4 ms·

There's also the fact that consumers are not aware of the price of the services until (and only sometimes) after the services have been rendered. Noone ever go

There's also the fact that consumers are not aware of the price of the services until (and only sometimes) after the services have been rendered. Noone ever goes into a restaurant, orders a bowl of soup, eats it, and then becomes mortified upon receiving a bill of $250. People find out how much the soup costs before they order it. And any medical system that is going to price operations reasonably will probably have people doing the same for their tongue tie operations.

qrbLPHiKpiux 9y ago
People don’t know what, or who, to ask. I have declined treatment until I knew what I would pay for it. I’m looking at you, you Anesthesiologists.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  When my wife needed an emergency C-section, I couldn’t schedule a conversation with the chargemaster to price shop. I just assumed I’d either negotiate once the bill came in the mail or file for bankruptcy, depending on the total amount due.
  - mac01021 9y ago
    > I couldn’t schedule a conversation with the chargemaster to price shop. Nor should you. In emergency situations where you would be willing to pay almost anything there's really nothing you can do. I don't think such situations are a majority of medical care though. In all the other, nonemergency situations, it should be way easier to price shop, and obvious before-the-fact what your insurance provider will agree to cover.
u801e 9y ago
> Noone ever goes into a restaurant, orders a bowl of soup, eats it, and then becomes mortified upon receiving a bill of $250. Another problem is that even if you have the exact CPT or ICD codes for the procedure/lab and call the place to inquire about the price, the best you can get is that they will get back to you after several days and give you an approximate figure. To extend the analogy quoted above: No one ever calls a restaurant, inquires about the price of a bowl of a particular type of soup, and has to wait for several days for the restaurant to get back to them and say it could cost anywhere from $100 to $300.
- mac01021 9y ago
  Agreed. This is the sort of issue that regulations will need to address if we're to eliminate the systematic overcharging that goes on.

qrbLPHiKpiux 9y ago

People don’t know what, or who, to ask. I have declined treatment until I knew what I would pay for it. I’m looking at you, you Anesthesiologists.

toomuchtodo 9y ago
When my wife needed an emergency C-section, I couldn’t schedule a conversation with the chargemaster to price shop. I just assumed I’d either negotiate once the bill came in the mail or file for bankruptcy, depending on the total amount due.
- mac01021 9y ago
  > I couldn’t schedule a conversation with the chargemaster to price shop. Nor should you. In emergency situations where you would be willing to pay almost anything there's really nothing you can do. I don't think such situations are a majority of medical care though. In all the other, nonemergency situations, it should be way easier to price shop, and obvious before-the-fact what your insurance provider will agree to cover.

u801e 9y ago

> Noone ever goes into a restaurant, orders a bowl of soup, eats it, and then becomes mortified upon receiving a bill of $250. Another problem is that even if you have the exact CPT or ICD codes for the procedure/lab and call the place to inquire about the price, the best you can get is that they will get back to you after several days and give you an approximate figure. To extend the analogy quoted above: No one ever calls a restaurant, inquires about the price of a bowl of a particular type of soup, and has to wait for several days for the restaurant to get back to them and say it could cost anywhere from $100 to $300.

mac01021 9y ago
Agreed. This is the sort of issue that regulations will need to address if we're to eliminate the systematic overcharging that goes on.