one in rural Iowa because facility cost and local taxes have influence. Yet the facts show that even in a single city location, the cost for services varied widely. The Obama administration demonstrated this disparity earlier this month when they released two tables, Medicare Provider Charge Data highlighting the inconsistencies for in-patient and out-patient care nationwide.

Find out what's happening in Crystal Lake-Carywith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Let’s say you need an MRI and you choose a clinic close to home. If you live near Mercy Hospital in Chicago, congratulations- you chose the lowest cost facility in your area, with average charges of $1,334.37 for this procedure. Had you picked Swedish Covenant, you would be paying an average of $3,395.98 for the same procedure. Those living in Arlington Heights or near Berwyn may want to consider driving a little farther because your facilities are charging an average of over $3,600.00 for the same MRI procedure. Here in McHenry County, we are on the higher side, coming in at an average of $2,539.83. The differences can make you dizzy and until this data was released to the public, how would you, as a consumer have known?

While the new health care law may seem troublesome, there are already some good, albeit unintended side effects, emerging. Patient-centered service and more informed consumers are just the beginning.

Find out what's happening in Crystal Lake-Carywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What do you think? Love it or hate it, the changes have already begun, so let's talk about it and understand where we're headed.
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?