(2004-09-22) Healthcare Private Markups

Article on the high markups private-pay patients pay for their HealthCare. The same package of care, devices, services and drugs for which Inova Fairfax charged Mr. Shipman $29,500 would have been paid at only $6,000 by Virginia Medicaid, a spokesman for the state agency says. Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly, estimates it would have paid Inova approximately $15,000 for the catheterization and stent procedure, plus, depending on the hospital's location, an extra differential.