If you knew anything about the laws concerning billing and medical regulations, you'd know that he CAN'T run up the bill! An office visit is an office visit. Actually, I wish they'd OTC some antibiotics and have done with it, and let people medicate themselves.
re: Oh, so you've got a sore throat, huh? Great...say, I see you haven't had your Typhus fever immunization this year....
Something tells me that a doc recommended that you get current for tentanus, and you thought he was a greedy b@stard for suggesting such a thing.
An office visit IS an office visit, but a $50 office visit is a lot different than a $100 office visit. All office visit fees are not created equal.
Doctors see patients to make money. That's what they do. Extras are not free. The copy of People in the lobby--not free. The pen with the doctor's name on it--not free. The fancy building that your doctor practices in--not free. The "check of your records"--not free either. You (or your insurance company) pays for all of it. The cost of ALL of that is built into the office visit. If he is seeing fewer patients (because he is "giving" patients services that they don't want) the cost of the office visits will be higher than they otherwise would be because the doctor has to cover his nut. That's just how it is. Doctors are businessmen like anything else. If you don't believe me, just ask a prescription drug sales rep on how they sell prescription drugs to doctors. It's money. Doctors have boat payments, too.
But I'll give you a for instance on running up the bill with unnecessary services. I went to the doctor for a sprained ankle. He took some x-rays, told me it wasn't broken. That's good. All I needed to know.
But did my visit end there? No. The doctor told me that I needed an aircast for my ankle. This is one of those plastic bubble things you can buy at Wal-Mart for about $7.97. The nurse came into the office, opened the box, put the cast on my foot, and velcroed it. The entire procedure took about twenty seconds.
Several weeks later, I got the notice of payment from my insurance company. The doctor's bill for the cost of the cast and for the nurse putting it on my foot? $95. Fortunately for everyone (except the doctor), my insurance company refused to pay the charge, but it's these type of bills that encourage people to see doctors that will only treat them for what they've requested. If I didn't have insurance, I would have had a very difficult time getting that doctor to drop that $95 charge off his bill. This is precisely what spurs people to visit these immediate care clinics at Wal-mart. No surprises. You want a flu shot? Great, here you go. That's $8.
There is absolutely a market for doctors that won't give you a bunch of crap that you don't want, and the idea that doctors are just doing all this extra stuff "for the patient" is bogus. It's about money. Period. "What can I bill medicare for?"