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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byosgeek ( 239988 ) writes:
There's no incentive for doctors to be judicious in testing since they send the bills to the insurance company. There's no incentives for the patients to undergo less testing, since they never see the bills.
Do patients know what the charges are for various tests before they get them? No. They can't participate in any meaningful way in the whole process.
Only when doctors start putting costs in front of patients and when patients have to make decisions about how they spend their health care dollars will th
bystewbacca ( 1033764 ) writes:
Myth. I have a high deductible health plan (HDHP) that is supposed to give me options and leverage. Instead, I get the same ridiculous prices by every doctor (because they are like cable companies) but I get to pay $5000 out of pocket instead of $500 with a traditional HMO. Most doctors won't even take my HDHP. HDHP is a libertarian/republican wet dream that simply doesn't work in the real wold, because there IS no competition, and there IS no flexibility in pricing.
byosgeek ( 239988 ) writes:
You didn't at all understand what I said. High deductibles don't get you any kind of transparent pricing from a doctor. They don't get you any kind of leverage in the situation. That's all determined by private pricing between doctors and insurance companies. You are a minor percentage of your doctor's business and he has no need to cater to your needs because he's protected by insurance companies and the laws that they've helped write to force most people to go to their employers for the one size fits all plans that make insurance companies the most money.
I recently was researching getting a vasectomy. The doctors that I went to each had done thousands of them, yet their offices could NOT tell me what the procedure would cost. No clue. How was I supposed to make an informed decision to even fund my FSA without being able to get a price on a procedure that's routine? What, the doctor's office couldn't look at the last dozen bills they sent out and give me a range? You think the doctor and insurance company weren't excruciatingly aware of the costs and charges for the doctor's most commonly performed procedure? If you went in to a auto shop and they couldn't tell you what it cost to get your brake pads replaced, you'd turn around and walk back out.
I honestly don't think we'll get a level playing field between patients and insurance companies without legislation that forces doctors to treat walk-in patients with the same level of negotiating leverage and transparency as the insurance companies.
You even mentioned that most doctors won't even take your plan. That alone shows that you didn't get it. If a doctor doesn't even have to accept your high deductible personal health plan then something in the system is broken. There's institutional collusion between doctors and insurance companies that current health care legislation supports in every way. It needs to be torn down and replaced with something that allows transparency, accountability, choice, efficiency, and effectiveness for each citizen.
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bystewbacca ( 1033764 ) writes:
I think I figured out the problem. I meant to say "myth" to this:
Only when doctors start putting costs in front of patients and when patients have to make decisions about how they spend their health care dollars will this entire situation begin to be reined in.
Myth, as in it's a myth to ever believe doctors will ever start putting costs in front of us so we can make better choices.
The intent with HDHPs is we are supposedly given bargaining power to shop around with our money. Reality is there is no such bargaining power because doctors are just like cable companies. No competition. It's even worse, there IS no price transparency like the HDHP advocates proclaim...the price is the price. My wife h
byAK Marc ( 707885 ) writes:
For my company insurance, they gave us the choice of PPO with $500 deductible, or HDHP with $2500 deductible and they'd write you a check for $2500. Yes, the HDHP plan was more than $2500 cheaper, so the HDHP with deductible fully funded was cheaper than the PPO plan (the only two offered). And, if you didn't use it (I was a single guy with no expected costs, and didn't spend much), you'd get to bank it tax-free in an HSA.
bystewbacca ( 1033764 ) writes:
The allure of the HDHP is supposed to be for people who don't use medical that much AND the pre-tax withholding benefit.
A couple problems, though. My HDHP deductible is $5k for a family, my company only contributes $1000. So that means the first $4k worth of doctor visits are on me. EVERY single dollar from EVERY medical bill up to $4,000 is on me. Not many families have that kind of money available (every year it resets, mind you). Sure, I can put away money with the pre-tax benefit, but that's still $4k
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