Monopolies, near-monopolies, poor health status make SW Ga. health care 2d most expensive in U.S.

The most expensive areas to get covered under federal health reform are the Colorado ski resort towns of Vail and Aspen, where the wealthy have multi-million-dollar homes. The next most expensive area is rural southwest Georgia, Jordan Rau reports for Kaiser Health News. Lee Mullins, who builds swimming pools in that area, has found that mid-level health coverage for his family costs $2,654 per month, while the same insurance would be $940 per month in Pittsburgh. (Rau photo: Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Ga.)

"All the dynamics that drive up health costs have coalesced here in southwestern Georgia, pushing up premiums," Rau writes. "Expensive chronic conditions such as obesity and cancer are common among the quarter-million people in this region. One hospital system dominates the area, leaving little competition. Only one insurer is offering policies in the online marketplace, and many physicians are not participating, limiting consumer choice."

"All the ingredients for heavy health-care needs—both medical and socioeconomic—are common in the 12 counties of southwestern Georgia, which are being treated as a distinct region in the insurance market," Rau writes. "One in four children lives in poverty, and one out of every three people here is obese. Babies are more likely than those in most parts of the country to have low birth weights, according to data compiled by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute." The data found that in five South Carolina counties that have similar demographics to southwest Georgia, "the lowest-priced silver plan is 39 percent less expensive."

Some blame Phoebe Putney Health System, which runs six hospitals in the area. "The Federal Trade Commission and Georgia’s attorney general unsuccessfully tried to reverse Phoebe’s 2012 acquisition of Palmyra Park Hospital in Albany because it made the system so dominant that they said Phoebe could essentially dictate prices," Rau writes. "In a settlement, Phoebe was allowed to hold on to Palmyra, giving it 86 percent of the regional health-care market. But insurance brokers and health-policy experts said that Phoebe’s rates for private insurers are higher than they would otherwise be to make up for the money the system loses when it cares for the large uninsured population." About 11 percent of the hospital's bills are not collected because patients didn't pay or couldn't afford to pay. (Read more)