If anyone thinks ACOs or other ACA concoctions have impacted the cost of healthcare, here are two examples of how the status quo has not changed.

First, comes an article from the New York Times. I told the story of a man who had neck surgery http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/us/drive-by-doctoring-surprise-medical-bills.html?_r=0.  When he got his bills, he received one from a surgeon he had not heard of for — be sure you’re sitting down — $117,000. He was an assistant to the primary surgeon who probably spent no more than 4 hours on the case. The egotism involved in this charge is just mind boggling.

Next is an article I had published in my local paper, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Full disclosure, it’s a shorter version of a post I wrote a few months ago. http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/09/22/6140372/bleak-future-of-primary-care-access.html?rh=1.  I talk about the absurdity of the growth of freestanding ERs, and how the flawed CMS payment system is the root cause of this waste.

Tags: ERs, freestanding ERs, health insurance, healthcare costs, surgeon fees, surgery

This entry was posted on September 23, 2014 at 10:16 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.