Imagine walking into a hospital and being charged more than $10,000 for a blood test to check your cholesterol level. Imagine then going to another hospital in the same state and being charged $10 for the same test.
That’s what a team led by a researcher at the University of California at San Francisco found when it looked at the prices California hospitals charge for 10 common blood tests.
Researchers studied charges for a variety of tests at 160 to 180 California hospitals in 2011 and found a huge variation in prices. The median charge for a basic metabolic panel, which measures sodium, potassium and glucose levels, among other indicators, was $214. But hospitals charged from $35 to $7,303, depending on the facility. None of the hospitals were identified.
The biggest range involved charges for a lipid panel, a test that measures cholesterol and triglycerides, a type of fat (lipid), in the blood. The median charge was $220, but costs ranged from a minimum of $10 to a maximum of $10,169. Yes, more than $10,000 for a blood test that doctors typically order to check the cholesterol levels of older adults.
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| CLICK HERE to Read the Study |
The smallest range in charges was for a blood test that checks for a protein that signals muscle inflammation. It cost $10 to $628.
The study was published Friday in BMJ Open, an online publication of the British Medical Journal.
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... Most consumers with health insurance won’t pay those prices; most often, their health plans have negotiated a lower price with the hospital or provider. But patients without insurance face the full brunt of the charges, especially if they don’t qualify for a hospital’s charity-care discounts, Hsia said....Read the full story HERE.
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