By that measure, radiology departments treating cancer patients charged an excess of 3.7 times more for services; hematology/oncology 2.3 times more; medical oncology 2.4 times more; pathology 4.1 more; and radiation oncology 3.6 times more.
“Cancer patients shouldn’t be put into household bankruptcy just because a hospital inflates a bill well above what an insurance company would pay for the exact same service,” says Makary.
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Some states have taken up legislation aimed at protecting patients from collection agencies that hold patients responsible for the portion of the bill that is in excess of what the highest paying insurance company would pay. “While Medicare is not the gold standard, it’s a benchmark of the varying degrees of markups occurring in the market. More price transparency is needed to end the most egregious price gouging practices and ensure that cancer centers fulfill their moral and not-for-profit mission to communities,” he adds.
Cancer care can cost $50,000–$500,000, depending on the services rendered and their local markup rates. “The victims of price variation are the out-of-network patients who do not realize they are paying double, triple or quadruple what insurers pay for the identical services,” adds Makary.
Other authors on this paper include Tim Xu, Michael Poku, Angela Park and James Taylor of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
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