This kind of competition could kill insurance companies. It would drive down costs so much that insurance would be a bad deal for all but the most expensive and cutting edge treatments.
Gonna be interesting watching the courts twist themselves into a pretzel coming up with a justification for why this info needs to be kept secret.
HOORAY Chief. More winning. Ain’t no ways tarred.
This is a VERY GOOD thing.
“The sweeping changes face stiff pushback from the health care industry.....”
Not to mention the Representatives and Senators who receive payola in return for giving the healthcare INDUSTRY carte blanche.
This is good. I was self-employed/insured for most of the last 20 years and since I was a cash customer, the physicals/basic tests I needed (blessed with only needing that) were negotiated up front and at a cheaper price than charged to those with insurance. My doctor was pretty cool about it, he made money and didn’t have to do any paper work.
"What do you mean, $10 for a single Tylenol? Can't I just bring one in from home instead?"
“Disclosure requirements for hospitals would not take effect until 2021; for insurers, the timing is unclear.”
Why wait two years? Why not now? In two years every liberal federal judge will have ruled against it.
I think flat co-pays should be illegal because they make the total cost of the service irrelevant to the consumer.
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 lot of rates. Do they publish all? Rates are different for cash patients and also different for different insurance companies depending on the contract.
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 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.
“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 ...
Yep - wife just had a lot of stuff done at Ochsners.
Medicare/Tricare statements show a huge variance in what is charged and what is allowed.
These days, since it’s so entangled with insurance, they inflate charges by multiples and let insurance companies establish the going rates as far as what they will pay....
I used to think it was a lot cheaper (as far as what was charged/paid) to pay direct and outside the insurance system - I’d wager one who does that actually overpays 2-3 times what a service should actually cost - even at the ‘discount’ rate.
I bet dentists love those of us who just pay for cleanings instead of carrying dental insurance....