Nope. I had quite a lengthy discussion with the gal about it, and then with the dr himself. No insurance = 50% of their insured charge. I can send you a copy if you like.
Is there a different gross charge for a given procedure for an uninsured patient than there is for an insured patient? If so that is fishy and possibly illegal. Or is the doc discounting the charge for the un-insured patient at a greater rate than the contractual discount your insurance company has negotiated? Whatever the case it is really strange.
You may remember my previous insurance company, Willis Knighton Health Systems, went out of business. We now have BCBS out of Alabama. The deductibles are so high that, if not for hospitalization, it hardly makes sense to pay the several hundred dollars per month. A regular doctor visit costs about $150 each time until we reach our deductible of about $1500 for the family. Our kids do not go to the doctor often and we'll probably go the whole year without reaching our deductible. If we didn't have insurance, the few visits we make would only cost around $80. We're spending about $1000 more than we have to each year, on top of what I pay each paycheck for insurance, just so we can have the hospitalization. To be fair, there is no deductible for prescriptions. My daughter needed an antibiotic last week that I had to pay $20 for. Without insurance that single weeks worth of medicine would have cost $218. We don't fill enough prescriptions per year to offset the cost of insurance but it helps on the single high cost items. Regardless, during the course of a normal year, it would be much less expensive to not have insurance. But, you have to be prepared for the unfortunate chance that someone in your family may need hospitalization. If there was open competition for insurance, across state lines, I would dump BCBS in a heartbeat and purchase a plan that made more sense for my family's needs.
i thought generally uninsured are denied treatment unless its emergency. the dr can do what they want but no one (gov) is forcing a discount. there is a difference bw changes that provide coverage to 5% that didnt have it and decreasing the premiums to 5% that have coverage.
Anyone can choose to pay cash for treatment. The bill is actually a lot less if you are uninsured and choose to pay cash.
The doc is giving a 50% discount of the gross charge for an uninsured patient who pays cash. My insurance co. has negotiated a discount of 18%.
This is pretty much our story Salty, except that our deductible is 2500 and we don't get a separate deductible for prescriptions. I had to pay full price for the 2 Rx's I got for Haley last week.
