Pat Palmer, whose Medical Billing Advocates of America helps dissect the reasons for hefty bills, opens with the tale of a woman who needed a pacemaker but had no insurance. The doctor said he could order an older, less expensive model and oversaw effective, efficient surgery. She was released 23 hours after arriving at the hospital. It was only when she saw her bill that she turned ill, according to this monthly bastion of the nation's senior citizens. When the woman confronted the hospital with her newfound knowledge, it cut the bill in half.
Nobody denies the legitimacy of markups and profits.
Just make sure there then aren't individual charges for crescent knives. There are many more helpful hints here, and depressing revelations that will be unavoidable if you are hospitalized. That's a box of tissues. Meanwhile, all the major newsmagazines uncork their annual, pre-Easter tomes on religion, with Newsweek again sharper, focusing on how Christianity is being changed by its rapid growth worldwide. In April Shout, actress Rosie Perez suggests that claims of Latins making progress in Hollywood are bogus, claiming that all one has is herself, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz.