Hospitals’ fast-rising sticker prices are adding to the financial burdens of the 49 million Americans without insurance, more than 20 million of whom will not be covered under President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, Bloomberg News reported today. So-called full charges at hospitals grew an average 10 percent a year between 2000 and 2010, according to Gerard Anderson, a Johns Hopkins University professor who analyzed hospital financial reports. The charges went up at four times the pace of inflation, and faster than hospital costs, which Anderson said increased an average 6 percent a year. While the charges appear on hospital invoices across the U.S., the amounts people actually pay vary widely, depending on their health coverage.
