More on the subject of the high cost of hospital care

Uwe Reinhardt, a well-known economist who is particularly knowledgeable in the area of medical care, responds in an economics blog to Steven Brill's brilliant article on the high cost of hospital care in the U.S. (I posted on this last week and linked to the article).

In his response, he praises the thoroughness of the article though also points out that this is not the first news coverage on the subject, and that the news media silence and general public unawareness of this over the last ten years is surprising.

Additionally, he responds to Mr. Brill's list of proposed improvements by pointing out an already existing law in New Jersey that caps billing of uninsured patients by hospitals as a percent of MediCare reimbursement plus X.

Sounds reasonable to me: Mr. Reinhardt provides a link to the assembly bill in question for those who are interested.