Same knee surgery, twice the price: Hospital monopolies push up healthcare costs

By: Peter Whoriskey

Outlets: Minnesota Reformer

Published: August 14, 2026

Words: 2,233

Last Updated: 4 days, 13 hours ago

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This article first appeared on KFF Health News.

More than a million times a year, a U.S. surgeon slices open a knee, strips out worn cartilage, caps the leg bones with metal, and drops in a plastic spacer to allow the new joint to glide.

While knee replacement procedures have become standard, however, the prices charged have not.

At Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, North Carolina, for example, the cost of …

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