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by bengebre
4721 days ago
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As someone with an High Deductible Healthcare Plan, I pay most medical costs out of pocket up to an annual limit. It's crazy that for such expensive services I NEVER know what my bill is going to be until months after the procedure has happened. I always try to guesstimate costs beforehand, but I've been off by an order of magnitude on more than one occasion. Having transparent pricing in the healthcare world, even if it was just an estimate, would help people with HDHPs immensely. |
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I get looked-at like I'm crazy when I try to explain my insurance and that I'd like to know more about the cost of a procedure or prescription before I agree to it.
I've always tried to just pay cash for services. Increasingly, though, I'm finding that providers are being put under exclusive contracts which prevent them from allowing me to pay cash. As soon as they find out who my insurer is they clam up, explain that they're under contract w/ that insurer, and say they can't give me cash pricing. It's doubly frustrating because they usually won't talk to me at all if I don't tell them who my insurer is. Catch-22.
The provider ends up billing my insurer who doesn't pay because I haven't reached my deductible. Then I get a bill from the provider, 4 - 6 weeks later. Sometimes the provider allows me to pay the "negotiated price" my insurer would have paid, but other times I've had to pay the full non-discounted amount.
What a screwed-up mess.