05-08-2013, 06:48 PM
Lemon Drop wrote:
[quote=DeusxMac]
[quote=Lemon Drop]
Newly released data about what hospitals around the country are billing for identical procedures. In some cases, hospitals in the same city have a price difference of $100K, for the same procedure.
I believe the appropriate term is, charging "what the traffic will bear."
Barron's Business Dictionary:
A policy of charging to the limit that customers will pay. Discussed in connection with products that seem to be overpriced.
but not really for hospitals, because they've never been subjected to normal market conditions regarding pricing of their services.
In this case, "what the traffic will bear" is what the local community can pay; not what they should pay.
"...prices ranged from a low of $5,304 in Ada, Okla., to $223,373 in Monterey, Calif."
I've never been to Ada, OK, but I suspect it's not as affluent as Monterey, CA.