The other day, I had an experience that raised a number of questions for me about the prevalent mindset that, even before FHer-care's passage, seems to have characterized health care in our country, and the blurring of clear free-market dynamics.
I went to see our family physician to discuss a few issues. Nothing major, and he just recommended a regimen of Vitamin D and a few minerals. Didn't prescribe anything.
After our visit, I went to the front-office lady to check out. She told me the visit would be $85, which I knew beforehand and had brought with me. I started to get my wallet, and she asked, "Do we have an insurance card on file with you?" I responded, "Boy, I don't know." She checked, and they didn't, so she took the information from my Assurant Health card. I told her, "Now, that's just a catastrophic-care policy." She said, "I know, but let's see if they'll pay any of it."
I thought, I came prepared to pay you eighty-five dollars in cash. Doesn't your practice prefer cash as a form of compensation?
Perhaps there's some esoteric missing element in the situation, but I'm not seeing it at present.
Does anybody have any insight into why the office lady was so quick to encourage me to see if insurance would pay for a simple consultation I was perfectly ready to pay for on the spot?
You know they charge self pay more. Your insurance may have negotiated the bill down to around $50.00, not sure how these catastrophic policies work, but there is also a deductible which the company should be made aware of the payment which can be applied towards the deductible.
ReplyDeleteBut consider that against ongoing monthly premiums, which are hefty. I guess one would have to run the numbers to see if that's a value-added feature of my policy.
ReplyDeleteAlso consider the time that will be spent by both me and this office lady communicating if I still need to do anything. I dunno. I'm just a firm believer in paying for anything with crisp green tangible money whenever possible. Why couldn't the doctor's practice just charge what the insurance company might negotiate it down to in the first place and save everybody a lot of time?
ReplyDeleteI dunno, but I too found out you are double screwed when you have to self-pay. The help at the doctors office treat you like a leper when you say you are self-pay. Haven't they heard about the millions of uninsured in this country? Watch out, now you might have a preexisting condition like anemia that carriers will want to charge you more for or to deny you coverage for it.
ReplyDeleteThis lady treated me cheerfully and cordially, but I have heard stories. Whaddup w/ that? As is my main point with this whole post, I'm handing you cash, people.
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