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What's The Price? Simple Question, Complicated Answer In Medicare

Article

I wrote to Medicare a while back, asking for a price. I know nothing is simple in the world of health care costs, but I just needed one number, a number Medicare uses all the time, I supposed, to calculate payments to doctors and hospitals.

Here’s what I wanted to know: How much does Medicare pay a particular hospital in Boston for a colonoscopy? (It was for a story I wrote about searching for the best colonoscopy.) The first emailed response I got, at a time when the system is supposed to be working toward more price transparency, was barely in English.

Read the full story: http://bit.ly/lzzeJp

Source: Kaiser Health News

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