We all know about the rising cost of medical care. But it is much easier to see the problems than to find a solution.

Filmmaker Vincent Mondillo of Palmer Township has made a documentary film, “American Hospitals: Healing A Broken System,” which highlights the high cost of hospital care.

“American Hospitals: Healing A Broken System” will be screened, 7 p.m. April 24, Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas, ArtsQuest Center, SteelStacks, 101 Founders Way, Bethlehem.

A question and answer session will follow the film with Mondillo; Richard Master, the film’s producer; author Wendell Potter; Dr. Hasshan Batts of Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley, and Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley.

The film screening is free and open to the public. Reservations are required.

The film includes interviews with patients who have lost everything and gone into bankruptcy because of medical bills. It includes economists, healthcare workers and businessmen who struggle with the healthcare costs of employees, including Master, CEO of MCS Industries of Palmer Township and executive producer of the film. Master founded Unfinished Business Foundation, a non-profit that examines the impacts of healthcare costs.

“Too often, hospitals choose economics over community health care concerns, and ignore areas of need that are revenue neutral or revenue losers,” says Mondillo during an April 14 interview in Easton.

Lab tests using expensive medical equipment are more lucrative than other urgent concerns, like mental health.

“Resource allocation is not based on community needs. For example, there should be more support given to fighting the opioid crisis. It leads to situations like in Philadelphia, where maternity wards were shut down in poorer neighborhoods,” Mondillo says.

“In one Philadelphia hospital, 41 percent of the patients admitted for COVID did not make it out alive,” says Mondillo.

“The United States came out 19th out of 19 industrialized countries in a Commonwealth Fund-supported study of preventable deaths. Employers pay $15 an hour for medical care before any wages are paid.

“The United States pays more for healthcare than all other countries, with less results,” Mondillo continues.

The filmmaker posits that, though the United States has some of the best medical care in the world, it is not accessible to everyone. A major overhaul is needed, going beyond temporary solutions, he says.

“We are trying to do a tuneup when in fact the engine block is cracked,” says Mondillo.

This is particularly difficult in the United States’ adversarial political system. Mondillo emphasizes that the film looks at the system economically, not politically.

“We just say, ‘Here are the facts.’ We avoid typical labels. We don’t want the film to make people angry, or have them forget it because it is too disturbing,” Mondillo says.

“American Hospitals” is one of four documentaries Mondillo and Masters have produced, including “Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point,” “Big Pharma: Market Failure” and “Big Money Agenda: Democracy on the Brink.”

They had originally planned to do just one film, but found that the subject was too large.

They were inspired by a visit Masters made to Chile. When he needed an inhaler for his son, he found that the cost was a fraction of what it would have been in the United States.

Says Mondillo: “We wanted to look under the hood at the underlying economics. People don’t connect the dots to understand how the taxpayer winds up paying for the expanding network of healthcare.

“We want to get the public aware of these issues and possible reforms. The ultimate goal is improving the health of the community.”

Awareness is necessary for a more open understanding of hospital costs and decisions, he says.

“We need to start interacting with hospitals about costs and a wide range of issues, using outsiders with community involvement.

“The United States has to make a moral commitment to make medical coverage available to everyone. It is a human right,” says Mondillo.

Film screening ticket reservations:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/american-hospitals-screening-and-discussion-tickets-596196940097