Join Our Fight Against Overpriced Healthcare

The Del Norte Healthcare District is an elected public agency in Del Norte County, California. The following content was approved by unanimous vote of the District's Board of Directors.

Join Our Fight Against Overpriced Healthcare

                        

The Del Norte Healthcare District is on a mission. After repeated requests for help from our residents and visitors, we are fighting high priced healthcare and incomprehensible medical bills.

The public brought us stories of brief doctor visits followed by $2,000 doctor bills, colonoscopy charges of $6,000, and hospital bills exceeding $10,000 for minor surgery performed in Crescent City. Nationwide, roughly $3.5 trillion is spent yearly on healthcare--more than $10,000 per person, every year. Now, the Healthcare District is comparing charges at local and out of area facilities to help patients find cost-effective care.

Why are rising healthcare costs important? Because we all pay for it--whether by larger “out of pocket” costs, lower wages (to make up for the higher cost for employers to provide healthcare coverage), higher taxes (to pay for government sponsored health programs) and more “job outsourcing” (where employers send jobs out of state or overseas to avoid high priced healthcare at home).

Why are healthcare costs out of control? In part, because the prices charged to patients are often a closely guarded secret. Although the “list price” of tests and procedures (called “chargemaster” rates) is published by hospital systems, the real price you pay (the “negotiated rate”) is only known to hospital systems and insurance companies.

How can we find out the real prices charged for healthcare? With two documents:

(1)   Your itemized bill (hospitals generally mail out a summary bill but not an itemized bill unless you specifically request it).

(2)   Your insurance company or Medicare Explanation of Benefits (which will show both the fee charged by the hospital or provider and the amount approved by the insurer).

How can you help tackle the problem of high-priced healthcare? By providing the Del Norte Healthcare District with a copy of your itemized bill and Explanation of Benefits. We will add your data (anonymously) to our growing list of healthcare prices charged by doctors, hospitals, and testing facilities—local and out of area. And we will publish the result and post the data on our website.

If you would like to help by sharing your bills and insurance statements, just email them to the Healthcare District at dnhcd@delnortehealth.com or drop off at our office in the Wellness Center on 550 E. Washington Blvd., suite 400, from 8 am to 12 noon weekdays. If you prefer to remain anonymous, simply remove your identifying information. If you would like us to review your charges and follow up with you, please provide your contact information, which we will not release to anyone.

As always, feel free to contact the Del Norte Healthcare District with your healthcare related ideas, or attend our monthly meetings held the fourth Tuesday of each month (except December when we meet on the 17^th), 6:30 pm at the Wellness Center on 550 E. Washington Blvd., Crescent City. Executive Secretary Hendricks Doris Hendricks is also available by phone at (707) 464-9494.

Visit us on the web at http://delnortehealthcare.com/

We look forward to hearing from you!

Del Norte Healthcare District Board of Directors,

Elizabeth Austen Kevin Caldwell, M.D. Gregory Duncan, M.D.

Dohn Henion, Esq. Michael Young

Who Profits From Non-Profit Hospitals?

If you are concerned with rising healthcare costs and lack of transparency in our health care system, a proposal before the California legislature will help address those problems.

Here is the background. Last year, representatives from the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors, City Council of Crescent City, and Del Norte Healthcare District asked California Assemblyman Jim Wood for help regarding increasing healthcare costs.

Although rising healthcare costs are a national concern, Del Norte County is particularly impacted because one healthcare system, Sutter Health, operates the county’s only hospital, ER, MRI, and CT scanner, where prices are much higher compared to facilities outside our county.

Because the California Attorney General is currently suing Sutter Health for alleged price fixing, restraint of trade, and conspiracy to create and maintain a monopoly, we understand this year is not the best time to introduce healthcare legislation which may overlap the Attorney General’s lawsuit. Instead, Dr. Wood and his staff proposed legislation to address the lack of transparency among non-profit hospitals, which provide charity care and community benefit in exchange for their tax exemptions.

The numbers are huge—billions of potential tax dollars are not paid by healthcare corporations, like Sutter Health, which operate as tax exempt charities. At the same time, a recent study found that non-profit healthcare systems charge much more for hospital care than “for -profit” systems.[1]

Are the billions of dollars in tax exemptions enjoyed by non-profit hospitals justified by the charity care which those corporations provide? The Del Norte Healthcare District is working on that question. We asked Sutter to explain how they are calculating the millions of dollars in charity care and community benefit they claim to be providing. Sutter Health would not answer our inquiry, other than to state “costs [for charity care] are computed on a relationship of costs to charges.”[2] What does that mean—“relationship of costs to charges”? 

Assemblyman Wood’s legislation, if passed, would provide much needed transparency to “non-profit” hospital systems. AB 204 authorizes the state to develop regulations standardizing the calculation and reporting of community benefits, and requires hospitals to report their community benefits plans on their web sites. In short, AB 204 would shed light on whether or not healthcare systems are deserving of their tax exemptions.

The Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and the Del Norte Healthcare District have voted unanimously to support Dr. Wood’s AB 204 legislation. The City Council of Crescent City will discuss AB 204 at an upcoming meeting.

You can support AB 204 by contacting Assemblyman Jim Wood at his website https://a02.asmdc.org or at his Sacramento office: Assemblyman Jim Wood, State Capitol, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0002, or by phone at (916) 319-2002.

Sincerely,

Directors of the Del Norte Healthcare District

Elizabeth Austen, Kevin Caldwell, Greg Duncan, Dohn Henion, and Mike Young 

 

[1] “Average Hospital Expenses Per Inpatient Day Across 50 States” Amy Ellison, Becker’s Hospital Review, Jan. 4, 2019

[2] Letter from Sutter Coast Hospital CEO Mitch Hanna to Del Norte Healthcare District, received Jan. 2019