Whenever we visit hospitals everywhere, the likelihood of stumbling upon a person with the problem of paying for his or her loved one’s confinement bills is always high. To put it simply, it is almost impossible that you would not find a person arguing or explaining to the billing personnel how unfair he’s been treated regarding his bills on any given day within a hospital.
To end such an ever-occurring problem from happening, a closer look into the predatory healthcare pricing in hospitals should be conducted. Let us take a look into the importance of implementing such a policy change.
It will help the poor and the marginalized.
According to the latest surveys, 66% of Americans assess themselves as being incapable of paying for healthcare bills as of 2021.
As of this writing, the world has been through a tough year of handling the COVID-19 scare, which has been the main reason why such a problem keeps on intensifying with each passing day.
Given that information, it can be easily determined that more than half of the population on American soil do not have access to top-notch healthcare systems and facilities. Whenever you want to get admitted to any hospital, you would most likely be inquired about the insurance policies that you have, how long have you been paying for it, how often do you get sick, and how frequent you are in hospitals and clinics.
Based on those pieces of information, the hospital staff would then tell you about the kind of services you can avail of. Some of these services might just be subpar, but then, the hospital administrators would just tell you that they are the only ones you can possibly afford. Such a method is demeaning and aggravating and has to stop. People must be treated accordingly, regardless of who they are, not on who it is that backs them up.
If such a problem is also very high in first counties such as the United States, how worse could it be in the third world such as the countries in Asia? This is really a serious problem that must be dealt with. This should be a matter that must be addressed quickly and by doctor, healthcare workers, as well as hospital administrators everywhere.
It will neutralize greed and corruption in both public and private hospitals.
The reason why some hospital owners and administrators get very rich is that they overprice their service bills, facility fees, and various other payments like medicine and supplements.
Some of them are even known to increase the prices to as much as 100-200%, thinking that insurance companies and government healthcare will pay generously anyway. If we scale it with the same numbers from the perspective of other patients who don’t have insurance or healthcare benefits, the payment may remain the same which could be too much of a burden for the less fortunate.
It is really appalling to think about the idea of greedy individuals capitalizing on the misery of the poor. Such people can be thought of as the good-looking monsters that prowl around, waiting for the next victims to show up. They could be easily declared as those “wolves in sheep clothing” mentioned in The Bible. Though the scriptural passage about it actually pinpoints preachers and false prophets, we can’t help but declare that greedy hospital administrators and doctors can also be categorized as such.
It will result in the establishment of better healthcare systems in the future
If health administrators are not reprimanded for their incessant preying on patients in hospitals, illnesses of all kinds wouldn’t get the proper focus and would continue to infect others. Thus, proper pricing of services and medicine should be clearly laid out and given to people. There has to be transparency for all parties concerned: the doctors, the attending nurses, the patients themselves, and the loved ones of those patients. Only then can clear and direct communication be established.
If the attending nurses are aware of the fees that the patient must pay, then the ones who will take care of the bills will always have a rough and simple idea of what financial hurdle might lie ahead. That’s why it is a must for even those that are in the lowest hierarchy of employees to be able to answer any inquires about payment issues. Being diagnosed with a certain illness is already a heavy burden on itself, why make it heavier for the patients? Why make it more unbearable for the loved ones who will pay the bills?
And if such a clear line of communication will be established, it will result in the patient being truly honest with his or her own physical status, which will result in the doctors giving the most accurate diagnosis. In effect, better methods will be created and implemented in the future.
Predatory healthcare overpricing must be stopped… take part in the act of ending this evil practice. Act now! The world needs your participation on this very serious matter.
This is very timely and all are just based from facts. I do hope all people could realize this also as you do and make a way of their own to stop overpricing.