Hospitals in North Carolina must now submit prices for 140 of their most common procedures. On Wednesday, Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law a bill to increase hospital pricing transparency.
The N.C. Hospital Association responded immediately, saying the law may make consumers more aware of prices, but it does nothing to actually lower the cost of health care.
Hospitals have long complained that they must charge private payers more than the actual costs for health care because they must offset losses from Medicaid and charity-care patients. Across the state, hospitals lost $150 million just for treating Medicaid patients last year, says Don Dalton, an NCHA spokesman.
Date: Aug 22, 2013
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