[onemoreact]

In the US the insurance companies also negotiate the costs with various heath care providers. It's possible to pay 6,000$ / year in premiums, never hit your deductible so the insurance company does not pay anything out of pocket and still save money.

[bunderbunder]

Last time I saw a hard figure on it, which was admittedly a long time ago, was while I was working at an immediate care clinic. Uninsured folks were getting billed roughly 170% what insured folks were thanks to these negotiated rates.

[tptacek]

As someone who has paid out-of-pocket for an MRI (it needed to get done ASAP for logistical reasons and there was a bookkeeping screwup with my insurance): the markup for out-of-coverage services can be way way more than 170%.

[anarchotroll]

That's cause most of the people are insured and there is no pressure for lowering rates for the uninsured.

[tptacek]

Virtually everyone is insured as a side effect of being an employee at a company that provides access to a group health insurance plan as a benefit. This has the side effect of coupling people's jobs to their health insurance, which drastically reduces labor mobility.

[bunderbunder]

83% is certainly a large majority, but it is not "virtually everyone".

[tptacek]

The remainder in this statistic are covered by what? Medicare/medicaid? Private insurance? Co-op plans? Nothing at all?

[bunderbunder]

17% have no coverage at all.

56% get it from their employer, and 8% buy their own private insurance.

Source: US Census Bureau, 2009 figures http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p60-238.pdf (Starting on page 22)