New Federal Rule Should Make Hospital Costs Transparent, But Instead It's Causing More Confusion

BALTIMORE (WJZ) — A new federal rule is supposed to make health care costs more transparent, but some are finding it even more confusing than before.

Nikki Pogue's recent out of network emergency room visit for a viral syndrome left her more fearful of her hospital bill than her illness. Pogue- whose husband is a CBS News contributor- said her insurance company only paid $3,000 of a $13,000 bill.

"I think that I was expecting that I'd be out of pocket like $2,500, never dreamed I'd be on the hook for $10,000," Pogue said.

It's this type of sticker shock that a new government rule requiring hospitals to post their prices online was supposed to help fix, but Jeanne Pinder, who runs clear health costs, a website where consumers can look up medical prices, says of the hospitals' price lists.

"I do this for a living actually and I'm confused by it," Pinder said.

The first problem, she said, is lists like these are hard to interpret. There are no uniform standards for how procedures and prices are described.

So on this New York Hospital's website, if you go to find out how much treatment for an ear infection will cost, its page will give you several listings for "ear"but no clarity on what you might actually pay.

"I think the most useful information is that the prices are wildly inflated. It's really hard to understand and you have to watch out for yourself," Pinder said.

Some hospitals like St. Luke's University Health Network in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania have launched their own price-checking pages.

"A good next step for hospitals would be to provide greater transparency into what patients will actually be required to pay out of pocket," said Executive Francine Botek.

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