A new study finds that tight Medicare and Medicaid payment policies are costing consumers and employers billions of dollars a year as hospitals and physicians raise rates to compensate. The research, which was conducted by Premera Blue Cross in Washington State, reports that in 2004 hospitals charged private payers an additional $738 million to make up the difference, a sum that made up 14.3 percent of their revenue. Physicians charged private payers $620 million--or 12.3 percent of their revenues. Critics argue the numbers are an attempt to justify cost increases.
- see this article from the New York Times
PLUS: Insurers may call this cost-shifting, but it's nothing new and the study's presentation in The New York Times doesn't tell the whole story. Read Matthew Holt's take on the study at The Health Care Blog. Blog