The Daily Populous Wednesday April 29th, 2026 evening edition
Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by Fcking_Chuck

Hospital CEOs came under fire at a House hearing Tuesday, with Republicans accusing them of overcharging patients and exploiting the system.

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Executives from HCA Healthcare, CommonSpirit Health, New York-Presbyterian and ECU Health testified before the House Ways and Means Committee, defending their pricing practices — including that they should be able to charge higher prices for the same services compared with what patients might pay at independent practices.

Hospitals accounted for nearly one-third of U.S. healthcare spending in 2024 or about $1.6 trillion, according to a report in the journal Health Affairs. Another study, published in JAMA Health Forum, found that patients tend to pay more for the same doctor’s visits when their doctor is part of a hospital or private equity firm.

“The American people are fed up with outrageous prices that seem artificially high,” said Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., the committee’s chair.

Throughout the hearing, Republicans cited instances of hospitals in their states charging high prices at outpatient facilities affiliated with the hospital. These prices are often inflated by so-called facility fees, which are not related to the care provided but instead help cover expenses like staff and equipment.

Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., pointed to an example of an independent ambulatory surgical center in his state that charged a facility fee of $656 for a colonoscopy, while an unnamed hospital outpatient facility charged a $1,222 facility fee.

“Is an 100% increase in the fee that you charge versus the surgical center, does that seem reasonable to you?” Kustoff asked the executives.

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said patients in his state are charged significantly more at hospital-owned outpatient clinics than at clinics owned and operated by physicians.

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“How can you justify facility fees on outpatient facilities when there is no meaningful difference in the care delivered or the quality of the care?” Steube said.

The hospital CEOs pushed back, saying the higher fees are because hospitals are often reimbursed below the cost of providing the care, particularly by government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

They also said the higher prices reflect the higher quality of their care, the cost of treating sicker patients and a federal requirement for hospitals to care for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay. Privately owned clinics and facilities can generally have the right to choose what patients they see and can demand payment up front.

“We’re the only participants in the healthcare value chain that have that obligation,” said Michael Waldrum, the CEO of North Carolina-based hospital system ECU Health. “Doctors, nurses, insurance companies, drug companies do not.”

Democrats were far more muted in their criticism of the pricing practices of the CEOs who appeared before the committee, accusing Republicans of using the hearing as a distraction from the impact of Medicaid cuts, which Republicans passed as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill last year.

“This is more a deflection hearing than a hospital hearing,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said.

Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., the committee’s ranking member, said Republicans “keep trying to convince people that it’s about just the providers,” adding that “it’s about many of their policies as well.”

frostyflakes1 on April 29th, 2026 at 14:09 UTC »

Hospitals and insurance companies have been doing this dance for a while: hospitals bill outrageous prices because insurance companies will only cover part of the bill; insurance companies will only cover part of the bill because the hospitals are charging outrageous prices. Then they can point the finger at the other one and blame them for hospital pricing being what it is.

They are both to blame. This is how they have built the American healthcare system. Neither one of them is innocent. The patients ultimately suffer as a result of this broken system.

cjop on April 29th, 2026 at 13:45 UTC »

Republicans complaining about healthcare costs. Must be election time.

s9oons on April 29th, 2026 at 13:20 UTC »

> The hospital CEOs pushed back, saying the higher fees are because hospitals are often reimbursed below the cost of providing the care, particularly by government programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

There it is… “It isn’t our fault! We HAVE TO charge outrageous prices!”

To be fair, they’re not wrong, the health insurance corrupted cost of providing medical care in the US is basically gambling with every patient.

These hearings are just ridiculous theatre at this point. It’s not the individual hospitals, clinics, doctors, or even CEO’s that are the problem. It’s so, so, so, obviously a systemic problem and they hold these hearings to show their constituents how much they super duper really care to create some headlines and then next week nothing will happen and it will be back to business as usual.