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I never asked for procedure codes and it’s possible that since Obamacare, health care has gotten so bureaucratic and regulated that it’s no longer possible to d

I never asked for procedure codes and it’s possible that since Obamacare, health care has gotten so bureaucratic and regulated that it’s no longer possible to do what I did. I never dealt with “procedure codes” and we didn’t have insurance. I just called the doctors office after finding out surgery was needed but before it was scheduled to get a cash estimate for the procedure and negotiate the price, and we made a deal, and then during one of the pre-op consults the doctor herself gave us a new written estimate with even more of a discount. For a different procedure, a different surgeon just gave us an estimate based on the insurance rate and when I asked if he could do more, he just said, “well if you do XYZ for the rest of your life you could just not have the surgery” and walked away like a rock star. Which is fine, hilarious in retrospect, but the insurance rate was enough of a discount and his point was valid.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
That might happen with elective stuff like LASIK, but nowadays, I doubt any healthcare providers that are part of larger groups would play ball. As far as I can see, all the hospital systems are combining, doctor groups are combining, and you never negotiate with a doctor directly at these places. The doctor sells their labor to the company, the company sells healthcare to the public, and you deal with the billing department about any money issues. I know the doctors are monitored for how much revenue they are generating which corresponds to the CPT codes and whatnot they use, so everything is billed based on that.
- philwelch 6y ago
  Yeah, it seems like the landscape has changed a lot unless you opt out of the system entirely like Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
binarymax 6y ago
Billing has been screwed up long before the ACA. Source: I used to write billing code calculation software.

lotsofpulp 6y ago

That might happen with elective stuff like LASIK, but nowadays, I doubt any healthcare providers that are part of larger groups would play ball. As far as I can see, all the hospital systems are combining, doctor groups are combining, and you never negotiate with a doctor directly at these places. The doctor sells their labor to the company, the company sells healthcare to the public, and you deal with the billing department about any money issues. I know the doctors are monitored for how much revenue they are generating which corresponds to the CPT codes and whatnot they use, so everything is billed based on that.

philwelch 6y ago
Yeah, it seems like the landscape has changed a lot unless you opt out of the system entirely like Surgery Center of Oklahoma.

binarymax 6y ago

Billing has been screwed up long before the ACA. Source: I used to write billing code calculation software.