<p>Whether Republican, Socialist, or Democrat, all presidential candidates agree that healthcare is one of America&rsquo;s biggest issues right now. ;According to a recent Rasmussen poll, nearly 60% of potential voters believe reducing healthcare costs to be <strong>more important</strong> than creating a health insurance system that covers all Americans. ;</p>
<p>But what can the average American do to obtain affordable healthcare? ;Sharyl Attkisson partnered with Full Measure to do a little healthcare experiment. The results were outrageous. ;</p>
<p>Scott Haller, assistant researcher at Boston&rsquo;s Pioneer Institute Research Group, played the project&rsquo;s patient. &ldquo;I was often sent to the wrong place many times,&rdquo; he said. ;</p>
<p>The survey involved 54 hospitals in the following states: New York, Texas, Iowa, California, Florida, and North Carolina. &ldquo;I would call the operator and ask for a cost estimate for an MRI of my left knee without contrast, and basically see where they sent me, because it could be one of many different places,&rdquo; he continued. ;</p>
<p>Shopping around is vital, especially with so many people shelling out thousands of dollars (out of pocket) under Obamacare. ;&ldquo;The reason this is important,&rdquo; explains Pioneer&rsquo;s Barbara Anthony, &ldquo;is because we are now living in an age of high-deductible health plans. It used to be that your insurance coverage would take care of your health care expenses from the first dollar of your expenses. Well, that&rsquo;s no longer the case.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Getting a price estimate for an MRI should be simple, but Haller and his colleagues found the opposite to be true. ;&ldquo;The operator would frequently send me straight to the MRI department,&rdquo; said Haller, &ldquo;who are on the front lines of giving the MRIs and often don&rsquo;t know anything about the bill. We&rsquo;d often get the run-around. People could be a little bit rude to you. All sorts of stuff, really.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Getting even a small amount of information took more than 10 phone calls. &ldquo;One time I was told to call an 800 number and got a coal company,&rdquo; he noted, &ldquo;who then immediately told me to dial 1-866 instead, and that got me where I wanted to go. They&rsquo;ve obviously been through that before. But there were many times when I would leave a message, sometimes multiple messages on the same person&rsquo;s phone, and they would just not get back to me after waiting over a week.&rdquo;</p>
<p><em>In the end, only 25% (14) of the hospitals Haller called provided him with an estimate. </em></p>
<p>Why is it so hard for patients to obtain basic information? ;CEO Joe Fifer of the Healthcare Financial Management Association (HFMA) says the systems used to find prices are arcane and complex. ;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t defend the fact that it&rsquo;s very difficult for patients to navigate their way through this. That is something we need to fix. We know we need to fix it as an industry.&rdquo; Fifer says there are &ldquo;thousands&rdquo; of codes with different prices that all depend on who is paying the bill &ndash; the government, the consumer, or a private insurance company. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Almost all of these codes have dollars associated with them that are on these charge-masters. They really become a part of a calculation to a different payment methodology.&rdquo; ;Pioneer Institute found the price of an MRI wildly inconsistent; for example, the procedure was $400 in LA but over $3,500 in Des Moines, Iowa.</p>
<p>This variation does not seem to be related to a city&rsquo;s size or cost of living. In ;Orlando, an MRI could cost anything between $877 and $2,000; in LA, between $400 and $2,800. ;There was a 1,000% difference in price of an MRI in the New York City region alone. Pioneer&rsquo;s research could not determine a reason for these baffling variations. ;</p>
<p>According to Fifer, hospitals are scrambling to meet consumer demand when it comes to up-front cost estimates. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;As a country, we are really lagging behind in terms of health care price transparency for consumers,&rdquo; says Anthony. &ldquo;We really have a long way to go, all over the country, before we give consumers the tools they need in order to spend their health care dollars wisely.&rdquo;</p>
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