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0 pointsdllthomas9y ago0 comments

> tmaly 10 minutes ago [-]

I echoed this idea in a comment yesterday. The medical industry is the only industry with a broad anti-trust exemption. What this means is that they do not have to publish prices like all other industries.

Could you elaborate on this? I don't see what publishing prices has to do with anti-trust, and certainly I have encountered "call for prices" elsewhere.

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6 comments · 3 top-level

mikeash9y ago· 2 in thread

I don't know about the anti-trust aspect, but the situation in medicine goes far beyond "call for prices." It's often impossible, no matter what you do, to find out what a procedure will cost. Billing systems are so complicated that the hospitals themselves barely understand it, and the only way they can find the cost for many things is to go ahead and do it and see how it comes out.

ArtDev9y ago

They provider may not even be allowed to tell you due to contracts with insurance companies.

This kind of thing is outright criminal. We need transparent pricing regulation!

prostoalex9y ago

Would be hard to enforce legislatively, as you're essentially forcing private companies to disclose the previously confidential pricing agreements between them and insurance companies.

What will end up happening is the equivalent of MSRP in car sales - here's the list price, but since you're such a good guy, and we're running a promotion, you can get 5% off if you act today.

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tmaly9y ago· 1 in thread

Karl provides more detail in his write up than I could cover, and he links to two US Supreme Court cases in regards to the price issue

https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=231949

dllthomasOP9y ago

Interesting, if ranty, hard to follow, and possibly overstated.

For one, there seems a distinction to be made between "publishing" prices and individually receiving a quote in advance of work. If there's a technical sense in which the two are equivalent, I would recommend clarifying in casual conversation.

Those requirements also don't seem (though I could've missed something) to be a part of anti-trust law, per se. The requirement that prices be consistent is, in the cited Robinson-Patman Act (although that seems to only apply if you're crossing state lines?)

dv_dt9y ago

The ACA required hospitals to publish prices in some contexts.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/204868-new-price-transp...

https://www.bna.com/hospitals-required-price-n17179910723/

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