my guest tonight is a columnist for time magazine please welcome back to the program steven brill. [cheers and applause] sir -- >> nice to see you. >> jon: have a seat. [cheers and applause] so it's good to see you again. >> thank you. >> jon: so last time we were talking to you had just written this incredible article for time magazine 20 pageses called bitter pill on the real financial crisis in our medical system, the pricing, the hospital -- >> the high prices. >> jon: high prices, exactly. has that -- have they trietd to address -- tried to address that in any real steps? there's some provisions in obamacare that take a step toward doing a little bit but basically no. what i've been doing this sense is preparing for a book about the whole roll out of obamacare and what i means. i started a series of columns for time about it. what i'm finding is kind of obvious which is what obamacare did was it created a way for lots more people to get insurance protection, which is a very good thing. >> jon: right. >> but it didn't change the pricing structure so the first patient that i wro

. >> i encourage everyone to read steven brill's article from a year ago.alled at the bitter pill. he goes to all the things that hospitals to to take advantage of poor, uninsured people in charge them obscene amounts for things that cost pennies and the dollar. the most important public policy problem in heaare that no one talks about except you is how hospitals charge more than they need to for a lot of these services. gerri: we talked a lot about it on the show. even to the state i do not understand why they charge as much as they do. here is what this corporate slap on the rest of that wanted to read. investors seem to think the investigations and allegations of srious fraud are simply a cost of doing business. where i the morality in this industry? >> the only long-term solution is to put consumers in charge of their own heath dollars. the reason love this stuff those bills directly. don't pay we don't even shop our own health coverage directly. as a result all we do is, did i get treated when i need to be? you don't look at the bill. gerri: i don't kn