A study of hospital prices in 25 states released yesterday by the nonprofit RAND Corp. found that hospitals across the nation treating patients with private health insurance were paid on average 2.4 times the Medicare rates in 2017, the New York Times reported. The difference was largest for outpatient care, where private prices were almost triple what Medicare would have paid. In Indiana, a local hospital system, Parkview Health, charged private insurance companies about quadruple what the federal Medicare program paid for the same care. Colorado employers were shocked to learn they were paying nearly eight times what the federal government did for outpatient services like an emergency room visit, an X-ray or a checkup with a specialist at Colorado Plains Medical Center, northeast of Denver.
