The Trump administration recently announced a 2.6% payment hike to hospitals nationwide for their Medicare and Medicaid services. This is good news for hospitals and their lobbyists, but it should ring an alarm bell for everyone on Capitol Hill.

But something that should ring a similar alarm bell is that hospitals already routinely overcharge patients for treatments.

At nearly every turn, hospitals upcharge patients for the same treatment they can get for cheaper at an independent doctor’s office – approximately a 125% price markup. Fixing this one discrepancy could save patients and taxpayers over $150 billion over the next decade.

Instead of hospitals always getting a break from lawmakers, patients should get that same break for being the actual victims of shoddy health policy.

A pat

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