When a baby is about to arrive, every minute counts. Yet when Jen Villa of Salinas, California, was in labor, she and her partner drove 45 minutes in the middle of the night, bypassing nearby hospitals to reach one they could afford.
For years, the price of hospital care has been hidden from patients, companies and taxpayers who get the bills — and that secrecy has made a hospital visit in some places prohibitively expensive. It has also fostered disparities, forcing people to pay far more depending on where they go.
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Federal rules put in place in 2021 require hospitals to make their prices public so consumers can compare them and know ahead of time how much going to one will cost. While many hospitals have been slow to comply, the emerging picture has revealed imbalances that leave patients like Villa weighing saving money against being seen by a preferred doctor or at facilities closer to home.
A Bloomberg News analysis of data compiled by Rand Corp. found more than 350 hospitals in communities across the US with significantly lower-cost competitors within 5 miles. More than half the time, the less expensive facilities had quality ratings that were similar or superior to their pricier neighbors. If patients are willing to travel as far as Villa did for lower cost care, they’re likely to find it: Almost half of US hospitals are within 30 miles of a significantly less expensive competitor, according to Bloomberg’s analysis of the Rand data.
Such inconsistencies seem to defy the normal market forces that shape prices for most goods and services…
I was in Alberta, and for the most part the care was great. There were a lot of shortages, though, which IMO could be solved by paying doctors and hospitals more. Premiums were waived so it was literally free – with a small tax I think the problems could be solved. The Canadian system would definitely be easier to fix than the USA’s
That’s overly simplified. Provinces don’t all recieve the same amount of Federal funding for healthcare. Alberta recieved about 6 billion in Federal funding for healthcare, while PEI recieved about 223 million in 2023. Alberta can afford to pay Healthcare professionals more and have been poaching those professionals from Atlantic Canada creating crises in places like Nova Scotia where the population has greatly increased through the pandemic. So, yes of course if you pay those professionals more you’ll solve problems in some places and cause more problems elsewhere.
Now, provinces can up their own taxes to make up for short falls, but guess how popular that will make the ruling parties that chose that.
The solution needs to be a lot more nuanced than just pay them more.
Edit: clarification
A lot of doctors get their degree in Canadian schools and then go work in the USA, so I do think if Canada compensated better they could retain more people