Labs Gone Wild

[VolAgent]

I've always been opposed to the idea that a lab can be "out of network". As a patient, the lab is chosen by the provider, and even if I could request a certain lab, who would even know this?

A $17,850 urine test: Industry boom amid opioid epidemic - CNN

 

[coaching4impact]

I saw this article yesterday and I agree! How could this happen? Does the Provider who ordered the Urine Test have NO RESPONSIBILITY?

 

[dorado]

I got some labs and their bill was couple of thousand dollars, EOB says insurance company negotiated pay less than $150. Great for me, but these lab are overcharging people with no or basic coverage!!!

 

[somarco]

these lab are overcharging people with no or basic coverage!!!

Nope.

It's an accounting illusion. Allows them to write down the "retail" when they collect little or nothing.

Hospitals and labs have a lot of deadbeats.

 

[dorado]

Make sense that they do it as a write off, but if someone goes with no insurance, will they be charged less too? I don’t think so. They will be charged the full price.

 

[somarco]

Billed charges don't matter. It is what they pay that is the issue.

How many people do you know that pay full sticker price on a car?

I take it you don't have much experience with health related claims.

 

[scagnt83]

Billed charges don't matter. It is what they pay that is the issue.

How many people do you know that pay full sticker price on a car?

I take it you don't have much experience with health related claims.

You don't negotiate the price of a car after you are billed for it.

Patients do not choose which lab is used. It should be mandatory that a doctor uses a lab that is in the same network as the patient. That is the bare minimum they could do.

This is a perfect example of how the current Healthcare System is anything but a free-market system. There is zero price transparency and zero competition at the consumer level. And it's been that way for decades.

 

[somarco]

You got me. True, no one negotiates the price of a car after they drive if off the lot. But I submit that almost no one pays sticker.

If someone who does NOT HAVE INSURANCE wants to negotiate the cost of their care they are free to do so. But if they have insurance the prices are pre-negotiated with par carriers.

I have no problem asking my doc which lab they will use. If it is not in network (which is rarely the case) I go somewhere else for my tests.

The folks who get stuck with unexpected medical and drug bills are the ones who never read or understood their coverage.

The biggest problem with the US health care system is too many people treating their insurance like a credit card that does not have an upper limit and they have no problem stiffing providers because they think the provider charges too much.

 

[scagnt83]

You got me. True, no one negotiates the price of a car after they drive if off the lot. But I submit that almost no one pays sticker.

If someone who does NOT HAVE INSURANCE wants to negotiate the cost of their care they are free to do so. But if they have insurance the prices are pre-negotiated with par carriers.

I have no problem asking my doc which lab they will use. If it is not in network (which is rarely the case) I go somewhere else for my tests.

The folks who get stuck with unexpected medical and drug bills are the ones who never read or understood their coverage.

The biggest problem with the US health care system is too many people treating their insurance like a credit card that does not have an upper limit and they have no problem stiffing providers because they think the provider charges too much.

On average, what % of the Cost of Care does unpaid bills account for?


The problem isnt unpaid bills. Its the layer upon layer or unconstrained cost that has built up in the system.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

The problem is that the majority do have insurance, and do not have the ability to negotiate or even be told the cost of care before being billed for it.

The consumer has been regulated out of making an informed choice. All the players involved have a vested interest in the cost of care increasing as fast as possible. And what can a consumer do when they cant even be told the cost when they ask?

 

[dorado]

The problems are the inflated costs of care and lack of transparency. I see this all the time. It is not the consumers.