Cost, In Any Other Language

What does healthcare cost mean? I can’t explain it. Listen to Matt Pickering from Nat Quality Forum help us out. Consider serving as a patient rep with NQF.

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If a grocery store, car dealer, hardware store, eBay, Amazon charges $100 for something, how much does it get paid? $100. If a healthcare provider (doctor, physical therapist, clinic, hospital) charges $100, how much does it get paid? It depends. It depends on the type of insurance, type of patient, service type. Type of insurance might be Medicare, Medicaid, private, none. Patient type means young, old, tall, short, full head of hair, bald, parent, grandparent, child. No, that would be too easy. It has nothing to do with the patient. It’s about the relationship with the clinician — acute episode, continuous relationship, referred by another clinician, etc.). Specific types of service (medical, surgical, X-ray, lab, radiation therapy, preadmission testing, more than 200 types). All to figure out cost.

Cost? What does health care cost even mean? When politicians talk about costs, they’re referring to federal and state spending on health care. Hospital administrators and physicians talk about the money they spend on the resources needed to care for patients. Business leaders mean the price of insurance or the amount they spend on their employees’ health care insurance plans. Regular…