But for now (on page 2 in the article) Tips on negotiating for health care
This illustrates how the Ryan plan, premium support, would put market forces to bear to reduce costs.
thanks for posting..
Make sure the recommended services are actually necessary: You don't want to short-change your health, but you also don't want to undergo needless treatment.I once saved a hundred bucks by asking the intake nurse: "Is it ok if I wait until after I see the doctor to take the X-ray?"
It was ok and the Doc said no need to x-ray.
Another time, I was told I needed to schedule a follow up visit to get the results of a certain test. This visit would cost $125. I asked if the doctor or his staff could call me with the results. "Yes." Cost for this? Zero.
It's amazing how much waste is built into the process. I think a large part of that is because, in most cases, there is no price pressure because the consumer is not the payer.
“Proprietary pricing,” the price your insurance company negotiated on your behalf, yet you don't know how much if any of that price was “fair,” according to market standards. In many cases you are simply told to pay some odd percentage and a high deductible ....on top of your high insurance rate.
“But Jan Emerson-Shea, spokesman for the California Hospital Association, said patients simply can't bargain for hospital prices like they would for a car.” Well why the heck not Jan? Why can't I negotiate prices for medical care. The paragraph above clearly shows the disparity in pricing between service providers. As the ultimate consumer of said service, why should I not have the ability to negotiate?
I do understand Lee's position. It is one I hold myself...$12,000 a year for coverage that never seems to pay anything. Over the course of 5 years that is $60,000. That money invested...even more. So, suddenly there is an emergency? There's a good chunk of change sitting there for that rainy day. Over the course of 10 years with no major incidents...there will be more than double that. Again, how much is a catastrophic emergency?
They use the catastrophic emergency to scare consumers and then you buy policies with all the bell's & whistles. Under 0bamacare you can't buy just catastrophic coverage,...which oddly enough is the cheapest coverage to get!!!
Personally I think the best way to bring healthcare costs back into line is for people to drop and the bells & whistles coverages. The only insurance that should be offered is catastrophic.
I’ve been turned down every time I’ve asked for a discount for paying cash, from multiple practitioners.
I do the same thing.
Not worth the cost.
Just pay the Dr and Dentist and I save thousands per year.
I’ll get insurance in a few years when I think the time is right as I get older.
Good post.
A few months ago I offered to pay cash for a doctor’s office visit in an attempt to negotiate the best price. I do have a high-deductible plan and HSA.
I was told no, that if I had insurance the visit had to be billed to the insurance company.
If I paid cash, the amount end-to-end processing and paperwork would be negligible. It would have saved my doctor’s office time and money (at least to me it would seem it would).
My boss went to the doctor the other day and his portion AFTER medicare was $150.
He later called the same doctors office and asked how much for the same visit if he had no insurance and paid cash. They said $70.
The key is to tell them you don’t have insurance.
I pay $1,800 a year for catastrophic insurance. It pays 100% over $5,000. p/yr.
Do the math if you don’t visit the doctor every week.
I haven’t had health insurance for several years. If i really need to go to the doctor, I go, and pay out of pocket. I pay for my RX’s out of pocket and get a 20% discount because I pay for them on the spot, and the pharmacy doesn’t have to do any “paperwork” or wait for their money.
If I crash in the car, I will pay from either my or the other car’s insurance, depending upon who is at fault.
Same thing with the Harley, although I will probably be dead from that one and it will be a moot question.
Catastrophic Illness? Long term Care? THOSE aren’t covered by conventional health insurance policies so I will cross THAT bridge when and IF I get to it.
So instead of paying $12,000+ a year on premiums + co-payments, I spend about $1200.00 a year on Rx and the occasional doctor visit.
Simple arithmetic.
Healthcare “Insurance” is a scam.
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.