A nightmare that doctors overwhelmingly choose to avoid when they die themselves

[sendero]

141. I will read it..

... but working in the industry I can tell you that hospitals operate on a 1%-2% profit margin, far less than *most* other businesses.

I realize that when you are talking about the kind of cash they take in 1% is a lot. Nonetheless with that low a margin there is always the very real possibility that a loss can be incurred.

My point is simply this: hospitals take in a lot of money but they are merely the collectors for drug, device and equipment makers who make the real money in our "health care" system.

There is a lot not to like about the way hospitals are run in this country. Most of you know, but when you are covered by insurance the price for every service you receive in the hospital is set by a contract negotiated between your insurance company and the hospital. If you look at a typical hospital bill at all of the absurd amounts, be aware that the number you will see if you don't have insurance, or the "charges" number bears no relationship to the amount the hospital is reimbursed for a service. For example, the "charges" for a service might be $1000, but the actual amount reimbursed by the insurance company (the "contractual&quot might be $200 or even less.

Of course, if you don't have insurance you are billed the "charges" which is a ridiculous number that almost nobody actually pays. If I have a beef with hospitals it would be how non-insureds billing is done. If I were king the hospital would only be able to bill the average "contractual" amount, not the puffed-up charges. But then, this is just one of the zillion ways our health care system is simply broken.