Letter: One more argument for single-payer
A doctor draws medicine into a syringe during a kidney transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. Credit: Getty Images, 2012
I was pleased to see "Costs all over the map" [News, June 2]. It is well known that hospital charges do not reflect actual costs. The fact that Brookhaven Memorial Hospital Medical Center charges almost four times as much as Stony Brook University Hospital for gallbladder removal provides ample evidence that charges have little to do with the cost of providing care.
While it is true that Medicare and commercial health insurers reimburse hospitals for a fraction of their charges, it is the uninsured -- those least likely to afford them -- who are presented with the full charges and held responsible for paying them. Even if the uninsured are able to negotiate a discount, they are still held responsible for paying far more than Medicare or commercial insurers pay.
If, as hospital officials interviewed for the article stated, hospital charges "serve an internal function," are a "management tool" and "help hospitals negotiate with private insurers," why are these charges being submitted to patients?
I believe that a single-payer system based on Medicare would do away with the unfairness of the hospital charge system, as well as many other problems our health care system.
Dr. Yale Rosen, North Bellmore
