When a doctor sees a patient at Olympia Hospital in Los Angeles for a routine, 15-minute consultation, the hospital typically bills Medicare about $1,100 for the service. Two miles away, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center bills the government just under $200 for the same kind of visit.
Medicare sets its own rates, so the program ultimately pays both hospitals the same amount, or nearly so, regardless of how much they try to charge. Read more here.
