[omegatoo]

OK, at great cost to hospitals who pass that cost on to other patients, thus raising the cost of health care. If the hospital hadn't sent the bill to you instead of your insurance co., odds are you would not have noticed the high costs. The hospital bills $6000 for the care, but probably gives a discount to the insurance co. Medicare and medicaid decide what they think each part of the care is worth, and pays only a fraction of that to the hospital, causing many hospitals to actually lose money when they treat medicaid or medicare patients. Many ER patients have no insurance at all, but if they come in with the same complaint that you did, they must get exactly the same care as you did, including the MRI, or the hospital can be fined and lose government funding.

As more people "choose" not to be insured and not to pay their bills (no not all uninsured don't pay) the hospitals raise the amount they bill so that the insurance companies basically take up the slack.

The paying uninsured are the only ones who don't have the leverage to pay less than the highest costs.

O2

[ExSES]

If the hospital hadn't sent the bill to you instead of your insurance co., odds are you would not have noticed the high costs. The hospital bills $6000 for the care, but probably gives a discount to the insurance co.

Exactly! While I was aware of this, the reality hit home when I recently went to an emergency room following an auto accident and was told that I would be given an 80% discount for paying cash (via credit card) as opposed to billing as a workers' compensation claim (which it was)...

A bizarre world we live in (but I can certainly see the logic in the hospital's position!)...