[erentz]

Better to say the fair price is 10-50% of the chargemaster. But if you’re not an insurance company and the hospital refuses to negotiate it down then that is the price you face.

(Source: we were billed $16,666.30 for 30g of IVIG after being told it would cost around $2,000 if insurance didn’t cover it. Actual insurance rate would be $2,850 but the hospital won’t negotiate.)

[yellowapple]

It was my understanding that the chargemaster prices are the ones defaulted to so that the insurers pay them, and that for individuals (e.g. uninsured) they'll be more willing to negotiate it down to 10-50%.

Or at least that's what I gleaned from the billing side during my stint in healthcare IT. Possible that we were an outlier, or (most likely) I just misunderstood.

[jtbayly]

Out of network insurers only, I think. In network has their own negotiated price of between 10-50%.

Uninsured rates of discount vary dramatically. From none to 90% or more.

[jtbayly]

It is an incredibly abnormal for a hospital to be unwilling to negotiate. It is quite normal to be given prices ahead of time that have no connection to reality.

[Mtinie]

> It is quite normal to be given prices ahead of time that have no connection to reality.

Why is this acceptable?

(You aren’t advocating for it, and are only “the messenger”, so I’m not critical of your comment, simply that it even happens.)

[jtbayly]

Because everything was set up for the consumer to not care what the prices are. Because doctors bill separately from the hospital. Because the pricing depends on so many variables. Lots of reasons, sadly. But this is a (small) step in the right direction.