Imagine this: you go for the same routine medical test at two clinics. One charges $100. The other, $300, because it’s owned by a hospital. Same nurse, same machine, same results. The only difference? A hospital logo on the sign out front.

If that sounds absurd, it is. But under Medicare’s outdated payment rules, it’s also perfectly legal. Only in Washington would we pay triple for identical care because of the name on the door.

America’s seniors—and taxpayers—are footing the bill. Medicare routinely pays hospitals two to three times more than independent clinics for the same outpatient procedures. That “hospital markup” is nothing short of a hidden subsidy, fueling a corporate buying spree as hospitals scoop up local physician practices just to bill Medicare at inflated rates.

It’s a classic shell game: consolidation masquerading as care. And the cost is enormous. Medicare’s own advisory body, MedPAC, determined three years ago that if all outpatient services had been paid at independent clinic rates, Medicare would have saved $6.6 billion annually, and seniors’ co-pays would have dropped by $1.7 billion. That’s not pocket change—it’s money that could be keeping premiums down and extending the life of Medicare’s........

© Independent Journal Review