Posted on 11/15/2019 11:46:23 AM PST by re_tail20
In most states it's only for liability of damage you do to others. If you crash your own car that's your decision whether to have insurance.
Maybe with reasonable pricing across the board most people would only need insurance for the big stuff. Last time I had something major the bill was for about $24000. The insurance company's contracted rate was $8000 and my copay was $2000 of it. Having insurance saved me $16000 on the negotiation and only $6000 on the payment.
I think flat co-pays should be illegal because they make the total cost of the service irrelevant to the consumer.
So? make them public! If you could find something cheaper wouldn’t you want to check it out?
Making them aware of the costs involved as to what they tell patients what to do will make them pay more attention to what the costs involved are. Then, maybe, they'll start to really care about their patients...
That’s... a good thing.
Absolutely!
I like the new rule from a consumer standpoint. But there are other things that need to change.
That’s a lot of rates. Do they publish all? Rates are different for cash patients and also different for different insurance companies depending on the contract.
Disclaimer: My wife and I are 65 and dumped health care insurance on 1/1/2014, and we have two cases of miraculous healing through prayer.
Where I live, there is a very nice looking local hospital (rural south central KY). The unofficial rule here is that you never go there. You got to Louisville. Their service is that bad.
Oh pooooor insurance brokers.
States could require posted Medicare multiplier pricing.
If Medicare would pay $12,000 for a hospitalization and the hospital posted a Medicare multiplier of 1.8, your cost would be $21,600.
If a doctor posted his Medicare multiplier of 3.2 on the hospital provider pricing board and Medicare would pay $600 for a service, your cost for the service from him would be $1,920.
Medicare multipliers would not apply to Part B type drugs or implanted medical devices. These would have separate price sheets.
I like it
Practicing physician x 33yrs
A good thing. It should keep the billing office honest. No more jacking the price up and no more adding in procedures not done. It would also stop passing illegals’ unpaid bills onto the next patient.
It’s often difficult to know upfront because you wouldn’t want your brain surgeon to have to hurry to do three hours of work in the two hours you were quoted a price for.
Also the AMA publishes a thick book of billing codes. It takes experts to understand how to bill patients.
Medicare multipliers are just simple numbers like 1.75, 1.8 and 2.0.
Medicare multiplier pricing is the way to go.
Not really. The rationale for insurance as cost-sharing would endure.
Not really. There isn't really competition until the people making decisions are affected by the price information. Just having price transparency is not enough. Right now for most people, even if you knew what every procedure cost it wouldn't affect what you pay. The insurance will cover it either way.
There are two major problems with the health care system. One is that there's no market for health care. Insurance and regulations hide and insulate the decision makers from price information.
The other is that costs are inflated by high demand, caused by medical conditions created by unhealthy diets, which the medical establishment causes by continuing to promote the same unhealthy diets.
It is a good start!
Used to pay cash for all medical services (they were just a few) I offered Medicare rates plus 25% and they took it. I used to work medical billing so I knew the rates. Can’t do that now.
Any contract currently in place between an insurance carrier and a hospital almost certainly has a confidentiality clause that precludes either party from sharing the rates with the public.
If the Trump administration tried to force them to make public disclosures and violate the terms of the contract, the regulation would be thrown out immediately for several reasons. One big reason is that contract law is governed by states, not the Federal government.
“Well, you are REQUIRED to have auto insurance - if you want to drive on publicly supplied roads, just as you are required to have a license.”
Only if you are not here illegally, then you can do whatever you want...event get a DUI after mowing down a pedestrian
“patients and their families would have to deal with a learning curve to become comfortable with the intricacies of health care billing. “
right, because everyone knows that almost no one in the U.S. can understand the price of stuff ...
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