ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Lehigh County taxpayers are paying millions more for health care than they should, according to County Controller Mark Pinsley.
In fact, in many cases, taxpayers are paying more for health care than someone would if they were completely uninsured, Pinsley said.
“We have found a tremendous amount of waste or really I should say greed in the [health care] industry,” Pinsley said. “This is absolutely price gouging.”
- The Lehigh County Controller's Office found taxpayers could have saved $4 million in health care costs
- Controller Mark Pinsley said taxpayers in many cases paid more for medical costs than they should have if there was no insurance involved
- Pinsley blamed the costs on price gouging and corporate greed
- The controller is calling for higher fines for health care providers who aren't transparent about costs
Pinsley’s comments come on the heels of a report released Tuesday, in which Pinsley’s office found that the county has overpaid for health care services to the tune of about $4 million in the past year.
He said a lot of the overcharges come from a lack of transparency in medical billing, and he noted that hospitals are supposed to provide standard charges on a publicly available website.
But because the maximum fine for any institution that doesn’t provide transparent pricing is $2 million, Pinsley argued that large health care providers could afford to not provide clear information.
“The problem with the law right now is it doesn’t have enough teeth," he said. "If somebody like the Lehigh Valley Hospital Network is only going to pay $2 million a year, that’s not enough for them to be completely transparent.”
He pointed out that the network reported more than $150 million in revenue last year, and he said bigger fines are needed by regulators to ensure health systems follow the rules.
In a statement, Lehigh Valley Health Network took issue with Pinsley's contention that a lack of transparency in medical pricing by hospitals led to his claim that taxpayers are being overcharged.
"LVHN is compliant with government regulations for price transparency per the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)," said the statement. "So, it is misleading to use our name to suggest those not in compliance should face a stiffer fine. Additionally, Turquoise Health, a price-transparency platform, just listed LVHN as a 5-star organization for price transparency."
Pinsley said that Lehigh County taxpayers overspent about $30 million in health care costs for the 2,400 municipal employees and retirees who have health care from the county.
His office specifically audited the county’s $23 million in medical claim payments.
“What we found was, in many cases, we would have paid less if we paid the price that the uninsured person is paying."Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley
He said the remaining $7 million in taxpayer money covers county prescription costs.
“What we found was, in many cases, we would have paid less if we paid the price that the uninsured person is paying,” Pinsley said.
The controller noted that last year, he presented a look at the county’s prescription costs and ended up saving the taxpayers about $3 million.
He pointed to findings from California Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter that claim as much as 54% of inflation costs everyone is currently facing come from one source -- corporate greed.
With the new report, Pinsley said he hopes to make a dent in inflation and save taxpayer money.
“Corporate profit is costing us everywhere and as [a] controller, I'm taking on inflation and price gouging head-on,” he said.
Pinsley is also a Democratic candidate for the state Senate's 16th District seat.
