patrick.net

Sutter charges $2000 for an ultrasound that costs $150 in a comparable facility a couple of miles away.

I wish other insurers stood up to Sutter's BS.

Beloved leader, will you be affected by this? I also think there are other individuals on this forum with Blue Shield insurance and doctors at Sutter Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF) and Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation. Anyone?

Here's some more details.
Blue Shield and Sutter Health contract dispute affects almost 280,000 Northern California customers

What a joke. Out here the Children's Hospital declared war on the Community Hospital.

http://www.fresnobee.com/welcome_page/?shf=/2014/11/29/4260803_battle-for-pediatric-patients.html

My family goes to pamf. I was pissed that they announced end of contract right after open season ended.

Bellingham Bill says

What a joke. Out here the Children's Hospital declared war on the Community Hospital.

http://www.fresnobee.com/welcome_page/?shf=/2014/11/29/4260803_battle-for-pediatric-patients.html

The entire system is about market share, profits, and even more important executive compensation. Here's children's hospital's IRS 990 report http://www.faqs.org/tax-exempt/CA/Childrens-Hospital-Central-California.html Amazingly 23% of revenue goes to management. It's more like 3-4% in other countries. Then there's the huge cost of insurance billing that other countries don't even have. Not to mention all the nice shiny hospitals that all have every expensive toy know to medicine even if there's a duplicate hospital right across the street. The article says central california has an 84 bed nicu and childrens has an 88 bed nicu. WTF, that's nuts 172 horribly expensive nicu beds in an area of 800k people. Plus what any other hospitals have. Other countries would have a single center for the region sized right for the population.

Americans get less actual health care for their health care dollar than any place on the planet.