{"id":2587331,"date":"2026-04-05T12:55:02","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/carter-hospitals-pick-your-pocket-and-washington-lets-them\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T13:00:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T17:00:31","slug":"carter-hospitals-pick-your-pocket-and-washington-lets-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/carter-hospitals-pick-your-pocket-and-washington-lets-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Carter: Hospitals Pick Your Pocket, and Washington Lets Them"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcarter-hospitals-pick-your-pocket-and-washington-lets-them%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2587331&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece argues that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/moore-vows-maryland-state-budget-will-not-raise-taxes-or-fees-3\/\" title=\"Moore vows Maryland state budget will &#039;not raise taxes or fees&#039;\">rising health-care costs<\/a> in the United States are driven largely by hospital pricing practices and consolidation, not just insurance premiums. It highlights several cost-raising tactics and systemic issues, and calls for conservative, accountability-focused reforms.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Upcoding and coding intensity: hospitals increasingly code visits as more medically complex, with top hospitals driving most of the detected increases in complexity; this inflates bills and premium costs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Site-of-care markups and facility fees: routine services cost far more in hospital outpatient settings or hospital-owned clinics than in physician offices, even when the care is the same.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Phantom and unbundled charges: billing for tests or services not received and itemizing procedures into separate parts to boost charges are common, contributing to higher overall costs.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Surge in hospital mergers: hundreds of mergers over the past two decades have reduced competition, giving systems more pricing power and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senators-introduce-bill-aimed-at-controlling-big-tech-and-restoring-competition\/\" title=\"Senators Introduce Bill Aimed at Controlling Big Tech and Restoring Competition\">limiting consumer choice<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Clarity laws insufficient: while price lists exist, data are ofen unusable to ordinary patients, undermining true price transparency.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Proposed solutions: enforce meaningful price transparency with real penalties and usable formats, challenge anti-competitive mergers, <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >expand audits targeting upcoding<\/a>, and require upfront disclosure of facility fees; stop paying for services not rendered.<\/p>\n<p>The article frames these issues as fraud, waste, and abuse within a heavily complex system and urges policymakers to demand accountability to relieve working families and employers. It is a conservative viewpoint authored by James Carter,with disclosures about the views expressed and publication context.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Every year, American families sit down to review their health insurance and brace for the same gut punch: premiums rising, deductibles higher, out-of-pocket maximums climbing.<\/p>\n<p>Most accept it as an unavoidable fact of life. It doesn&rsquo;t have to be this way.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A large  of those rising costs comes from something that can be fixed: hospitals and large health systems exploiting opaque pricing, inflating bills, and using consolidation to squash competition. Call it what it is: fraud when providers bill for care not delivered, and waste and abuse when the system rewards higher codes and higher facility fees for the same care.<\/p>\n<p>It&rsquo;s time conservatives demand accountability.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Let&rsquo;s start with the billing games. Hospitals are increasingly coding patient visits as more medically complex than they really are, a practice known as upcoding, or &ldquo;coding intensity.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bcbs.com\/dA\/70bb93b3a9\/fileAsset\/Rising-Coding-Intensity-and-Its-Impact-on-Health-Care-Affordability.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recent analysis<\/a> of Blue Cross Blue Shield claims from 2022 to 2025 found that the top 10 percent of hospitals drove the vast majority of detected increases in complexity coding. By early 2025, those high-growth facilities were coding about 60 percent of eligible inpatient admissions as &ldquo;complex.&rdquo; The study estimated this added roughly $22 million in excess maternity spending alone over the period. That money doesn&rsquo;t appear out of nowhere &mdash; it comes from your premiums.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Then there are the facility fees and site-of-care markups. Get a routine test in a doctor&rsquo;s office, and you pay one price. Get the exact same service in a hospital outpatient setting, or in a clinic that looks like a doctor&rsquo;s office but is owned and billed like a hospital, and you can pay multiples more. The service is identical; the bill is not.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget found that the same echocardiogram costs three times more in a hospital outpatient setting than in a physician&rsquo;s office. Drug infusions can cost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crfb.org\/papers\/moving-site-neutrality-commercial-insurance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">3.2 times more<\/a>. Those markups don&rsquo;t buy better care. They buy leverage &mdash; and families are stuck paying for it through higher premiums and higher cost-sharing.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Next are the phantom charges: billing for tests and services patients never received.<\/p>\n<p>The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association estimates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-spike-in-florida-coronavirus-cases-despite-no-mask-mandate\/\" title=\"No Spike in Florida Coronavirus Cases Despite No Mask Mandate\">health care<\/a> fraud costs between 3 percent and 10 percent of total health spending, potentially exceeding $300 billion. In November 2024, UCHealth in Colorado agreed to pay <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kktv.com\/2024\/11\/13\/uchealth-agrees-pay-23-million-resolve-fraudulent-billing-allegations-during-emergency-visits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$23 million<\/a>&nbsp;to resolve allegations of fraudulent billing for emergency department visits. These cases are symptoms of a system with too little accountability and too much complexity to catch wrongdoing quickly.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Unbundling is another trick. Rather than billing for a procedure as a whole, some hospitals break it into individual steps and charge for each one separately, running up a tab that no patient would ever agree to if the price were disclosed upfront.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>None of this would sting so much if patients could shop around. They can&rsquo;t. Hospitals have spent 20 years making sure of it.<\/p>\n<p>Roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.healthleadersmedia.com\/innovation\/ranking-all-50-states-hospital-consolidation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">1,300 hospital mergers<\/a> have taken place over the past two decades, and the Yale Health Care Affordability Lab calls consolidation one of the most underappreciated drivers of rising prices. And here is the key: when one system dominates a region, insurers have less leverage to say no. The system sets the price, insurers pass the costs to employers, and employers pass them to workers. Competition is what disciplines bad behavior &mdash; and in too many places, there is none.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Transparency rules haven&rsquo;t solved the problem. Federal law now requires hospitals to post their prices, but most comply in the narrowest sense possible &mdash; burying unusable data in machine-readable files no ordinary patient can navigate. The spirit of the law has been honored nowhere near as faithfully as the letter.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Conservatives have long understood that markets only work when buyers have real information, real choices, and real recourse. We&rsquo;ve championed cutting fraud, waste, and abuse in government programs for decades. The same instinct applies here. When hospitals bill for services never rendered, inflate diagnostic codes to collect more money, and use mergers to eliminate competition, they are gaming a broken system &mdash; at the expense of working families and the employers who provide their coverage.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>The solutions aren&rsquo;t complicated. Enforce price transparency with teeth: meaningful penalties and formats real people can actually use. Challenge anticompetitive hospital mergers before the last independent competitor disappears. Expand audits targeting upcoding and make the results public. Require clear, upfront disclosure of facility fees before a patient ever walks through the door.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p>No more blank checks. If you cannot show what you did, you should not get paid. That principle applies to every other industry in America. It should apply to health care, too. Families and employers have been absorbing inflated hospital costs for long enough. Washington needs to stop looking the other way.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><em>James Carter served as Deputy Under Secretary at the U.S. Department of Labor (2006-07) and as Director of the America First Policy Institute&rsquo;s Center for American Prosperity (2021-23).<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<p><em>&nbsp;<\/em><i>The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"disclaimer\">\n<p><em>All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/union-membership-plummets-to-record-low\/\" title=\"Union Membership Plummets to Record Low\">legitimate news publisher<\/a> that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter&rsquo;s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a paraphrase of the piece in a clearer, rewritten form.<\/p>\n<p>Concise paraphrase (one paragraph)<br \/>\nEvery year, American families face higher health insurance costs driven largely by hospital billing practices: opaque pricing, inflated bills, upcoding to make care seem more complex, and mergers that lessen competition. Upcoding and \u201ccoding intensity\u201d have pushed many hospitals to classify visits as more complex, which boosts charges and premiums-parsimony in maternity care spending suggests these practices are at least partly responsible for rising costs. Services billed in hospital settings often cost multiple times more than identical services in doctors\u2019 offices, thanks to facility fees and site-of-care markups, not better care. Additional problems include phantom charges for services not received and unbundling procedures into separate billable steps. Industry consolidation has limited patient choice and bargaining power, while price transparency laws have failed to yield usable information. The author argues for strict enforcement of price transparency, closer scrutiny of hospital mergers, expanded audits for upcoding, and upfront disclosure of facility fees, so patients are not forced to pay for services they never got. The piece presents these points as a call for accountability in health care pricing, authored by James Carter.<\/p>\n<p>Expanded paraphrase (bullet style)<br \/>\n&#8211; The rising cost of health insurance is largely driven by hospital practices: opaque pricing, inflated bills, and consolidation that reduces competition.<br \/>\n&#8211; Upcoding (coding visits as more complex than they are) is a major factor. Data show the top 10% of hospitals account for most increases in coding complexity, with about 60% of eligible inpatient admissions labeled \u201ccomplex\u201d by early 2025, adding huge unnecessary costs (e.g., roughly $22 million in excess maternity spending).<br \/>\n&#8211; Facility fees and site-of-care markups cause the same service to cost much more in hospital settings than in a doctor\u2019s office, without improving care. Examples: echocardiograms cost about three times more in hospital outpatient settings; drug infusions can cost 3.2 times more.<br \/>\n&#8211; Phantom charges and unbundling add to the bill: hospitals bill for tests or services not actually received, and some break procedures into separate steps to inflate totals.<br \/>\n&#8211; Consolidation over the past two decades has reduced competition, giving systems almost monopolistic pricing power in regions. Insurers have less leverage when one system dominates, meaning costs get passed to workers via higher premiums and cost sharing.<br \/>\n&#8211; Transparency efforts to date have fallen short; hospitals post price data, but the data are often unusable or buried in technical files.<br \/>\n&#8211; The author argues for accountability: enforce meaningful price transparency with real penalties and usable formats, challenge anticompetitive mergers, expand audits for upcoding with public results, and require upfront disclosure of facility fees before care is delivered.<br \/>\n&#8211; The call is for eliminating blank checks-if a provider cannot show what was done, they should not be paid. These principles should apply to health care as they do to other industries.<br \/>\n&#8211; The piece includes a bio note on James Carter and a standard Disclaimer about the views being his own, not the DCNF\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019d like, I can tailor the paraphrase to a specific length (e.g., a 2-sentence summary, a 4-5 bullet summary, or a 1-page rewrite) or adjust the tone (more neutral reporting vs. more opinionated)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2587332,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-04-02T202609.172.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[4606,77195,6126,4326],"class_list":["post-2587331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-healthcare","tag-healthcare-costs-2","tag-hospitals","tag-policy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-04-02T202609.172.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2587331"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2587335,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2587331\/revisions\/2587335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2587332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2587331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2587331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2587331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}