LA's Good Samaritan Hospital marks up the price of a lorazepam pill by 14,000%

Mark Frauenfelder 10:56 am Fri Jun 5, 2015

emergency At Target, a single lorazepam pill costs about 14 cents. The Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles sells them for $20, and doesn't tell you that until you get the bill.

From LA Times:

The hospital's insurance claim shows that it charged about $232 for the blood-pressure exam and $19.54 for the pill. The bulk of the bill — $1,700 — was for just setting foot in the emergency room.

The average registered nurse makes $26.66 an hour, according to PayScale.com. It's hard to see how that jibes with charging $232 for a blood-pressure exam that couldn't have taken more than a few minutes.

Jerry Flanagan, staff attorney with the Santa Monica advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, says this common practice is "straight-up profiteering."

Image: "If our doctors don't kill you our bill will." Shutterstock

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