As you get older?
Posted on 08/28/2012 2:15:52 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Palo Alto resident Ed Lee routinely negotiates for his own health care services, everything from the cost of a scan to an urgent-care visit - often securing discounts of 30 to 50 percent off the original charges.
Lee,61, a self-employed public relations expert in the semiconductor industry, started bypassing his health insurance and paying out of pocket last year when he realized that premiums and deductibles were costing him more than $12,000 before his insurer paid a dime.
....Lee became part of a new breed of health care consumer - people who pay such a large portion of their health costs that they're questioning the value of insurance. And because they're footing so much of the bill, they feel they owe it to themselves to get a decent price.
Sometimes that means shopping around for prices for blood work or offering to pay cash for a procedure in exchange for a discount.
...."The worst they can say if you ask is 'no,' "said Lee, who has bargained for better prices at times than what his insurer could get.
"Every time I've asked," he said, "I've gotten some sort of discount."
Patients, especially those covered by their employers' health plans, used to be sheltered from much of the costs of health care because they paid little more than a co-payment.
...more employers are shifting toward high-deductible policies or requiring employees to pay a percentage of each health service they receive...an increasing number of self-insured consumers find they can afford little more than catastrophic coverage.
"We're on the cusp of a very significant transition to consumers being very concerned about costs," said Dr.John Santa,......
.......Insurers and employers are shifting an increasing share of costs to consumers leading up to 2014, when the industry will undergo major changes under the federal health law....
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
“When a man spends his own money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about how much he spends and how he spends it."When a man spends his own money to buy something for someone else, he is still very careful about how much he spends, but somewhat less careful about what he spends it on.
"When a man spends someone else's money to buy something for himself, he is very careful about what he buys, but doesn't care at all how much he spends.
"And when a man spends someone else's money on someone else, he doesn't care how much he spends or what he spends it on. And that's government for you.”
Spot on!
Strange Blue Cross gets about 80% off, so the guy is a piker as a negotiator.
Billing has no relationship to cost, even if it did, they would be over priced. I recently had a retina procedure, out patient, a little sleepy time in and out in under three hours, hospital bill $14,000.00. Surgeon was extra.
There would be almost no customer base for those services without insurance or government subsidies.
As you get older?
Cancer can cost millions. You can prepare for so much....
I would imagine that he is not over 65, because I cant find doctor that will take cash under any circumstances, other than deductibles. For that matter if you don't already have a doctor, you will be lucky to find one as the ones that will take new medicare patients are rapidly disappearing.
Yeah. I’m pretty young stiil and in great health...
Your odds of an accident requiring surgery are far higher than cancer.
You mean like a car accident?
Unfortunately even the Doc's grunts are smart enough to know if you're 65, you're insured.
Any kind of accident. I had a bicycle accident that resulted in over 70k hospital bills. People fall off ladders, fall down the stairs, all kids of things. A friend of mine fell down the stairs and hit her head. It damaged a disk in her neck. 3 surgeries before they got it fixed.
When you get the final bill AFTER the insurance has paid all it’s going to pay, simply write a check to the provider in the amount of around 30% of the bill and do it with a paper check. On the memo write the account number and “paid in full”. They may call you and want a little more but I’ve never had to pay full prices.
What Soviet Medicine Teaches US
“In order to receive minimal attention by doctors and nursing personnel, patients had to pay bribes.”
You want to increase corruption? All you got to do is centralize power. Market forces are so strong that even in a system with total control, and where everything is “free”, scarce products will always go to the highest bidder. In this case the “owner” of the product or service is the one that controls access to it and he will use all his creative power to make the most of his “ownership”.
You want to decrease corruption? Diffuse power as much as possible. That is why capitalistic countries under the rule of law will always have less corruption than authoritarian countries.
That is precisely why health care, courtesy of health insurance, is so overpriced. Nobody cares to shop around because "someone else" i.e. insurance companies, are paying the bill.
Excellent points. Rule of law, property rights, freedom are all essential - along with decentralize/smaller government.
Thanks for your post.
I got it, really.
Homeowners insurance that covers more than most people pay for and auto coverage on each car for 150/300/150.
Businesiness insurance to the tune of $2million.
I’ll get personal insurance next year when i start hiking, snowboarding, surfing, scuba, etc again.
Just had a shoulder operation that heals in about 6-12 months and I start doing all those things again.
Besides that, I have resources and loot to cover most things anyway.
Which reminds me; I had to see an internest a few years ago. My primary physician had just passed away otherwise he could have diagonsed me and taken care of my problem.
I knew I needed to see an internest so I called around and found the best one in town
Called them up and they wanted to know what Dr, referred me. I explained everything and initially they didn’t know how to handle it, as thet usually work through insurance.
Asked them if they had a problem with cash. They said they would call me back.
When they valled me back tbey said it might cost $4,000. Told them I didn’t care and I wou,d bring cash.
They scheduled me for the next morning.
When they were through I was stll drugged and they were laughing. Apparently I was pretty funny when they had me on twilight anesthesia. I have no recollection of the procedure or what I was saying.
I recall being at the front desk, in a daze, and tbey said I was getting a comedy discount.
The bill was $1,800 instead of the original quote of $4 grand.
I went to the drug store, got the prescription they gave me and shortly after my problem went away.
Currently I have an assistant for the next two weeks. I am paying for the help to ensure I don’t have to do anything that jeopadizes my recovery.
He picks up anything over 10 pounds, gets stuff I need from the grocery store, meds, clean house, walk the dogs and anything else I require.
I even paid to have a water wand installed in my main shower, support bars and a bunch of other stuff.
I am responsible for my care. I get whatever “I” feel I need for my care and chump at an insurance company is going to tell me I can’t have what I need.
“Not covered” and the word “No” are not acceptable answers.
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