According to the report, one bill from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in 2003, charged a patient $1,028 for a contrast solution for MRIs that retails for $2.80.
Another case involves a man who was charged for his time in the labor and delivery room during his child's birth. A separate bill reveals a circumcision charge on a medical bill for a baby girl's birth.
WPXI corresponded with the hospital through email, in which the hospital responded to the station's findings, "We actually collect only a small portion of our charges from the patient and will almost always accept a reasonable compromise based on his or her ability to pay. Our new financial aid policy provides for a 20-percent discount for all patients and varying levels of discounts up to 100-percent."
Medical Billing Advocates of America, or MBAA, is a nonprofit group that audits hospital bills for patients and insurance companies - and often gets them reduced.
MBAA sasy two out of thousands of reviewed bills were completely correct.
A spokesman says they spotted a pair of latex disposable gloves billed for $53 the hospital buys by the hundreds for $1. MBAA also found a patient who was billed $12 for a mucus recovery system that was a $2 box of tissues. One hospital gave a patient a courtesy toothbrush and billed them $1,004 for it.
