4 ms·

Thing is, this was self-pay for a single routine lab test. It's the simplest possible scenario.

randall 7y ago
Which nobody is prepared for because they’re used to the Byzantine style.
noelsusman 7y ago
So few people self pay that hospitals just aren't set up to make the experience make sense. All of their resources are devoted to dealing with insurers and the government.
- Broken_Hippo 7y ago
  Sure, few people self-pay for the entire thing. Many, many people pay a deductible, though. Many people pay a copayment. For these, you can still quote the cash price, I would thing, or give a range for what the entire thing costs, explaining the range is because of insurance discounts. In the age of modern tech, this shouldn't be a big deal.
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    I had an appointment that was billed at $400, if I recall correctly, while one insurance allowed $140 and another $70. That's the total cost, none of which was paid by insurance due to a large deductible. LabCorp I think has been similarly marked down from hundreds to tens, although I don't remember numbers. I don't think it's uncommon to have the official price be multiples of what's reasonable just in case someone might pay it. A long time ago, I was told that a local hospital automatically gave half off if you paid cash. But that could well be gouging relative to insurance or Medicare.
EpicEng 7y ago
That is not the simplest scenario for the people you were asking for information. Their process isn't optimized for that because almost no one does it.
wil421 7y ago
Couldn’t you have called Labcorp and got the test from a lab? My doctor doesn’t do any lab testing. It goes to the lab in my county that’s connected to the hospital or to lab corp.
- frankharv 7y ago
  My father has been monitoring his calcium levels and uses Labcorp directly. It is great that you can cut out the middleman. They draw blood right there and you can view your results very quickly online. This process is a hidden gem in our bloated system. Go directly to the lab. Now obviously this is just for health maintenance and dietary checkups. Not to many people are aware that you can go right to the lab directly.
  - perl4ever 7y ago
    What? Who doesn't go "directly" to Labcorp? They have obviously cut costs to the bone, but that makes me nervous. They have basically one person per location who does everything, and I worry that they are too stressed/tired/burned out/disgruntled to do their job right. I heard something years ago about a medical lab that was just throwing out all their samples and using a simple statistical model to return results. That's what you can get if you are just rewarding efficiency.
- istjohn 7y ago
  Ultimately, yes, I went to an independent lab that quoted me a price over the phone on the spot.

Which nobody is prepared for because they’re used to the Byzantine style.

So few people self pay that hospitals just aren't set up to make the experience make sense. All of their resources are devoted to dealing with insurers and the government.

Broken_Hippo 7y ago
Sure, few people self-pay for the entire thing. Many, many people pay a deductible, though. Many people pay a copayment. For these, you can still quote the cash price, I would thing, or give a range for what the entire thing costs, explaining the range is because of insurance discounts. In the age of modern tech, this shouldn't be a big deal.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  I had an appointment that was billed at $400, if I recall correctly, while one insurance allowed $140 and another $70. That's the total cost, none of which was paid by insurance due to a large deductible. LabCorp I think has been similarly marked down from hundreds to tens, although I don't remember numbers. I don't think it's uncommon to have the official price be multiples of what's reasonable just in case someone might pay it. A long time ago, I was told that a local hospital automatically gave half off if you paid cash. But that could well be gouging relative to insurance or Medicare.

EpicEng 7y ago

That is not the simplest scenario for the people you were asking for information. Their process isn't optimized for that because almost no one does it.

wil421 7y ago

Couldn’t you have called Labcorp and got the test from a lab? My doctor doesn’t do any lab testing. It goes to the lab in my county that’s connected to the hospital or to lab corp.

frankharv 7y ago
My father has been monitoring his calcium levels and uses Labcorp directly. It is great that you can cut out the middleman. They draw blood right there and you can view your results very quickly online. This process is a hidden gem in our bloated system. Go directly to the lab. Now obviously this is just for health maintenance and dietary checkups. Not to many people are aware that you can go right to the lab directly.
- perl4ever 7y ago
  What? Who doesn't go "directly" to Labcorp? They have obviously cut costs to the bone, but that makes me nervous. They have basically one person per location who does everything, and I worry that they are too stressed/tired/burned out/disgruntled to do their job right. I heard something years ago about a medical lab that was just throwing out all their samples and using a simple statistical model to return results. That's what you can get if you are just rewarding efficiency.
istjohn 7y ago
Ultimately, yes, I went to an independent lab that quoted me a price over the phone on the spot.