I know this is a few weeks late, but I was dealing with finals then enjoying spring break.
In the March 4, 2013 issue of Time, the entire feature section is devoted to one article, "Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Killing us" by Steven Brill. This received a whole bunch of publicity so I see no need to summarize it here. (It can be read for free online at the Time website.) It does an excellent job of starting a different conversation regarding the healthcare industry in this country: namely, why does it cost so much.
I find his expose to be valuable and well-informed, though there are a few questions I have after reading it.
1. Brill spent seven months researching this article, so I assume he looked at more than just the handful of bills in the report. I would guess that he examined many bills that showed this same trend and the ones featured in the article are just illustrative examples. Yet if the bills were incredibly varied in amounts then this article does little to address it.
2. Brill examines mainly non-profit hospitals. In his examples, these hospitals have giant profits and CEOs with salaries that could make Fortune 500 companies jealous. So it is evident there are problems with the non-profit set-up. However, I wonder what this looks like at for-profit hospitals? Would they display the same problems or would they, somehow, manage to provide comparable care at a lesser cost?
3. Brill spends only a short portion of his article in suggesting solutions to this issue; most of these solutions are directed at government, insurance companies, and the healthcare industry. I would like to know what advice for the general public who will most likely face this issues at some point he could offer. It's great if we can get the whole system changed for the better, but in the mean time what can the person facing thousands for an emergency room visit for a stomachache do?
