Comments on: Can Health Care Be Bought and Sold on eBay?

By: diagnosing type 2 diabetes

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By: Ester

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By: Tess St Clair

Tess St Clair — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:17:02 +0000

In reply to Peter1. Hi, Peter, your illustration is hard to understand. There's no reason why, in North Carolina, you couldn't get the same price as North Dakota, unless your medical board has lobbied for legislation that forces prices up. Eg: in some states, you must use a hospital for a colonoscopy, and you must be under general anesthesia. THAT'S totally ludicrous, but that's what medical boards do, and it increases the price two or three-fold.

By: Tess St Clair

Tess St Clair — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:09:14 +0000

In reply to Hub Mathewson, MD. Hub, I want to make sure folks understand that we designed MediBid in a way that it does NOT DRIVE PRICES up or down. So, technically, it is not an auction. Doctors do not see eachothers prices, only the patient sees them, and patients use their own criteria for accepting bids.

By: BobbyG

BobbyG — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:26:05 +0000

“Patients who are willing to travel and able to pay cash, can request bids or estimates for specific medical procedures.”
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Yeah, now THERE’S a huge market. But, once we get those Ryan Medicare vouchers, everything will be fine.

By: steve

steve — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:05:47 +0000

I am sure John is aware of fixed costs. Volumes are down for surgical procedures across the country. Picking up a few extra procedures, even at a loss, may avert a larger loss. We will have to see how MediBid works in a busier market. I would also be loathe to make projections based upon 200 procedures.

Steve

By: Cindy

Cindy — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:22:34 +0000

The website the author refers to is not really breaking new ground, and he is missing a couple key drivers of this trend. Medical services can be deeply discounted where there is 1) no insurance billing cost (which is up to 40% of the provider’s expense in primary care at least), and 2) no collection cost or risk since the patient is paying at the time of service. That’s what membership services like direct primary care based on and why they are so much more affordable for patients.

By: Peter1

Peter1 — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:50:35 +0000

Let’s see, I’m able to get a knee replaced for half the cost if I go to say, North Dakota, but a person living in North Dakota would pay full price. Now in my home state of North Carolina a person from North Dakota would get half price for a knee replacement, but I would pay full price.

Does anyone else think this is ludicrous?

By: rbar

rbar — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:46:32 +0000

In reply to Hub Mathewson, MD. Even if all the above was true, I would not expect that this allows "to establish the vlue of a medicl procedure" because the reimbursement system is so highly skewed toward procedures. You might get your completely overvalued surgery/procedure for 30% off, but you will not find cognitive services (e.g. rheumatology eval without procedure) to be any cheaper, and the procedure likely will still be much more costly than the cognitive service.

By: Hub Mathewson, MD

Hub Mathewson, MD — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:08:41 +0000

MediBid may just be the tool that economists and governments have all been looking for: a real measure of the value of a medical procedure.
Governmental fee schedules guess at that value. Specialty societies lobby and negotiate over it. Insurance fee schedules arbitrarily try to reduce it. Patients have no idea what it is. What better way to establish the vlue of a medicl procedure than put it up for auction! Of course, the requirement for cash on the barrel head will reduce the number of the bidders and could give a skewed result, but once the value is known insurance companies could high-jack it for their fee schedules.