How much health insurers pay for almost everything is about to go public

Post by nickphx » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 5:05 AM UTC

indymike wrote: post #278

adventured wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have also been there and tried that, extensively. That's the opposite experience of what I encountered in paying by cash for more than a decade. Typically I'd pay around half price via cash for healthcare services (routine doctor visits, scans, et al.) versus what they charged if you had insurance. I never ran into a situation where they wouldn't negotiate steep discounts for paying by cash.

Yes, it works for routine stuff, but don't try to pay cash for abdominal surgery. You will get a very terrible, high price. After all, it's agree to our low price or die of appendicitis.

Post by akira2501 » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 5:41 AM UTC

burnished wrote: post #183

akira2501 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an odd way to look at it, as a "backfire." We're introducing more information into the market. If some prices went up as a result, isn't that an indication that the lack of pricing information was being used to artificially depress prices? If so.. this isn't a "backfire" so much as an "obvious and necessary correction?"

Medical care is not the kind of good that you can just say 'oh the market will correct it', because most of the assumptions you make about 'the market' don't apply to essential services.

Post by Consultant32452 » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 6:04 AM UTC

yardie wrote: post #25

logicalmonster wrote: post #19

Question to somebody who might know as this seems like a relevant thread to ask in. If a person wants to pay directly in cash/credit-card for services rendered by a doctor, do doctors' agreements with insurance companies generally prevent them from offering a cash discount to cash-paying patiences lower than the insurance company negotiated price?

Yes, not only do they offer it but some insurers will give you credit card gift cards to help pay for treatment. That is how dysfunctional our medical system is at this moment. Providers will lock insurers at one rate, negotiate a different rate for self-insured that could be lower/higher. And insurers get wind of this and try to sneak pay the self rate.

Post by symlinkk » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 6:10 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #285

manquer wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hospital is free to determine their prices, but they cannot give steep discounts to one channel of sales over other. They have to be consistent. Healthcare pricing should be based on cost+plus models for the hospitals rather than on value driven approach you see every else in any sales. We are not questioning their costs whatever they maybe, if the costs logically remain roughly same no matter how a particular patien…

But what's the cost? Complex hospital services have so many inputs that it's impossible to do cost accounting in a completely consistent way. Hospitals literally don't know what their costs are.

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 02, 2022, 6:41 AM UTC

troutwine wrote: post #302

bjtitus wrote: post #289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> this surgery clinic will treat your appendicitis for less than the average patient's deductible + coinsurance. I'm including the flight + hotel stay in that estimate. Are there really people flying to avoid overpaying for an appendectomy?

Boy, I had to have an appendectomy and I could barely stand. I can’t imagine flying for one, or holding off to get everything arranged. I suppose I may have had less time to plan than is implied here: went to bed fine, woke up in agony.