Trump administration to require hospitals to reveal discounted prices they give insurers

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

meanwhile back at the bat cave . If only the dems could interrupt their 3 year witch hunt to help with stuff like this and prescription drug prices 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/trump-administration-to-require-hospitals-to-reveal-discounted-prices-they-give-insurers

[Steeleballz 7,550]

On 11/15/2019 at 9:48 AM, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

meanwhile back at the bat cave . If only the dems could interrupt their 3 year witch hunt to help with stuff like this and prescription drug prices 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/trump-administration-to-require-hospitals-to-reveal-discounted-prices-they-give-insurers

 

    Knowing the price that hospitals and insurance negotiate is not really that helpful, but it is a start I guess. It would help some people.

 

   I would rather they start thinking bigger picture here. What they really need to do is make it feasible (cost wise) for people to start getting health insurance outside of employment. Ultimately get rid of employer based health coverage altogether. Until they do that, most people are stuck with the choices their employer offers, they are ultimately limited by that. You will have a limited network available for many plans.  

 

  What would also help is legislation that caps the price hospitals can charge uninsured/underinsured people. If they will do a procedure for $2000 reimbursement from Cigna, why does an uninsured person get billed $30000 for the same procedure? What else actually works that way? There have been legislative attempts at doing this, but the lobby resistance is intense.   

[yuna628 9,700]

I already know what the hospital charges the insurance vs what they paid out. It was outlined clearly in my bills and I've never seen a hospital bill that hasn't done this. It doesn't really help me at all to know this, I feel bad enough that the person who rummaged around my insides barely made anything, meanwhile the hospital facility made pay-dirt.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

Just now, yuna628 said:

I already know what the hospital charges the insurance vs what they paid out. It was outlined clearly in my bills and I've never seen a hospital bill that hasn't done this. It doesn't really help me at all to know this, I feel bad enough that the person who rummaged around my insides barely made anything, meanwhile the hospital facility made pay-dirt.

 

  I think the legislation is more aimed at being able to get this information in advance. Theoretically then, you could shop around for the best price. In practice though, most people can't really do that, because the health insurance you have dictates where you can go. My insurance already does this. It's cheaper to go to the hospital system I work at, so that's what I do. I could choose to go to other doctors in network who are affiliated with different hospitals, but the cost will be more. So it's not really the same as being able to shop around, because I only get to choose from the options my employer offers. Which is really only one option. To choose any other health care plan would mean declining an employment "benefit", which is that the employers pays ~70% of the premium costs. 

[yuna628 9,700]

5 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

  I think the legislation is more aimed at being able to get this information in advance. Theoretically then, you could shop around for the best price. In practice though, most people can't really do that, because the health insurance you have dictates where you can go. My insurance already does this. It's cheaper to go to the hospital system I work at, so that's what I do. I could choose to go to other doctors in network who are affiliated with different hospitals, but the cost will be more. So it's not really the same as being able to shop around, because I only get to choose from the options my employer offers. Which is really only one option. To choose any other health care plan would mean declining an employment "benefit", which is that the employers pays ~70% of the premium costs. 

I think that's only practical to do if you're going to have an elective procedure though. I mean, when my dad was in the hospital I certainly wasn't thinking about ''excuse me good surgeon, how much will this hospital charge to save his life and keep him in the ICU?" you know? Most people are heading to the hospital for actual emergencies I hope. Most plans have ''in network'' facilities and doctors, though mine doesn't restrict where I can go to the hospital or what doctor I pick, so long as other facilities like labs are in network. I guess what I'm saying is.. I don't care to shop around, I am elective in choosing a hospital with doctors I am confident in (as in NEVER go to the local hospital, they will kill you vs going to the next state over or taking the long drive to B'more). I want to know how competent the doctor is for elective' things, not how cheap he is.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

2 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

I think that's only practical to do if you're going to have an elective procedure though. I mean, when my dad was in the hospital I certainly wasn't thinking about ''excuse me good surgeon, how much will this hospital charge to save his life and keep him in the ICU?" you know? Most people are heading to the hospital for actual emergencies I hope. Most plans have ''in network'' facilities and doctors, though mine doesn't restrict where I can go to the hospital or what doctor I pick, so long as other facilities like labs are in network. I guess what I'm saying is.. I don't care to shop around, I am elective in choosing a hospital with doctors I am confident in (as in NEVER go to the local hospital, they will kill you vs going to the next state over or taking the long drive to B'more). I want to know how competent the doctor is for elective' things, not how cheap he is.

 

  I agree, and as I said, even then it's limited. For an elective procedure, it doesn't really help me to know that a certain hospital is cheaper if I can't choose the insurance that they negotiate that price with. This is more of a feel good attempt at legislation. It looks like they are doing something, but unfortunately they are not really. Also unfortunate is that there are so many other asinine aspects of the health care system that they could be looking at improving.  

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Good replies @yuna628 and @Steeleballz.

 

My input,  based on insurance after the fact, is approximately 10-12% of what is charged is what was paid on my behalf.  If I ever have to pay out of pocket, that will be where I begin my negotiations.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

 

    Prescription drug cost  legislation coming up next.  I really hope they get this one done.

[Nature Boy 2.0 8,378]

3 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

    Prescription drug cost  legislation coming up next.  I really hope they get this one done.

They are too preoccupied with impeaching Trump for the last 2 years. 

On 11/16/2019 at 7:47 PM, Steeleballz said:

 

  I agree, and as I said, even then it's limited. For an elective procedure, it doesn't really help me to know that a certain hospital is cheaper if I can't choose the insurance that they negotiate that price with. This is more of a feel good attempt at legislation. It looks like they are doing something, but unfortunately they are not really. Also unfortunate is that there are so many other asinine aspects of the health care system that they could be looking at improving.  

I think the end game is that if you dont have insurance you can pay the negotiated rate

[Steeleballz 7,550]

26 minutes ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

I think the end game is that if you dont have insurance you can pay the negotiated rate

 

    We have that here (state law). It applies if your income is less than 250% of the federal poverty rate. For a single person, that's great if you make 30K a year, but sucks if you make 31K. Hopefully they can come up with something better.

[yuna628 9,700]

19 hours ago, ALFKAD said:

Good replies @yuna628 and @Steeleballz.

 

My input,  based on insurance after the fact, is approximately 10-12% of what is charged is what was paid on my behalf.  If I ever have to pay out of pocket, that will be where I begin my negotiations.

I didn't have a choice negotiating anything when I didn't have insurance. It was ''pay this or go to collections'', and even when I did pay it they still mistakenly sent me to collections.

 

12 hours ago, Nature Boy 2.0 said:

I think the end game is that if you dont have insurance you can pay the negotiated rate

A lot of states already have this though. The fallacy though is that the negotiated rate is somehow the cheapest rate the consumer could pay or even the fairest rate for the service provided (it's not). https://www.medicaleconomics.com/medical-economics-blog/fallacy-claims-data-and-negotiated-rate

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

53 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

I didn't have a choice negotiating anything when I didn't have insurance. It was ''pay this or go to collections'', and even when I did pay it they still mistakenly sent me to collections.

 

A lot of states already have this though. The fallacy though is that the negotiated rate is somehow the cheapest rate the consumer could pay or even the fairest rate for the service provided (it's not). https://www.medicaleconomics.com/medical-economics-blog/fallacy-claims-data-and-negotiated-rate

I understand.   The negotiations happen after billing, sadly, once you are already on the hook.  But in my father's dealings with my mom's exhaustive and incredibly high bills,  he was able to negotiate one down to about 5%, and another was written off completely (somewhere north of $150,000, and he lives on SS only).