Almost all insurance companies have agreements ahead of time with MRI places where they can’t charge more than 500.
I’ve never seen a bill higher than that.
They can charge 10k, but insurance will allow 500.
Bad example.
And sometimes the doctor has an agreement with the insurance company for a fixed amount and you don’t pay the difference.
Medical treatment is the only industry in the whole world where there are almost no market forces available to the consumer.
The provider will almost never tell you in advance what a service is going to cost.
The doctor says you need some service that he provides, he provides the service, and then sends you a bill for whatever he wants to charge you afterwards.
The whole step about “well, how much is this going to cost me and is there anything cheaper I can do instead?” does not exist as a meaningful part of the process in any way.
This has got to change. Completely. All medical services must have defined costs which are prominently displayed at the doctor’s office.
I just did a hernia operation at St. George Surgery Center. $3050 cash on the barrel head, zip zip done and out in three hours, great people.
I was getting quotes like “well, somewhere between $5,500 and $12,000” from the idiots in Vegas. Like buying a car whose price is between $5k and $12k.
The world of medicine will return to healing as best as humanly possible. And the loved ones of those who cannot be healed will realize that it often has little to do with what the doctor did or didn't do, said or didn't say, not everything or everyone can be fixed. Instead of looking for a big payday from some insurance company.
No, the real question here is "What happens when the doctors all quit?" And I don't mean anything like this "Day Without Bimbos" or "Day Without Illegals" things sponsored by Snowflakes, Inc. I'm talking about an Atlas Shrugged/everyone to the mountains/screw society style quit.
I pay cash for Dr appointments.
I get in right away, they have less paperwork.
Everyone is happy.
If you do the math on group insurance through an employer it works out as follows:
$300 a month $3,600 per year.
Deductible is $5,000 per year.
You are now $8,600 in the hole before your medical necessity kicks in.
You then have procedures, items and drugs that are not covered, putting you even further in the hole.
Then what is covered is done at a percentage.
In this instance well say 70%.
That means for every $1,000 of your medical necessity you owe $300 above the $8,600 you are already obligated to spend.
So, for $12,000 you are actually on the hook for $9,700.
So, if you spend $8,600 over ten years and then have the medical necissity above you will have drained your finances of some $37,100 dollars!!!
Makes sense right?
All you need to understand about healthcare costs as *paid* for under insurance you can learn by looking at a typical Medicare bill.
In the final years of her life I saw these kinds of bills come in for my Mom. (She didn’t have to pay them, I am just commenting on the numbers)
Billed: $1382.19 Insurance reinbursement: $72.44
Billed: $719.22 insurance reimbursement: $49.65
It is complete ridiculousness. The providers know that they will be typically reimbursed no better than 1/5th of their bill and that’s the exception, often the ins reimbursement is 1/12th, 1/15th. Thus there is an absolute compulsion for the provider to grossly overbill with an eye to what will be reimbursed. This drives up the “book” rate for procedures bigly.
The entire pricing structure of HC delivery is warped to the moon based upon the pitiful ins reimb rates. This is where you get the proverbial $50 aspirin. It is a complete scam and the primary beneficiary of most of HC spending in the US is the insurance industry.
I am lucky to be in good health so my visits to the doc are few. But I routinely get 30-35% discounts for paying in cash.
I’m hoping that during this period when the Repeal and Replace of Obamacare is being discussed, argued over, debated, yelled about and eventually voted on there will at least a little time spent on the following point:
SOME PEOPLE DONT NEED AND DONT WANT TO INSURE THEIR HEALTH.
I think there are a lot of them. We should not punish them. We should not subsidize them at emergency hospitals. We should assume they will go to doctors when they need to and pay those doctors when presented with a bill. That system works at the grocery store, your favorite department store, with your landlord and the bank that financed your brand new Toyota.
It will, for many people, work just the same with doctors.
There is no way to reform or tweak america’s screwed up third party payer system. The only way to help the middle class is for Congress to sanction, and encourage a parallel free-market cash system to grow, and slowly displace our bloated third -party payer system
Wife had to get a blood test at the local hospital today. While checking in, she saw a sign that said “Ask us about MD $ave”. She did, and was told it was a plan for those with no insurance. They accepted cash, at one fourth the usual rate.
Program computers to replace 99% of what doctors do...
Easy Answer ... flipping Govt Hacks are not involved, the Doc gets His/Her $, I get my Healthcare and it is much more Affordable.
Liberty and Freedom
Stunned silence.
Anyone pricing an MRI needs to make sure that the places they are comparing use machines with the same resolution. The resolution depends on the magnetic field strength. The standard now seems to be the 3 Tesla (3T). Some locations that give a better deal might only have a 1.5 Tesla machine that will not give as detailed a picture, but it’s also possible for things to be the other way around.
Belong to a Health Share!! Your cash payments count toward your deductible. You really CAN use any doctor or medical practitioner you wish (no cosmetic or mental health though). No prescriptions but you can get them at discounts and from Canadian pharmacies etc.
It is wonderful to be a cash pay patient. There are discounts and yu simply shop around for services. I know some great docs who are thrilled to have cash patients and don’t charge unreasonable amounts.
That would be a good thing.
They give me a receipt. ;o)
I had a good customer who was a doctor. He was very slow paying his bill and I called him about it.
He said no problem, just come by the office and ask the lady to pay it. I went by just after lunch and she told me I was too late. She showed me an empty cigar box that was cleaned out by the bill collector ahead of me.
The doctor took cash in and into the cigar box and then paid local vendors directly from that cash.