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The advantage of paying for medical care directly
The Hill ^ | February 8, 2020 | David Balat

Posted on 02/08/2020 12:32:30 PM PST by karpov

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To: karpov
Good RX is fine BUT if you have something that you have to take for a chronic condition the prices change from day to day.

So what cost you about $20 for a ninety day supply will cost you $150 the next time you go in. So you will need to have the prescription to a new pharmacy with a cheaper price. But you can only do that once.

Also if you have to take a name brand then the cost will be stratospheric. You can get name brand from Canada for a bit cheaper but it will still be high.

21 posted on 02/08/2020 1:25:34 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (A hero is a hero no matter what medal they give him. Likewise a schmuck is still a schmuck.)
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To: Alberta's Child

Because insurance doesn’t care what the price is. They just pay it and raise premiums to cover it. The “evil insurance companies” are a myth. It’s the medical providers that are gaming the system, big time.


22 posted on 02/08/2020 1:28:18 PM PST by Fido969 (In!)
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To: digger48

My high blood pressure pills are free.
Because they are generic.
Maybe the person should ask for generic.


23 posted on 02/08/2020 1:28:47 PM PST by Deo et patriae (Make America Great again! rantings.)
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To: Meatspace

“Self Insurance is the way to go”

Co-insurance schemes are probably the best way to go.

Having a company and a patient both having to pay their defined shares makes both winners.


24 posted on 02/08/2020 1:29:51 PM PST by Brian Griffin
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To: karpov

The current situation is unacceptable. It’s unfair. Making the insurance company pay raises the premiums. There cannot be two prices for the same item.


25 posted on 02/08/2020 1:32:05 PM PST by I want the USA back (The media is acting full-on as the Democratic Party's press agency now: Robert Spencer)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

The NHS might be paying about the equivalent of $9 for an inhaler.

EU approved medications still approved in the EU should be available in the USA one year after EU approval.


26 posted on 02/08/2020 1:32:22 PM PST by Brian Griffin
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To: karpov

I get injectable testosterone. My cash price is less than the insurance copay.


27 posted on 02/08/2020 1:32:41 PM PST by rstrahan
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To: Fido969

Insurers like high prices because high prices force people to buy insurance.


28 posted on 02/08/2020 1:33:40 PM PST by Brian Griffin
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To: karpov

There’s the cost of the medicine and the cost to stuff it in bottles.

One dollar for the drug company and $3 for CVS makes for $4.


29 posted on 02/08/2020 1:36:03 PM PST by Brian Griffin
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To: Fido969
If insurance is going to pay, people don’t care what the price is. There is no price-demand pressure on the market.

AND health care providers up and down the line take full advantage of the above fact... as would most of us if we were in that position.(the curse of 'human nature'...and why incentives matter)

When democrats talk about health care reform all they're talking about is 'who gets stuck paying the bill'... they don't care about toxic incentives, quality of care, what their system does to the doctor/patient relationship or why 'who pays' matters to the quality of healthcare. Nope, in their minds it's all the same.

It's not.

Compare statistics on doctor/patient relations, quality of care, and job satisfaction between plastic surgeons and doctors who work at the VA and you'll see where toxic incentives create nightmares. Costly nightmares and poor quality care.

30 posted on 02/08/2020 1:37:56 PM PST by GOPJ ( http://www.tinyurl.com/cvirusmap https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm)
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To: bkopto

I remember when an office visit was $4 and .16 sales tax. People could also make payments or provide services and goods.

In 1977 I was in the south and my son was sick on a Sunday. My SIL took me to an old country doctor who had Sunday hours. Growing up in the west, I never saw segregation and was shocked to see a Black waiting room and a white waiting room in 1977!! I asked my SIL what was up and why they let him get away with the segregated rooms and she said that people only paid what they could afford and took chickens and fresh garden produce as pay and had Sunday hours for working people. He knew most of them by name and all their families and just accepted that the doctor never changed things.


31 posted on 02/08/2020 1:38:58 PM PST by tiki
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To: digger48

My wife uses GoodRX and is amazing how cheap she can buy prescriptions.


32 posted on 02/08/2020 1:55:58 PM PST by bort
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To: karpov

This article articulates something a family member who is medical practice consultant told me years ago. His daily job is trying to get around this bureaucratic corporate tyrany over doctor and patient.

Scream, yell and complain. These people are killing us and robbing us on the way to the grave.


33 posted on 02/08/2020 2:02:18 PM PST by amihow
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To: karpov

Anthem probably paid less than $40 for the prescription.


34 posted on 02/08/2020 2:12:31 PM PST by Retired Chemist
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Sometimes, you can’t even pay cash.

I pay $400+ per month in insurance premiums. I was just told by my concierge physicians group to get lost, because the no longer accept my insurance.

I tell the physicians group, fine I’ll pay cash. Their initial response “we cannot take cash, your state will not allow us to accept cash payment for services.”

After arguing, they come back and tell me they’ll take cash, but... since they no longer take my insurance, they can no longer refer me to the local hospital that accepts my insurance, they they are not longer part of that plan.

There’s no concept of grandfathering. You would think there would be a way for a (now independent) medical group to do a simple referral to an in-plan hospital.

end of rant


35 posted on 02/08/2020 2:16:22 PM PST by bobcat62
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To: Deo et patriae

Mine are like $8 for 90 days with the app


36 posted on 02/08/2020 2:29:08 PM PST by digger48
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To: karpov

Let me add to this... before gov got involved.. before insurance became part of the salary with the job... we had our own insurance.. it was called hospitalization insurance. It paid for hospitalization. We paid for our own dr visits.. which were ran from $5 to $12 a visit and when the pediatrician opened his new office, the visit was $25. We paid for own medicine either given by the dr or a prescription.. which ran from $5 to $10 usually. When pregnant, we paid the dr each visit and that part was paid by the time the baby was born and the hospitalization insurance paid for that.
Our salary then, was not near what it is now, but the prices have gone through the roof. To get a price quote from a hospital is almost impossible. I had a tooth pulled a year ago by an oral surgeon and the price WITH dental coverage, was over $2,000!

Some years ago when we had insurance with the job, I had 2 surgeries within 2 years for the same type... the first was $700 and the second was $700 again if the insurance paid... if the insurance did not pay, it was zero to me.

This is just letting you young folks know how much it’s gone UP with gov in charge. or insurance companies in charge..


37 posted on 02/08/2020 3:13:14 PM PST by frnewsjunkie
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To: digger48

Another good place to check is scripthero.com. They seem to work in conjunction with some of the drug companies and their savings plans. Simple to check to see if they cover your drug. If you are on medicare you can use it for a particular drug in place of medicare.


38 posted on 02/08/2020 3:14:26 PM PST by TN4Trump
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To: karpov

Well duh!
People need to understand the basic concept— you get what you pay for.

When you pay cash directly you’re eliminating layers of insurance middlemen & government bureaucrat parasites. Thats why IT’S CHEAPER!


39 posted on 02/08/2020 3:18:49 PM PST by mumblypeg
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To: digger48

Excellent service, I use their website. Maintenance Rx list $485, $14 or so with their coupon. Clearly regular economic rules are NOT in play here.


40 posted on 02/08/2020 3:57:21 PM PST by Riflema
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