Posted on 08/22/2013 7:55:12 AM PDT by Hojczyk
When the man arrived at the hospital for surgery, the admitting clerk reviewed the terms of his policy and estimated the amount of his bill that would be paid by insurance. She asked him to pay his estimated portion in advance. (More hospitals are doing that now because too often patients don't pay their portions of the bills after insurance has paid.)
The insurance policy, the clerk said, would pay up to $2,500 for the surgeon—more than enough—and up to $2,500 for the hospital's charges for the operating room, nursing, recovery room, etc. The estimated hospital charge was $23,000. She asked him to pay roughly $20,000 upfront to cover the estimated balance.
Most people are unaware that if they don't use insurance, they can negotiate upfront cash prices with hospitals and providers substantially below the "list" price. Doctors are happy to do this. We get paid promptly, without paying office staff to wade through the insurance-payment morass.
I quoted him a reasonable upfront cash price, as did the anesthesiologist. We contacted a different hospital and they quoted him a reasonable upfront cash price for the outpatient surgical/nursing services. He underwent his operation the very next day, with a total bill of just a little over $3,000, including doctor and hospital fees. He ended up saving $17,000 by not using insurance
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
“insurance inflates the price the same way college loans inflate the price of college tuition”
GL, same passel of RATs getting rich. Academia is probably worse than Medicine in that most of what passes for “education” today is about as useful to the recipients as taking courses in “underwater basket weaving.” As least in Medicine you usually get something of value for your inflated costs. The other thing about academia is that most of the professors don’t teach. I owe my engineering education at UC Berkeley to Indian graduate students, not any Nobel Lauriates. They were all too busy collecting fat paychecks and contemplating their navels to teach anything. Napolitano will fit right in!
Call them, they will have an answer for you while you are on the phone.
Based on my experience, however, it will be $30.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, and for each one of these there are a ton of highly paid non-clinical bureaucrats beneath them. In any other industry faced with rising costs that consumers couldn't afford, there would be a move to decrease administrative costs. Not the case in medicine.
Here's another article about CEO pay at Children's hospitals.
I'm not saying that CEO pay is the major driver of health care expense, but I am saying that increased expense related to those who do not have a direct role in patient care is a problem, and it is growing.
you are exactly right.
The GOP needs to start the conversation about de-regulating healthcare. I have been on the adminstrative side for more that 35 years and the majority of the rising cost of health care are artificially driven. That and trying to buy medical supplies and equipment where the price is tripled.
Bump. I am not a doctor (I play one on TV). Remove any tax incentives for the employer concerning health care. So now the employer AND the government are out of the health business.
The same thing is going on in private industry. Back in the 1950's top executive pay was something like 40 times the pay of the average worker.
Now top executive pay is well over 400 times the pay of the average worker. The Boards of Directors are allowing the top executives to literally loot the companies.
That's bad for business, bad for employee morale, and bad for the country. But hey, you gotta pay for top talent, the Board members say as they're off to another all-expenses-paid meeting in Hawaii.
Oklahoma City hospital posts surgery prices online; creates bidding war
http://kfor.com/2013/07/08/okc-hospital-posting-surgery-prices-online/
You think the only reason Doctors give quality care is because the gov’t makes them? LOL
you are exactly right.
The GOP needs to start the conversation about de-regulating healthcare. I have been on the adminstrative side for more that 35 years and the majority of the rising cost of health care are artificially driven. That and trying to buy medical supplies and equipment where the price is tripled.
it all the state and fed coverage mandates that cause the rates to rise
that would be number 4
AND!!! 5- make health insurance costs deductable (like mortgage interest)
why should you pay taxes on money used to keep your health (that’s just EVILLLL)
6) Any doctor who covers up the gross negligence of another is GUILTY OF THE SAME crime and negligence. Most industries are self-weeding. We have had engineers who deisgned stuff that would fail- we put them in charge of storing the blueprints.
I disagree that it would make quality “fall through the floor”. Medicine is business and most small business owners want the best for their customers, especially customers you become intimately acquainted with.
I belonged to a medical co-op when I was homeschooling. It involved paying for everything up front and being reimbursed. It was quite an education in how much less you pay when you have cash.
bkmk
AND people who DON”T VOTE DEMOCRAT will NOT GET the CARE that a DEMOCRAT WILL?
Works with dentistry too.
I pay cash, have all my life. Dental insurance would be more expensive than paying cash.
This highlights the exact reason why Obamacare will be mandatory.
Obamacare isn’t about health care, it’s about extorting money from those who have some and using it to finance Obama’s wealth redistribution economy.
Can you give me the name of a good Canadian pharmacy? Do they require that you supply a prescription before providing service? Thanks.
https://www.northwestpharmacy.com/Default.aspx
They are large and reliable have locations in Europe as well they do require a script from your doctor. I have ordered from Mexico without scripts being needed but these are BP meds not anything that is usable recreational wise.
The NHS was created out of the ideal that good
healthcare should be available to all, regardless
of wealth. When it was launched by the then
minister of health, Aneurin Bevan, on July 5
1948, it was based on three core principles:
that it meet the needs of everyone
that it be free at the point of delivery
that it be based on clinical need, not ability
to pay.
‘Free at the point of delivery’. Has there ever been an instance of more colossal ignorance?
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