Summary: At a time when high-deductible health care plans are starting to dominate the health insurance market, patients like Dave Paulides are finding themselves more and more befuddled by the myriad of seemingly nonsensical charges on their hospital bills,” Chris Vanderveen writes at KUSA television in Denver. “The practice, long embraced within a system critics say lacks overall transparency, allows providers to make complex billing decisions behind closed hospital doors, outside of the view of patients who stand the most to lose. It also leads to a disconnect between number-crunching hospital executives and patients who frequently fail to comprehend why, for example, a hospital like Swedish Medical Center would bill someone $441 for a sterile bag of salt water.” Chris Vanderveen, “BuyER beware: $441 bag of salt water,” KUSA 9news.com/em>.
