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Insurance _never_ pays as much as they bill. This is one of the reasons to have it in the first place: each insurance company has negotiated rates with the hosp
by m0zg 7y ago
Insurance _never_ pays as much as they bill. This is one of the reasons to have it in the first place: each insurance company has negotiated rates with the hospitals. Even if you have high deductible, you'll still be getting negotiated rates, not the bullshit they (try to) charge people with no insurance at all. IMO, this is one thing that should be made totally illegal, no matter where one lands on the political spectrum: cash customers should be "favored", meaning cash price must match or be lower than the lowest insurance negotiated rate for each procedure. Anything else is just stupid and unfair. That way if the insurance pays five cents for the paper cup the pills come in, you can't charge fucking 13 dollars for the same thing if I pay cash.
- munk-a 7y agoI agree and find it utterly outrageous. I'm lucky enough to have avoided any hospitalizations in my adult life, but I am quite familiar with this BS on the pharmaceutical side, in another comment on this article[1] I broke down that "preferred partner" price difference as I experienced it personally and it is insane that these pricing differences are allowed to continue. Also, bear in mind it's not just patients paying in cash - all these rules also apply to anyone unlucky enough to be treated out of network, even if it's just because they were brought to the wrong hospital while unconscious. 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22550564 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22550564