Nonprofit hospitals in Indiana are overcharging patients because of a lack of competition, legislators and others in the Hoosier state allege. The claim is heavily disputed by advocacy organizations working on behalf of the hospitals, according to a Jan. 4 report in the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
The claim comes as a RAND Corp. report showed Indiana's hospital pricing is the seventh highest in the nation at the same time as the population's health outcomes in illnesses such as diabetes and infant mortality are relatively poor and the state ranks 47th in the country in public health funding, the report noted.
"[Hospitals] do everything they can to prevent competition, but then they want to have the freedom to price [services] any way they want to," Al Hubbard, chair of Hoosiers for Affordable Healthcare, told the Chronicle. "If you don't have competition, then you exploit the situation, and that's what hospitals are doing."
Republican state Sen. Travis Holdman suggested levying a tax on hospitals and health insurance companies that "aren't adequately serving the community," according to the Chronicle.
Such assertions were vigorously rejected by Brian Tabor, president of the Indiana Hospital Association, who says hospitals are doing what they can to lower prices and fully supporting increasing transparency initiatives on such pricing. He called for more players at the negotiating table.
"There's no question we still need to address affordability for Hoosiers, and hospitals are doing our part," he told the Chronicle. "But until all sectors across healthcare are at the table and there is equal transparency, we aren't going to make long-term progress."