Meet The Medical Bill Bullshit Cutters
Christopher Snowbeck writes in the Star Trib about a new business that's emerged, Athos Health -- a service that will ferret out mistakes in medical bills. But that's not all:

Beyond checking for mistakes, Athos Health can provide patients with information about how costs for a particular service compare with rates elsewhere. Patients can ask the company to negotiate with a clinic or hospital to see if a discount is possible.

"Consumers unwillingly pay higher prices for the same service at the same provider because of a contract between the insurer and health care provider, which the consumer is not a party to or privy to viewing," Hess said via e-mail. "If everyone paid the same rate for the same procedure at the same health care provider, we would not offer this service."

Hess and two co-founders, who also were health care consultants, started testing the business concept with friends and family in 2015. They established the business earlier this year as a limited liability company.

Currently, Athos Health is making the service available to people through their employers without a subscription fee. When they catch a mistake, the company retains 25 percent of the savings up to $500.

Starting this fall, the model will shift. Employers will pay a fee for the service, Hess said, and Athos Health will return 100 percent of the savings to individual patients.

Currently, companies with a collective workforce of about 1,000 employees have signed up for the service, Hess said. Athos Health asks them to submit every medical bill for review -- smartphone photos of bills can be submitted securely through the company's website, Hess said.

What I've seen that's truly horrible is very sick people having to deal with bills -- and sometimes huge overages -- by spending countless hours on the phone arguing with medical providers.

I can see this catching on -- and perhaps organizations offering it to members who are freelancers.

I just love America for all the entrepreneurial ventures like this -- those that the government doesn't try to squash like bugs.

Oh, and incidentally, here's what government's done to my care -- formerly a fantastic, affordable, all-inclusive HMO plan, which now has a big and unaffordable deductible. Now how much things will cost is kind of sketchy and scary, and you get the sense things could cost a lot more (beyond the estimate they give you) and that there's really nothing you can do about it.

Here's commenter johntp from the StarTrib site:

This is what our Health Care in this nation has become under ACA, not only the most expensive, the most complicated, bureaucracy laden bill, that tripled the paper work, for every cog in the system. At least an entranepuer is taking advantage and helping people out of this ill conceived mess. Just think how many man hours are involved just in billing and insurance company reimbursement and new regulations under ACA.

Was this as much of a problem before the ACA, or is that wrongly placed blame?

via @mark_j_perry