Are you paying more for medical services if you have no insurance?

by Brian White (Subscribe to Brian White's posts)
Oct 2nd 2007 12:01PM

Do you find yourself paying more for regular doctor visits and other medical services if you pay for them yourself? For those that are self-paying customers or prefer to not have insurance, do you think you pay unreasonable prices for medical services?

In many cases, this is the case. I am sure there is a economic and volume reason why doctors who are members of several insurance networks charge more to patients who prefer to pay themselves, but is this fair? Much of life is full of unfairness these days, but why charge patients different amounts based on who is paying the tab?

I'm interested in hearing form the self-employed and others who may have experienced paying higher prices for medical services based on how you actually pay for those services. Have you experienced this, and how do you know you are paying higher prices?

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Comments (2)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

amandacbauer 10-02-2007 @ 2:01PM

Here's the way it works.

Hospitals work with a number of insurance companies. Each insurance company will reimburse a different percentage of the cost of a proceedure. Therefore, hospitals adjust the price they charge to make sure that, on average, they get enough money to cover their costs. That price becomes the set price for whoever walks in, whether they have insurance or not.

FitBuff - Total Mind and Body Fitness 10-02-2007 @ 4:19PM

I'm having surgery at the end of the month, and here is how the breakdown of the bill/services invoice goes:

If I had just walked in with no insurance, the operation would cost $19,000!

But, out of that $19,000 only $4,000 is "insurance allowable," meaning exactly what you said: The doctors lower the price CONSIDERABLY, because the insurance company isn't going to be fooled into paying more than they have to.

So, I will be paying $800 total out of pocket, but someone who didn't have insurance would be forced to pay the full 19,000!