#92: Unaccountable - What Hospitals Won't Tell You Part 1 (with guest Dr. Marty Makary)

One of the biggest issues people in America face today is how the healthcare system hides pricing from its customers, the patients. In no other industry do you blindly hire someone for a service and agree to pay whatever price they deem appropriate after the service is completed. If you were to hire a person to build a fence, there’s no way to know how many nails or screws he or she will use or break, but what if there was a service fee for each one? This is how the healthcare system works. Surprises at every turn are ensuring that the only person that isn’t doing well financially in this process is the patent. This is where Dr. Marty Makary can help you become a much more savvy consumer of healthcare services. He and Dr. Meeker talk about how you as a patient, or parent of a patient, can be sure you aren’t being unnecessarily overcharged when you visit a hospital. Also in this episode, Dr. Meg will give you her points to ponder and answers a question from a mother about how to help her four year old daughter deal with her divorce. If you have a question you want Dr. Meeker to answer in a future episode, email them to [email protected]and listen to see if your question is featured next!

 

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1:52 – WELCOME

Dr. Meg introduces the topic “Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You.” She also teases her conversation with Dr. Daniel Amen, her points to ponder, as well as a question from a divorced mom asking about how to help her daughter deal with the divorce.

 

4:00 – A CONVERSATION WITH DR. MARTY MAKARY (PART 1)

Dr. Meg talks with Dr. Marty Makary about how confusing and hidden hospital pricing can be and how you can be a smarter patient when you have to deal with hospital billing.

 

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18:58 – A CONVERSATION WITH DR. MARTY MAKARY (PART 2)

Dr. Meg talks with Dr. Marty Makary about how confusing and hidden hospital pricing can be and how you can be a smarter patient when you have to deal with hospital billing.

 

36:58 – POINTS TO PONDER

Dr. Meg gives you her points to ponder as you learn more about holding hospitals accountable for their billing.

 

38:51 – LET’S GET SOCIAL

Dr. Meeker answers a question from Elizabeth who after her divorce is concerned with how to help her four year old daughter deal with bouncing back and forth between her house and the father’s house.

 

43:51 – PARENT PEP RALLY

 

45:01 – FROM THE PRODUCER

Thanks for listening to Episode 92, Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You and for helping Dr. Meg’s parenting revolution reach almost FOUR MILLION downloads! Subscribe, rate, and leave a review for us on iTunes!

 

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Have a parenting question? Write Dr. Meg at [email protected]and she could answer your question during the show or you can let us know what you’d like to hear about in a future episode!

 

Dr. Meg’s parenting resources and tools are available at www.megmeekermd.comand click on “Parenting Resources”. Subscribe, rate, and leave a review for us on iTunes!

 

45:20 – END

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