When someone gets hurt or something just isn’t right with the body, it is in people’s best interest to go to a hospital or medical facility to get help. With so many Americans going without health insurance these days, the cost of getting right medically could be quite a tall task for the average person to handle. Medical attention is a costly necessity always, but a recent report has found that 50 medical providers in the United States are charging patients more than ten times more than they should.
According to the Washington Post, all but one of the 50 facilities overcharging for medical attention are owned by for-profit corporations. 20 of the facilities are in Florida. These hospital facilities are not located in big cities or places with wealthy residents. At a normal hospital, they charge 3.4 percent of medical care. The biggest offender was a 110 bed facility in the Florida panhandle called North Okaloosa Medical Center. Here, patients are charged 12.6 times the actual cost of patient care. Community Health Systems own 25 of the facilities and the Hospital Corporation of America owns 14.
The main reason these hospital facilities operate like this is because they can. Carepoint Health-Bayonne Medical Center in Bayonne, N.J also charges 12.6 times the cost of medical procedures, but state law allows a hospital to charge up to 115 percent of medical care to uninsured patients. Though it would take a little work, it is important to find out how much medical procedures cost before pursuing help, because you stand a big chance at being swindled.