Page 5 - Charge Master News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

With a million exclamation points. can you explain what is behind the price differences? >> a lot of it has to do with the fact like we reported in our march 4th issue, medicaid operates on the theory that nonprofit is not for profit. they fold in details like overhead whooshtion d overhead, what it costs to keep the lights on and arrive at a reasonable figure. hospitals, when they decide what to charge outside the medicare structure rely on a double secret pricing menu called the charge master, and basically the prices they charge are just whimsical which is where you get the $2,223,0222300$2...

It is really important in these cases. but the second thing is go on -- this website is pretty friendly. i was checking it out. you go on the website, you can figure out that one hospital, quality control, as maggie suggested, better prices than another one. >> could go out there on the internet and -- >> get insurance. >> thank you. the charge master, jared bernstein. that's it for this edition of "now." i'll be back tomorrow at noon eastern when i'm joined by the great sam stein, michael tamaske and ben smith. until then, follow alex wagner on twitter @nowwithalex. "andrea mitchell reports,"...

A spokesman for keck hospital told the new york times, academic medical centers have a higher cost structure. and the vice president of the american hospital association told the washington post that the official bill called the charge master rate isn't always paid in full. quote, the charge master, my goodness, the charge master can be confusing because it is highly variable and generally not what a consumer would pay. even an uninsured person isn't always paying the charge master rate. we'll go to our own charge master. >> did you call me charge master? >> you're the charge master. what is g...

Pretoria, south africa. it was inside a short time ago that a judge granted bail to olympic runner oscar pistorius, who is charged with murdering his girlfriend on valentine's day, so we will let you know when we see oscar pistorius. in the meantime, i think everybody's got a story about an expensive doctor's visit or hospital bill, but "time" magazine's new cover story "bitter pill, why amedical bill are killing us" breaks down the numbers. what they found is truly shocking. let me just give you one example. a patient was charged $199.50 for a troponin test. she is a year away from medicare. ...

Thank you. >> thank you. >> there were so many unbelievable examples. let me start with steven h. he had out patient back surgery. total bill $86,951 out patient but just a few examples. he was charged three bucks for the ruler that marked the incision, $31 for the strap that held him on the table. $32 for a blanket and just the sort of like basic medical supplies came to almost $8,000. how common is this? >> it is exceedingly common and we have horror stories throughout the entire piece. there are stories of $18 per test for a diabetes blood sugar test. the little slip of paper which costs 55...