[jen_h]

Or worse, some providers won't even provide care if you are a high deductible insured person paying cash.

On more than one occasion after having an appointment scheduled, and mentioning to the provider that we have a high deductible, doctors' office staff have changed their stories and claim that they didn't accept our insurance or that they weren't accepting new patients (after already putting family members "into the book" for an appointment, even; one provider used one excuse after another, despite prominently advertising in the local paper that they are looking for new patients and "accept all insurance"). Another office actually claimed that the doctor had gone to lunch and wouldn't be back for 3 hours...immediately after I told her our deductible amount--her mouth dropped open and she ran back into the back and came back with the lunch story. I don't understand it, because I offered to pay up front and the care was always for simple issues that never would have hit the deductible nor broken the bank anyway (a flu in one case, a basic checkup and blood tests in another). I assume it's illegal, too, otherwise the universal response wouldn't be a stammered excuse.

This kind of behavior does help to weed out bad doctors/doctor's offices (net good, I guess?), but in a situation where your issue isn't bad/acute enough for the emergency room and not forestallable enough to wait a month to get an appointment for a good doctor, it's really frustrating.

Luckily, there's a nice urgent care locally with prices on the walls, accepts real money and even gives a cash discount, and handles the basics...but for traditional/specialist doctor's visits, I no longer offer up any information about the fact that the deductible is high and we're paying for services ourselves before the appointment.