[quote=CA renter]
I’ve long tried to understand the cost structure that can arrive at a $30K+ bill in just a day or two. If we want to fix our healthcare system, I think we first need to understand where the money is going.[/quote]

That’s what happens when you have, on one hand, 5000 hospitals, and, on the other hand, 500 health insurance companies, and they are all trying to fight over profits. You’re expected to negotiate. Think TJ shop only on a national scale. You’re a fool if pay the first price you hear.

For example, the hospital will not hesitate to charge you $5000 for a MRI scan, even if their internal cost analysis shows that the scan _really_ costs $400 (including capital costs, amortized over expected lifetime of the device, technicians’ salaries, electricity, air conditioning, and maintenance; excluding the radiologist fee). It is understood that many uninsured patients will simply walk out without paying anything or declare bankruptcy, and that insurance companies will negotiate over fees for insured patients. In reality, the hospital would be quite happy to get $500, which is approximately what Medicare/Medicaid would pay for the test.

So, these absurd bills are not necessarily representative of real costs of healthcare. Poring over them wouldn’t do much good.