From This is Money:
Bills may be inflated by as much as 50%, it was revealed.
In one case a bill for a scan at a hospital which was part of the Nuffield Health group – a charity – was increased by £250, according to documents seen by the Daily Mail.
The ‘bedside robbery’ policy could take advantage of patients and push up insurance premiums, warn campaigners, doctors and leading figures in the industry.
More than 7m Britons are covered by private medical insurance, but there has been concern about annual increases of 5 to 10% in premiums and above-inflation price rises for operations at private hospitals.
Private hospital groups often agree in advance a corporate rate that will be reimbursed by insurers for procedures such as scans.
Although the hospitals may offer different rates to self-pay patients – those who are not insured – or special deals when business is slack, there is not supposed to be an excess charge for patients with insurance.
However, a patient given a scan and Xray at…
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