[DannyTN]

No we had insurance.

The point is that all health care providers raise their usual and customary fees because there are so many networks that negotiate rates to be 60% of usual and customary.

thus if you need $1000 you charge $1700, so you can get a decent rate from the network. Then Joe Uninsured comes in and he gets socked for $1700 for something that should have only cost $1000.

A surgery should cost the same regardless of who is paying.

[snopercod]

A surgery should cost the same regardless of who is paying.

You can thank the feds, who forced hospitals to provide services regardless of the patients' ability to pay.

At our local hospital where my wife works, over half of the "customers" do not pay. The paying customers pick up the slack.

Also, the paying customers are allowed to pay $10 per month on a $50,000 surgery, with no interest charges.

Even more absurd, they don't offer a discount for cash up front.

[strongbow]

I would love to get the same fees from every patient regardless of his ability to pay. I frequently lower or eliminate certain fees to allow older or uninsured patients to afford my care. Yet my confiscatory masters in Washington don't credit me that when it comes time to pay taxes. Those taxes then go to further socialized medical care to lower my fees even further. Loved the ending to Atlas Shrugged, many in medical care are tempted to do the same. This is not Britain where a fellow with twelve to fourteen years of post high school sacrifice and sweat will work for a pittance.