{"id":2604404,"date":"2026-05-19T09:36:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heres-why-your-hospital-bills-are-so-big-and-why-congress-doesnt-care\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:44:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:44:57","slug":"heres-why-your-hospital-bills-are-so-big-and-why-congress-doesnt-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heres-why-your-hospital-bills-are-so-big-and-why-congress-doesnt-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Your Hospital Bills Are So Big And Congress Doesn&#8217;t Care"},"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\">22<\/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%2Fheres-why-your-hospital-bills-are-so-big-and-why-congress-doesnt-care%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=2604404&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>A left- and right<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/more-electioneering-dirty-facebook-suspends-gop-ad-campaign-days-before-january-georgia-runoff-election\/\" title=\"More Electioneering: Dirty Facebook Suspends GOP Ad Campaign Days Before January Georgia Runoff Election\">-leaning group<\/a> are converging on a critique of the U.S.hospital industry: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-the-name-of-science-how-modern-medicine-reduced-patients-to-machines-and-statistics\/\" title=\"In the Name of Science: How Modern Medicine Reduced Patients to Machines and Statistics\">large hospital systems<\/a> have both the pricing power and incentives to charge far more than self-reliant hospitals, largely through market dominance that weakens competition with insurers and drives up patient costs.<\/p>\n<p>families USA\u2019s analysis of hospital pricing data finds that 15 major hospital systems averaged about **282% of Medicare rates** and **$22.1M net income per hospital**, while independent hospitals averaged about **221% of Medicare rates** and **$3M net income**. Hospitals that are part of larger systems averaged **277% of Medicare rates** and **$27.7M** in annual net earnings-over nine times independents. The article notes caveats (like Medicare\u2019s reimbursement formulas and potential differences in hospital size), but argues the overall pattern is clear: bigger hospital systems both charge and profit more.<\/p>\n<p>It then highlights five proposed reforms from Families USA: **site-neutral payments**, **full price transparency**, **bans on anticompetitive arrangements between hospital systems and insurers**, **stronger oversight of nonprofit hospitals\u2019 real community benefit**, and **limits on hospital prices or price growth relative to Medicare benchmarks**.The author says several ideas-especially site-neutral payments, transparency, and nonprofit oversight-feel politically and practically reasonable, even if other measures (like antitrust or price limits) could raise concerns.<\/p>\n<p>The piece notes that a conservative think tank, Paragon Health Institute, has discussed similar reforms, suggesting the policy problem and many solutions are not truly partisan. The barrier, it argues, is mainly **political will** shaped by money: profitable hospitals can fund lobbying, while the harm from price increases is spread out and less immediately visible to voters. It also points to congressional leadership-set in this case in New York-as unlikely to spearhead aggressive action.<\/p>\n<p>the argument is that despite broad agreement across ideological camps, corporate influence and lobbying continue to stall meaningful hospital reform.  <\/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<div>\n<p>How\u2019s this for bipartisanship? Groups on both the left and the right can agree on not just a major policy problem but potential solutions for it.<\/p>\n<p>Yet corporate influence and lobbying have stymied action on reform for far too long. Welcome to America\u2019s dysfunctional health care system \u2014 brought to you in part by Big Hospitals.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>High Prices, Monopoly Power<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Recently, the left-leaning advocacy group Families USA released an <a href=\"https:\/\/familiesusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/National-Hospital-Pricing-Analysis.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">analysis<\/a> of hospital pricing data, with a particular focus on big corporate chains. For 15 large systems, the hospitals charged commercial insurance an average of 282 percent of Medicare rates, while earning an average of $22.1 million in net income per hospital.<\/p>\n<p>Breaking down the data by various metrics (rural versus urban, etc.), the prime differentiator became apparent. Independent hospitals charged an average of 221 percent of Medicare rates, while earning an average of $3 million per hospital per year. By contrast, hospitals that comprised part of a larger system charged an average of 277 percent of Medicare rates, while earning an average of $27.7 million in net earnings annually \u2014 more than nine times the earnings of independent facilities. <\/p>\n<p>The analysis comes with caveats, of course. Medicare\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >bureaucratic-driven reimbursement formulae don\u2019<\/a>t necessarily represent the \u201cright\u201d price for a given good or service. And independent hospitals may have fewer beds than those in larger systems, which might explain some of the income disparity. But the trend appears clear: Big Hospitals both charge and rake in Big Bucks.<\/p>\n<p>Why do these system-affiliated hospitals charge so much? In many ways, because they can. In practically every state, the top five hospital systems control at least half of the market. The more market clout these large systems hold, the more they can engage in anticompetitive, take-it-or-leave-it tactics with insurers, which ultimately stick patients with the (higher) bill.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Bipartisan Solutions<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Surprisingly, I found myself in violent agreement with Families USA not just on the problem but on many policy solutions to tame Big Hospitals. The paper\u2019s executive summary mentioned five proposals:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<ul>\n<li>Enact site-neutral payments so the same care costs the same everywhere.<\/li>\n<li>Mandate full price transparency across hospitals and health plans.<\/li>\n<li>Ban anticompetitive practices between hospital systems and insurers.<\/li>\n<li>Strengthen oversight of nonprofit hospitals to ensure real community benefit.<\/li>\n<li>Limit hospital prices or hospital price growth relative to Medicare benchmarks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Depending on the details, the third and fifth policies could give this conservative some heartburn, as antitrust enforcement and some form of price controls could generate a sprawling bureaucracy and limit access to care. But site-neutral payments \u2014 i.e., not paying more for a doctor visit just because the doctor\u2019s office is classified as a \u201chospital outpatient clinic\u201d \u2014 greater transparency, and oversight of nonprofit hospitals\u2019 status strike me as strong steps toward reform.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, the Paragon Health Institute, a conservative think tank, released a <a href=\"https:\/\/paragoninstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/securepdfs\/2026\/05\/John_R_Graham_The-Hospital-Cost-Crisis_RELEASE_V5.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">paper<\/a> on hospitals just before Families USA did. (I have previously done work for Paragon but had no involvement with this paper, and the opinions in this piece are, as always, solely my own.) Like Families USA, the Paragon paper discussed hospitals\u2019 price hikes and anti-competitive behavior; it similarly proposed site-neutral payment, greater transparency, and oversight of nonprofit hospitals\u2019 tax status as reform options.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Political Will<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If the conservative and left-wing advocacy\/think-tank worlds agree not just on the problem but on several solutions when it comes to reining in hospitals\u2019 abusive tactics, then why hasn\u2019t Congress acted? Good question. In this case, as in many cases, it likely comes down to an issue of dollars and cents.<\/p>\n<p>By definition, hospitals that generate sizable profits can afford to hire lobbyists to protect their revenues, generated in no small part by government programs, from any attempt to scale back their largesse. And although rising hospital prices hurt all of us, that harm is diffuse and therefore less visible, while hospitals will fight tooth and nail to defend policies that affect their business model.<\/p>\n<p>It also hasn\u2019t escaped notice to those working in health policy that both the House and Senate minority leaders hail from New York \u2014 not just the Empire State but New York City itself. It therefore seems unlikely that either Sen. Chuck Schumer or Rep. Hakeem Jeffries will lead their party\u2019s efforts to crack down on the hospital-industrial complex that represents a major \u201cindustry,\u201d flawed though it is, in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n<p>As I stated before, both left and right agree on the problem and on some (though not all) of the ways to solve it. The only question is whether and when our elected officials can overcome corporate capture and summon the political will to act.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div>\n<p>      Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group and author of the book &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/chrisjacobsHC\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How\u2019s this for bipartisanship? Left and right agree on the problem and solutions, but lobbying has blocked reform<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2604405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Doctor-Writing-Medical-Chart.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[34630,79927,48073],"class_list":["post-2604404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-healthcare-costs","tag-hospital-billing","tag-medical-debt"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Doctor-Writing-Medical-Chart.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2604404","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\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2604404"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2604404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2604409,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2604404\/revisions\/2604409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2604405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2604404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2604404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2604404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}