Paying for those who can't

MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. -- No one wants to go to the hospital, but getting that bill in the mail may be an even more painful experience.

It’s estimated that $200 billion is cost shifted from those who don’t pay to those who do. We have the story of a Mount Holly woman who's fed up with the practice of hospital padding. WCNC’s Bobby Sisk has her story and what it means for you.

Every breath is tiring for 81-year-old Ruth Deese.

"It tears my nerves up, the medicine," said Ruth.

Ruth takes medicine for her Emphysema and Asthma. It's Flonase and she usually pays around $13 for it at her local drug store.

But when she needed the medicine while in the hospital for gall bladder surgery, she was charged $420.

"It's outrageous. They might as well put a gun to my head and say I'm robbing you," said Ruth.

Even more outrageous, Ruth says, is paying almost twice as much as she would pay at her pharmacy for one asthma pill.

Ruth said, "They charged me $33.20 for that one pill." She has insurance, but because both drugs are considered self-administered, they won’t pay.

"I tried to talk to the hospital about it,” Ruth said. “They said Medicare's not going to pay it, you're going to pay it."

Ruth isn't alone. We all pay more for things than what they actually cost. It's called hospital bill padding; marking up the cost of things to pay for those who can't.

"I can't believe they'll put the cost off on people that can't even afford to live hardly," said Ruth.

To hear the hospitals tell it, the mark-up you're paying on your bill covers their operating costs.

Don Dalton of the North Carolina Hospital Association in Raleigh explained, "So when you start to add all of the professional costs involved in the case of the drug, you're looking at nurses, pharmacists, stock room technicians, people who have to order those medicines, you're beginning to add layers and layers of cost on that move it beyond the realm of what a person should expect to balance out with something they can walk in and pick off the shelf and have no professional assistance in purchasing elsewhere."

So just how are charges calculated? Dalton says there's no single formula; it depends largely on doctors and insurers.

U.S. Senator Richard Burr, R-North Carolina, said, "Well I think it is safe to say that every American is confused about what anything in healthcare costs."

Burr is fighting for people like Ruth by proposing new legislation so we can all breathe easier.

"She's an example of why Congress needs to do something that's politically difficult and revamp our healthcare system," said Burr.

Dalton said, "Are there better ways to do it? Yes, but it'll take bringing all of the shareholders together and everybody be willing to give up something in order for real reform that work."

Ruth isn't backing down. Her bill's now been turned over to a collection agency. She declined to sign up for the hospital's charity care program.