Gadsden Hospitals among most expensive in the country

Five of the 50 hospitals that charge the highest prices to uninsured patients and those who are out-of-network are in Alabama, according to a study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs.

Gadsden Regional Medical Center ranked as the sixth most-expensive hospital in the country, charging patients up to 11.9 times the cost of treatment paid by Medicare. Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham also made the list, along with Riverview Regional Medical Center in Gadsden, Decatur Morgan Hospital – Parkway Campus in Decatur and Stringfellow Memorial Hospital in Anniston.

Florida had the highest number of hospitals on the list – 20, followed by Pennsylvania with seven and Alabama and Texas with five.

Most hospitals charge patients about 3.4 times the rate paid by Medicare, which established fixed fees for elderly and disabled patients who receive medical care through the government program, according to Kaiser Health News. All of the Alabama hospitals that made the list charge at least 9.5 times the Medicare rate.