[KukicAdnan]

We need price transparency!

Went to a quick care the other day because of a flu that would not go away, was seen and diagnosed with bronchitis in less than 5 minutes. The quick care billed my insurance $1,840, which they talked down to $300, and had me pay $115. What?

[swebs]

Crazy, that's the price you would have paid at Minute Clinic without insurance.

https://www.cvs.com/minuteclinic/services/price-lists

[KukicAdnan]

Yep. I don't mind paying the $116, but the disparity in pricing is so ridiculous. It's like throwing darts at a board and saying "Pay us this much"

[marklabedz]

Which is why my first response to almost any medical invoice, is "Would you take ["total"]*0.5 to settle the bill?"

[sobani]

From what I've understood from /r/personalfinance, you can probably get away with an initial offer of 5-10% of the billed price.

[vonmoltke]

The "discounts" shown on my explanations of benefits are absurd. My current record is a 94% "discount" from list price for a particular test.

[skolos]

This kind of stuff is even more ridiculous with higher cost procedures: course of radiation therapy to treat cancer - in network hospital sends bill for more than $1m, insurance pays about $3k, bills nothing to patient.

[topicseed]

From the UK. Health care cost stories in the US seem incredibly dreadful. Hard to grasp how a huge power like the US can't get itself around decently-priced healthcare.

[bluGill]

It is incentives. Most people get their heath care from insurance, which is subsidized by their job. I can legally buy my own insurance, but it will cost a lot more than what I pay through work so of course I don't. My boss wants me to keep working, and so high medical costs keep me from quiting to start my on competitive business. I can live for a couple years on cheap food and little else, but I need at least emergency health coverage as a just in case.

Lack of transparent prices is one tool the system has to ensure I don't have any other option.

[TheSoftwareGuy]

> I can legally buy my own insurance, but it will cost a lot more than what I pay through work so of course I don't.

Which is entirely frustrating too. This only happens because employers only subsidize specific health plans, instead of letting the employee spend that money on the health plan that they deem best for themselves. Isn't that ridiculous? Why would my employer care what health insurance I get anyways, they don't know my health situation. I should be able to use the money they spend on my health insurance however I want!

[lotsofpulp]

> Why would my employer care what health insurance I get anyways,

Two reasons.

One is that it gives people pause before leaving for another job, as they might have to figure out new healthcare providers.

Second is that it gives larger employers the benefit of paying less for insurance, especially if their employee group consists of younger healthier white collar workers. It also helps them because businesses can pay for health insurance with pre tax dollars, which helps compete against small businesses that can’t afford to pay for health insurance for employees, whose employees have to pay for their own health insurance with after tax money.

[madamelic]

>Hard to grasp how a huge power like the US can't get itself around decently-priced healthcare.

To be honest, it's not that hard to figure out.

The US gov't largely believes itself is ineffective and needs to be privatized and ran like a business. Private businesses are held up as beacons of innovation and efficiency without the "red tape" the gov't has due to purposefully created checks, balances and regulations.

Hence why we elected a CEO, albeit a massive failure of one, but a CEO regardless.

[sol_remmy2]

> The US gov't largely believes itself is ineffective and needs to be privatized and ran like a business. Private businesses are held up as beacons of innovation and efficiency without the "red tape" the gov't has due to purposefully created checks, balances and regulations.

The medical system is really not private. It is a hybrid of a state-controlled system and a capitalistic system. Here are some ways of how the system is state-controlled:

1. Hospitals cannot be freely constructed. One must apply for a "certificate of need" to gain permission from the government to build a hospital. This is not a free market.

2. Credentialism is BAD in our medical system. There is only one group of people approved by the government to do prescribe most medications and perform most surgeries - doctors. This is not a free market and greatly increase costs. Doctors earn a median of 300k/year and are the highest paid profession in every state. This is not a free market.

3. Hospitals are legally forced to treat anyone who shows up at their door - even if they can't afford the treatment. This is not a free market.

4. Medicare/Medicaid are forced to nearly buy any drug, regardless of cost, if it could save a live. Even if a drug is 500k/year, the system is forced to buy it. This is not a free market and greatly increases costs.

[vonmoltke]

> 4. Medicare/Medicaid are forced to nearly buy any drug, regardless of cost, if it could save a live. Even if a drug is 500k/year, the system is forced to buy it. This is not a free market and greatly increases costs.

No, they aren't. Medicare Part D plans are not required to cover any particular drugs, though what they choose to cover is subject to approval by CMS.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Part_D#Plan_formulari...

[tsimionescu]

Maybe, but those (perhaps except the first one) are absolute requirements for a functioning system.

If a market based solution can't work with these restrictions, then the obvious conclusion is that you have to give up on market-based healthcare, not that you have to allow anyone to prescribe medicine, or have hospitals which won't treat dying people because they can't pay.

[wil421]

My wife had a baby in September and had to return after one night home for high blood pressure.

Total bill $55k. After insurance it was $6k. We paid $250 out of pocket.

[refurb]

I know the stories abound, but I had an MRI done at UCSF that they billed $18,000 for. I think insurance paid $15,000.

There are multiple, standalone private MRI clinics in the US that will do the same MRI for $1,500.

Really UCSF? You’re a part of the problem.