Hospital Post Prices on LIne : The Free Market Works

Goodness - I wonder how many examples it will take for the general public to wake up to the fact that an all controlling government will destroy our country? Every time the free market is tried, it succeeds and every time the government intervenes in the free market there is fraud and failure.

Yet, every election we have in this country, millions vote for failure, they vote Democrat. Where ever there is a progressive socialist liberal Democrat government, there is corruption, fraud and waste : abject failure. Best examples are Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago and New Orleans to mention only a few. This doesn't even take in states like Illinois and California. Total disasters.

It seems clear once the general public sees how this will work for the medical profession, and it spreads to other institutions that are fleeing the over reach of an tyrannical government, the public will demand intelligent and free market solutions to our problems. Conservative solutions are adult solutions?  Hope springs eternal.

Oklahoma City Hospital Posts Surgery Prices Online; Creates Bidding War
Source: "Oklahoma City Hospital Posts Surgery Prices Online; Creates Bidding War," New Channel 4 Oklahoma City, July 8, 2013.
July 12, 2013

An Oklahoma City surgery center is offering a new kind of price transparency, posting guaranteed all-inclusive surgery prices online. The move is revolutionizing medical billing in Oklahoma and around the world, says News Channel 4 Oklahoma City.

• Dr. Keith Smith and Dr. Steven Lantierlaunched Surgery Center of Oklahoma 15 years ago, founded on the simple principle of price honesty.
• Surgery Center of Oklahoma started posting their prices online about four years ago.
• The prices are all-inclusive quotes and they are guaranteed.
• Surgery Center of Oklahoma does accept private insurance, but the center does not accept Medicaid or Medicare, thus avoiding government regulation and control.

Their goal was to start a price war and they did. The difference in price is staggering.
News Channel 4 obtained bills from the metro's three largest medical centers: Mercy Medical Center, Integris Baptist Medical Center and OU Medical Center.

• Mercy Hospital charged $16,244 for a breast biopsy; the procedure costs $3,500 at Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
• OU Medical Center billed $20,456 for the open repair of a fracture; the procedure costs $4,855 at Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
• OU Medical Center billed $21,556 for a gall bladder removal surgery; the procedure costs $5,865 at Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
• OU Medical Center billed $23,934 for an ankle arthroscopy; the procedure costs $3,740 at Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
• Integris Baptist billed $37,174 for a hysterectomy; the surgery costs $8,000 at Surgery Center of Oklahoma.