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USA TODAY - L awrence J ournal -W orld WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2016
New tool searches health prices by doctor, insurance Amino gives users several opportunities to click for more information about insurance and USA TODAY other terminology used. Whether a patient is uninsured or uninStarting Tuesday, consumers sured, Vivero says the goal is to worried about high out-of-pocket give them “a leg up” when they health costs can search for proce- visit their doctor’s office. dure prices, from knee surgeries Vivero agrees with Shah, who to vasectomies, based on their says “it’s always hard to know doctor and type of insurance so what all the costs are going to be” they can eliminate most of the because a doctor may not know surprise bills that show up long what a patient’s full needs are unafter their wounds have healed. til they’ve been evaluated. And Amino, a health data company even then, new issues may arise that launched last fall, already while a patient is under anesthewas helping connect patients to sia. That’s why Vivero says it’s an doctors in their areas based on estimate based on all the other quality data. The new tool ex- people with the same insurance pands its pricing data and covers who went to the same doctor for the same procedure. about 550,000 physicians, 49 procedures Shah says physicians and 129 insurance can help too by doing a companies. “better job explaining While Amino is one of the range of possibilimany public and private ties” of what a procedure entities trying to help could involve — and cost. consumers shop for Health care costs are a health care, its new tool challenge even for the gets as close as any have experts to figure out. GABRIELA HASBUN come yet to having such Elizabeth Munnich, an David Vivero assistant professor of a wide range of details. The information is is founder of economics at the Univerbased on hundreds of Amino. sity of Louisville, says millions medical insurcosts vary — even within ance claims, totaling $860 billion the same hospital — because they within the last year, to help pa- are largely based on insurer negotients plan for the seemingly nev- tiations with health care provider-ending series of bills that ers. So the mix of insurers, and follow patients after any major the relative power of those insurprocedure. ers and the hospital system, influ“Gaining access to pricing in- ence prices. formation has proven incredibly While shopping around for difficult,” says Amino CEO and care based only on cost can carry co-founder David Vivero. “Indus- risks, Charles Kodner, who practry efforts at price transparency tices family medicine with the have missed the mark.” University of Louisville PhysiPhysician Neel Shah, who cians, recommends that patients founded the non-profit Costs of press their physicians on whether Care, called Amino’s effort “an it’s necessary to “do the tests important first step.” right now.” “Most of the way costs are Even with all the tools availcommunicated are not really us- able, Munnich says she doesn’t ing the language patients use,” think health care costs will ever says Shah. be “fully transparent.” Jayne O’Donnell and Laura Ungar
IN BRIEF THE RACE IS ON IN MONGOLIA
JOE KLAMAR, AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A memorial stone stands outside the house where Adolf Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria. Government officials plan to take over the house by eminent domain.
AUSTRIA TO SEIZE HITLER BIRTH HOUSE, MAY TEAR IT DOWN Angela Waters
Special for USA TODAY BERLIN Austria announced Tuesday it would take over and possibly destroy the house where Adolf Hitler was born to prevent right-wing extremists from using it as a pilgrimage site. “The decision is necessary because Austria would like to prevent this house from becoming a ‘cult site’ for neo-Nazis in any way. It has been used repeatedly for this in the past, when people gathered there to shout (Nazi) slogans,” Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said. “It is my vision to tear down the house,” he added. For years, the Austrian govern-
ment rented the building in the western town of Braunau am Inn from a local retired woman for $5,332 a month, using it AFP/GETTY IMAGES as a workshop Nazi leader for disabled Adolf Hitler people. The rein 1939. lationship between the landlord and the government deteriorated after she refused offers to sell the property and rejected ideas for future use, the government said. On Tuesday, Austria’s parliament authorized the seizure of the property from its current
Tribunal slams Chinese claims to disputed South China Sea region Thomas Maresca and Kirk Spitzer USA TODAY
WU HONG, EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
A boy competes in “Soyolon” (5-year-old horse) racing during the Naadam Festival in Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia, on Tuesday. The fest includes horse racing, wrestling and archery. 3 ARRESTED IN A PLOT TO HURT BATON ROUGE COPS
Police arrested three people after a pawn shop robbery Saturday night and uncovered a plot to use the guns to shoot police during weekend protests, according to Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie. Police said the four suspects inclQuded a 13-year-old. One suspect remains at large, Dabadie said during a news conference Tuesday. Six guns have been recovered, and two others remain missing. One of the men arrested at the pawn shop told responding officers that the weapons were being taken so they could be used to harm officers during during demonstrations opposing police-involved shootings. — WWL-TV, New Orleans U.S. IN MIDST OF RECORD HURRICANE DROUGHT
The U.S. is in the midst of an all-time record drought from hurricane hits, with only four strikes in the past seven years. That’s the fewest in any sevenyear stretch since records began a few years before Abraham Lincoln was elected president. This is according to an analysis of weather data prepared for USA TODAY by scientists at the Atlan-
tic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. Accurate records for U.S. hurricane strikes go back to 1851. One of the only comparably quiet eras was from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. — Doyle Rice FLIGHTS TO CUBA SPARK SECURITY CONCERNS
Three House lawmakers introduced legislation Tuesday to block flights that the Transportation Department has approved between Cuba and the U.S. because of security concerns that the direct flights will ease the flow of bombs and terrorists to the U.S. The Transportation Security Administration, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, must certify that Cuban authorities meet U.S. standards for screening passengers and luggage before direct flights are allowed. But dozens of daily flights to 10 Cuban cities are scheduled to begin in September. The flights are part of a diplomatic thaw President Obama initiated to restore relations with the island 90 miles from Florida. American Airlines has already begun selling tickets. — Bart Jansen and Alan Gomez
owner under the country’s eminent domain laws. The owner now has no right to appeal the decision. Although the German dictator’s family lived in the pale yellow building for only three years, the site has attracted right-wing extremists for decades paying homage to Hitler. Hitler’s Nazi Germany initiated World War II and killed millions of people, mostly Jews, during the Holocaust. Hitler killed himself in 1945. Some disagree with Austria’s new plan. Vice Chancellor Reinhold Mitterlehner said the house had “educational value” and should converted into a museum to teach future generations about the dangers of extremism.
MANILA An international tribunal issued a sweeping condemnation Tuesday of China’s claims and conduct in the disputed South China Sea, setting the stage for further escalation of tensions in the region. China said it did not recognize the ruling, which it described as “null and void.” The case was brought by the Philippines over China’s vast territorial claims and island-building in the region. The ruling from the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, is the first to address competing claims among a half-dozen countries. The panel said any historic
FRANCIS R. MALASIG, EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
A protester demonstrates on Roxas Boulevard in Manila along the South China Sea.
rights to resources that China may have had were invalid if they are incompatible with exclusive economic zones established under a United Nations treaty. The tribunal also ruled that China caused “irreparable harm” to the marine environment, “unlawfully” interfered with fisher-
men from the Philippines, and engaged in a land-reclamation and island-building campaign that is “incompatible” with international obligations. “The award is null and void and has no binding force. China neither accepts nor recognizes it,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Tuesday. “China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea shall under no circumstances be affected by those awards,” the ministry said. “China opposes and will never accept any claim or action based on those awards.” China has claimed virtually all of the South China Sea, a crucial waterway used for an estimated $5 trillion in annual trade. China’s claims are based largely on a vaguely drawn map.
Few details from Lynch as GOP lawmakers grill her on emails Donovan Slack @donovanslack USA TODAY
WASHINGTON Republican lawmakers pummeled Attorney General Loretta Lynch with questions Tuesday about the Justice Department’s decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton for sending classified information on a private email system, but Lynch repeatedly declined to explain the legal basis for the decision. GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee suggested Clinton was given preferential treatment, and they highlighted a meeting between Lynch and former president Bill Clinton on June 27, just more than a week before Lynch announced there would be no charges in the case. Lynch testified that it would be “inappropriate” for her to discuss confidential briefings she received on the case and repeatedly reiterated that she took the rec-
ommendation not to pursue charges from career investigators and prosecutors. She said FBI Director James Comey — who GETTY IMAGES said Hillary U.S. Attorney Clinton was General Lo“extremely retta Lynch careless” but should not be charged — has already provided more detailed information than is typical for a federal investigation. And Lynch said the case was not influenced in any way by her 30-minute meeting with Bill Clinton, which occurred at his request on her government plane when the two crossed paths in Phoenix. “I agreed to say hello,” Lynch testified. “We had a social conversation.” Her refusal to elaborate on the legal basis incensed Republicans.
Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, issued a statement while the hearing was still in progress accusing Lynch of “dodging any responsibility to be forthright to Congress by referring members to the statements of her subordinate.” Goodlatte said she should have recused herself from the email probe and appointed a special prosecutor, given her previous relationship with Bill Clinton. He appointed her in 1999 as the chief federal prosecutor in New York. Goodlatte and House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, on Monday asked the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to investigate whether Hillary Clinton lied to Congress in testimony about her email. Democrats on the committee tried repeatedly to steer the hearing to questions about the spate of gun violence that has frayed community-police relations across the country.