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Scott Takes On ‘Price Gouging’ At Hospitals; Wants Costs Posted Online
September 29, 2015
Gov. Rick Scott on Monday said he will push a series of proposals targeting “price gouging” in the hospital industry, including a proposal that would require hospitals to post online the prices and average payments for services they provide.
The proposals, which Scott said he will ask the Legislature to approve, are the latest in a series of moves by the governor — who made millions of dollars as a hospital-company CEO — to try to revamp the industry.
“The high cost of health care continues to hurt some of our most vulnerable families in Florida, and the best way to guard against unfairly high hospital costs being passed on to patients is to require hospitals to be fully transparent with their own costs and patient charges,” Scott said in a news release.
But Bruce Rueben, president of the Florida Hospital Association, said his group is working on proposed legislation that could help increase transparency in the health-care industry. Rueben said he was disappointed in Scott’s statements Monday and said the governor never talked with the association before releasing the proposals.
“It doesn’t help the discourse to make mean-spirited accusations that are completely unfounded,” Rueben said.
Rueben said “we all want to see” health care become less expensive and added it is understandable that people are concerned about a wide disparity of charges for services. But he took issue with Scott’s characterization of price gouging.
“The fact is, there’s a big difference between high prices and so-called price gouging,” Rueben said.
Scott in recent months has repeatedly taken aim at costs and regulations in the hospital industry. In part, he created the Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding, which has held hearings across the state to delve into the operations of hospitals. Scott’s news release Monday came as members of the commission met in Tampa.
The Scott administration this summer also requested information from hospitals about Medicaid managed-care contracts with health insurers and said it would audit hospitals that didn’t adequately comply with the request. In addition, Scott has raised the possibility of eliminating what is known as the “certificate of need” process for hospitals. That longstanding regulatory process requires state approval of new or expanded hospitals.
The proposals outlined Monday include requiring all hospitals to post on their websites the prices and average payments received for products and services that they offer. Also, Scott called for patients to be able to pursue complaints of hospital “price gouging” with law-enforcement and regulatory agencies. Another move would require non-profit hospitals to post on their websites Internal Revenue Service documents that include detailed financial information.
“With our proposed reforms, patients who believe their hospital bills are unconscionably high will have the ability to ask for a third-party review of their charges,” Scott said. “We must address the high costs hospitals pass on to patients if we are going to make health care more affordable and accessible in Florida.”
Comments
9 Responses to “Scott Takes On ‘Price Gouging’ At Hospitals; Wants Costs Posted Online”
Gov should also in the spirit of transparency require these hospitals to file their IRS schedule H form 990 forms that are meant to be financial proof of hospitals’ charity activities currently almost non of the hospitals file this Schedule H even though IRS says it is required annually
Whatever Scott does is going to make liberals whine. The healthcare industry is scamming people and needs to be reined in. Santa Rosa Medical group just charged my wife $900 for a procedure that would have cost $178 at other nearby clinics if she had known to research prices. The whole test took less than an hour.
everyone of you people are complaining about him but i have one question ..
Why did the state vote him back in on a Second round as the Governor?
So Gov Rick Scott wants to post all procedures done at hospitals on the
Internet like he posted the salaries of all state employees on a website
Called Florida’s Right to Know .com but Gov Scott keeps all his income and assets hidden in a Blind Trust in his Wife’s name. He has one set of
Rules for everyone else and another for himself. There is no end to his
Hypocrisy. Where is Florida’s right to know about Gov Scotts income and assets. Gov Scott just settled lawsuits against him for violating
Florida Sunshine laws for open government for 1.3 million dollars and
Using our tax dollars to pay for it. Vetoes every project for Northwest
Florida then turns around and approves 2 million dollars for a sea wall
Around a golf course in south Florida. Vetoes a $ 2000 dollar a year
Raise for Florida state forestry firefighters when they only start with a
Base pay of $ 24 thousand dollars a year and they just sent a lot of them
Out to California , away from their families to fight Forrest fires.
So Sad, The worst Governor in State of Florida history. No Governor in
The history of Florida has ever used tax payer dollars to settle lawsuits
For circumventing Florida Sunshine Laws. For open government.
I went to West Florida a year and a half ago with a kidney stone they did
one cat scan
gave me one shot
gave me one pill
and took one urine sample
I was there maybe 1 and 1/2 hours I was told I had a 5 mm stone and that was it they charged a little over $9,000 dollars something has got to be done this is like legal robbery
Scott has to be an expert on price gouging. Mr. pled the fifth to hide what him and his “company” stole from SS.
So let me get this straight he almost drove Columbia Health Group into the ground by fattening his own pockets and now he wants to be seen as the good guy hmmmm……
Yes it is, tg. If anyone is an expert on price gouging then it has to be Gov. Flim Flam! I used to think hospitals were charging 3 times more than they should because when someone dies and owes a lot to them, they would settle for a third of the bill. I found out it’s even worse. Got a 7K bill for a broken arm, Blue Cross paid $1400 and they called it even! That’s 20% of the bill they sent to me. Maybe Gov. Flim Flam can actually do something good if he brings out all the info on the triad extortion of the drug companies, insurance and hospital industries.
Boy is that calling the kettle black.