Brill spent gobs of time dissecting hospital bills and
individual patient experiences. It is treatise-length, and like a good
treatise, is packed with useful information. But Brill knows how to report and
the piece grabs the reader and doesn’t let go.
Time editors deserve a world of credit for devoting so
much space to a well-worn subject and for giving Brill’s incisive journalism
the display it warrants. He shines light in unaccustomed places, such as the
outsized profits hospitals make from the over-ordering and overpricing of lab tests.
Brill’s piece is rich with nuggets on how to cut
health-care costs. He notes that Medicare could save billions “if it required
that no supplemental insurance plan for people with certain income or asset
levels could result in their paying less than, say, 10 % of a doctor’s bill
until they paid $2,000 or $3,000 out of their pockets in a year.” But he points
out that AARP might oppose the step because “it gets royalties from
UnitedHealth Care for endorsing United’s supplemental insurance products.” Brill
might have added that AARP hides even from its own members how much it pockets
from UnitedHealth.
Journalism schools ought to use Brill’s report as an
example of how to do investigative journalism. Members of Congress should read
it for tips on how to cut health care costs. The article is a must-read for
anyone making health-care policy. Above all, consumers should not be put off by
the piece’s more than 40 pages. Many of us are just one illness or operation
away from financial catastrophe. Time has performed a wonderful public service
in turning Steve Brill loose, and in opening its pages wide for his work.
1 comment:
Was a great article. Got a kick how the Not For Profit hospitals are the ones raking in the most profits.
His mention of 2 dual reality economies was good. One is the world of health care where the profits for providers. drug makers and medical device makers are booming while the economy for everyone else well not so good.
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