You’d think hospitals would be focused on providing quality care for patients. But as a crucial part of the health care industry, that’s not what they seem too be focused on. So what’s on their minds? It’s money, specifically making money. And even more specifically, making more money from patients and their insurers.

Here’s the latest: hospitals around the country are concerned because they’ve had to pay their nurses more during the pandemic. So they insist they need to increase what they charge for services in order to keep their profits up. And they are insisting that should be at least a 10% hike in their rates.

I think we all know who’ll pay those increases: us. Patients. The hospitals will yank their rates up, insurers will need to increase their premiums — nobody should take any losses, of course — and the patients with or without insurance will pay whatever it takes.

It’s already bad enough that hospitals charge fees for their services that are all over the map, fees depending on the insurer, the patient and maybe how much money they need this particular month. Patients with Medicare pay one rate, those with other insurances pay different rates. Those with no insurance pay something else. And there’s never any transparency about who pays how much for what service.

Hospitals are supposed to post prices for their services. Ever tried to find those prices? It can be almost impossible because no hospital wants another one to know what they’re charging. And they certainly don’t want patients to know what they might have to pay.

And speaking of slippery, consider the allied hospital services that don’t accept a certain form of insurance, like Medicare. These greedy, self-serving individuals and corporations sneak their people in and then charge outrageous fees to unsuspecting patients who thought they were covered by their insurer. It’s a nasty surprise, but it’s following a grand tradition of fooling patients and misleading everyone about costs.

It’s also shameful. Wish our lawmakers could stand up to these lobbyists for the health care industry. There are so many important changes that patients deserve and need.