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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
An 8 page paper discussing hospital pricing decisions and the constraints under which hospitals operate primarily because of Medicare’s influence on the pricing structure of all of health care. Current practice at most public hospitals calls for billing full rates to those who obviously cannot pay (a Medicare compliance requirement), carrying the bad debt for some length of time determined by the hospital’s management and then reporting the individual’s payment history to credit reporting bureaus. Private hospitals merely refuse service to anyone without insurance. Hospitals are not at liberty to reduce prices when they are only marginally profitable, but they are free to exercise more ethical behavior toward those without a prayer of paying for emergency treatment. Most hospitals have room to become far more humanitarian than they currently are. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Page Count:
8 pages (~225 words per page)
File: CC6_KSethMktgHospPrice.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
In 1960, those with health insurance policies typically carried private "major medical" policies that provided a cushion for hospital visits and other high-dollar medical expenses. Those policies contributed nothing
to routine care, office visits, physicals and other relatively minor expenses. Also in 1960, total care spending was $27 billion (Hoffman, Klees & Curtis, 2001). This amount represents
5.1% of GDP, or $141 per capita annually. In contrast, total health care spending in 1998 was $1.1 trillion (Hoffman, et al., 2001), which translates to 13.7% of GDP
or $4,094 per capita annually. Where does this increase originate? Are hospitals pricing policies ethical? At $18 or $20 for a
$0.35 ibuprofen tablet, it would appear that these policies are not ethical. In another view, it is reasonable under current health care structure for hospitals to continue to increase
their prices. The purpose here is to determine where the issue of ethics in pricing becomes operational - or should become operational. The Barely-Controlled Spiral
In the past several years, total health care spending has risen to $1.4 trillion, or more than 14% of GDP; costs have risen to the point that
employers are increasing employees portion of premium payments or ceasing to contribute anything at all. Many employers have ceased offering any kind of health care insurance because of the
costs associated with it. The number of uninsured continues to rise, but for the time being, at least, most Americans are covered by some kind of health insurance program.
Those over the age of 65 enjoy having virtually all of their medical expenses paid by Medicare, whether they have the financial means to pay for their own health
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