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Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

latimes.com

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Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#201

Post by AnimalMuppet »

perspective1 wrote: post #196
Stratoscope wrote: post #9

Beyond opaque and variable pricing for the same service, there is also the question of whether something simpler would do the trick. Some years ago, I thought I might have broken my finger. I went to the doctor and it was actually the physician's assistant who saw me. I'd explained at the front desk that I had a high-deductible policy and I would be paying in full for the visit. The PA said "Usually we would send som…

FYI, even if you had broken your finger the treatment is almost always splinting and time. Most doctors wouldn't do an x-ray or a vibrating test. Does it hurt? Splint it, come back in a week. Next.

Get it set properly, then splinting and time. If you're sure you (or someone around you) knows how to set it, you maybe want to go that route. But if it's not set right, and you splint it there, that may not work out so well...

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#202

Post by vkou »

rossdavidh wrote: post #154
habitue wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's still a benefit in insurance for routine procedures to balance costs between the young and old. (As long as young people are required to have insurance)

...but the fact that the median income of young people (at the beginning of their career, whatever it is) is much lower than old people, pretty much nullifies this. If you want to balance out the costs over a person's life, there are much better ways than making the coffeeshop barrista subsidize the middle-manager's health costs.

What about making the middle-aged middle-manager subsidize a retired grocery clerk's health costs?

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#203

Post by johnpowell »

aianus wrote: post #76
velcrovan wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny, I have a sister in Canada and a sister in Switzerland, neither of them have had trouble getting ultrasounds. My wife's grandmother is also in Canada and was treated the same day for her broken hip. I'm really sick of being told things are impossible in the US that are normal in other developed countries.

I live in Canada and have waited 4 months for a specialist at great personal cost (but not financial cost). I have also seen my mother suffer for 6 months on a surgery wait list and then recover slowly and painfully in a room with 4 other people who were constantly screaming during the night. And she was a lucky one because the hospital was so overcrowded that other patients were living, sleeping, and recovering in t…

I live in the United States and in June of last year I was told to make a appointment with a ear, nose, and throat doctor. So I called and was told the earliest they could see me was in October.

I started chemo before my original appointment with that doctor. (Yes, it was mouth and neck cancer)

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#204

Post by namibj »

konschubert wrote: post #133
leetbulb wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure it's dangerous, but $400 out of pocket for an xray of your finger is also quite ridiculous. If my finger wasn't obviously broken, I'd probably take my chances with a tuning fork, too.

The real problem is that the x-ray costs 400. It doesn’t have to be that way

Here in Germany it's less than 20. I think it was between 10 and 15 € for a finger. This includes an expert's opinion, albeit a succinct one.

I wish they'd do technical/industrial things in a similar fashion. Make appointment, bring piece, get xray, wait a few minutes, leave with xray image/dataset. For cheap. Require bagging for contamination reasons.

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#205

Post by namibj »

jopsen wrote: post #104
rpmisms wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's extremely cool, and has my gears turning about how to encourage that kind of behavior.

If the x-ray is better in any way, it's not wise to recommend anything else. It's better to ensure that the very treatment is affordable

Xrays are not universally good. It's always exposure to ionizing radiation.

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#206

Post by nonbel »

crazygringo wrote: post #184
nonbel wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Funny, my last several doctors visits the cash price has always been higher than the negotiated price. There is nothing funny about it. Once you tell the provider that you have insurance, the price they can quote you is in their contract with the insurance company. You need to go somewhere new and tell them you do not have insurance to get the real price.

They didn't have to check that, and certainly didn't. They knew the prices off the top of their head. The doctor had no idea what health plan I had or even if I had one -- they leave that up to their staff to sort out, they couldn't care less personally.

Then they are just quoting you the "insurance price". Think about it, how could it possibly be more expensive to cut out the middle man?

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#207

Post by lotsofpulp »

vkou wrote: post #181
rayiner wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US drug spending accounts for about 11% of total healthcare spending.

When you get a $700 for two pills of ibuprofen, and five minutes of a doctor's time, what percentage of that bill was the ibuprofen?

The OP didn’t write that the doctor provided ibuprofen, the $700 was just for the doctor’s time.

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#208

Post by nonbel »

rolltiide wrote: post #189
nonbel wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't the "privileged" prefer to have actual money they could spend as they want instead of be forced to use it for a single purpose, including the extra cost of a middle man? It sounds like some sort of tax scam.

The pre-tax portion naturally comes out of the part of your paycheck you otherwise wouldn't be able to use at all. The level of discount would therefore be linked to your marginal income tax level, alongside how much your employer contributes to it. The max a person can contribute to these in 2019 is $3,500 and $7,000 for family. It is a privilege extended by the federal government.

Thanks, what do you mean "otherwise wouldn't be able to use at all"? You mean the government gets it?

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#209

Post by lotsofpulp »

m0zg wrote: post #145
evrydayhustling wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That forum is amazing! Thanks for the primary source! That said, two quibbles/questions: Those same threads have logins like "indebt4life" and "kids2feed", which matches what I've heard from doctor friends: the length and cost of medical training and insurance are so brutal that the folks gatekeeping are themselves in an unhealthy lifestyle and don't want it to get worse. In other words, and benefits of gatekeeping a…

It's not just the cost of training. In the US there's implicit expectation that becoming a doctor is a way to become wealthy, similar in earning potential to becoming a lawyer. There's no such expectation in most other countries which are often used in arguments for how socialized medicine "costs less". Their doctors make a fraction of what US doctors do, so of course it "costs less". Right now in the US you'd be "so…

There better be a $300k+ payday at the end of a doctor’s training, otherwise I don’t see how the gauntlet they get put through is worth sacrificing their best years (20s and early 30s).

Re: Insured price $2,758, cash price $521

#210

Post by nrclark »

dshep wrote: post #74
johnwheeler wrote: post #25

I took my 4 year old to the ER because he had a 103 fever. The doctor put an ear thermometer to him and told me to give him some childrens ibuprofen. The visit lasted all of 5 minutes. The cost: $756.00. I refused to pay it. It was the first time I did not pay a debt and the first time I was sent to collections. I refused based on principle, and not because I couldn’t afford it. Collections called me for about 3 mont…

I recently took my GF to the ER because she had been stung by a bee and was worried she was allergic. She was feeling dizzy but once we were in the ER she started feeling better. They basically took her vitals, waited 30 minutes or so, gave her a steroid, and then sent us home. They told us it probably wouldn't be very expensive as she was uninsured. Later the bills arrived: $1300 from the ER ($1900 minus a $600 unin…

That sucks, sorry to hear it. If she hasn't paid those bills yet, she can probably negotiate them way down FYI.
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