Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from capsules.kaiserhealthnews.org
The fact that the cost of a hip replacement can ring up as $15,000 or $100,000 — depending on the hospital — makes a lot of people uncomfortable. But that’s only if they know about the wide price tag variations.  Here’s how it works: The CalPERS program designated certain hospitals that met this cost threshold, and enrollees who chose among these facilities pay only the plan’s typical deductible and coinsurance up to the out-of-pocket maximum. Patients who opted for other in-network hospitals were responsible for regular cost sharing and “all allowed amounts exceeding the $30,000 threshold, which are not subject to an out-of-pocket maximum,” noted the report. The results tallied savings of $2.8 million for CalPERS, and $300,000 in patients’ cost sharing, according to research released Thursday by the Center for Studying Health System Change for the non-profit group National Institute for Health Care Reform. Researchers found that patients who received “intensive... |
