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Fairfax Underground
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Gawd, what a rip-off
Posted by:
Olde Farte, II
()
Date: April 04, 2013 11:35AM
Not sure who is ripping off who but it's a rip-off for sure.
Just got a statement from my medical insurance about a bill they paid - in full. The lab tests (on blood) were billed at $204.87 and the blood-drawing itself was billed at $18.87 for a total "blood work" bill of $223.74.
The insurance company paid $19.91 total - and that is thus the entire bill per their agreement with the doctor's office and the lab.
Gack.
Those without insurance, of course, would literally have paid MORE than =eleven times= that $19.91 for the same service.
===========
Someone is setting prices WAY too high if those same prices can be discounted by 90% and everyone involved on the money side is still making a decent living.
Crazy - and THERE'S where a REAL healthcare fix is needed.
Just got a statement from my medical insurance about a bill they paid - in full. The lab tests (on blood) were billed at $204.87 and the blood-drawing itself was billed at $18.87 for a total "blood work" bill of $223.74.
The insurance company paid $19.91 total - and that is thus the entire bill per their agreement with the doctor's office and the lab.
Gack.
Those without insurance, of course, would literally have paid MORE than =eleven times= that $19.91 for the same service.
===========
Someone is setting prices WAY too high if those same prices can be discounted by 90% and everyone involved on the money side is still making a decent living.
Crazy - and THERE'S where a REAL healthcare fix is needed.
Re: Gawd, what a rip-off
Posted by:
ex-Lester
()
Date: April 04, 2013 11:43AM
Does the insurance company own the lab? I have Coventry insurance and they own Quest Diagnostics.
Perhaps the lab is reimbursed in another way than fee-for-service, such as an annual service contract with the insurer.
There are discount labs for blood work and imaging. You can get about 60-70% knocked off. You have to be self-pay and TOS billing.
Perhaps the lab is reimbursed in another way than fee-for-service, such as an annual service contract with the insurer.
There are discount labs for blood work and imaging. You can get about 60-70% knocked off. You have to be self-pay and TOS billing.
Re: Gawd, what a rip-off
Posted by:
ex-Lester
()
Date: April 04, 2013 11:45AM
About 90% of the work is getting diagnosed. The doctor mostly interprets the tet results and prescribes accordingly More people are going to site like privemdlabs.com to order their own tests. The results are clearly marked to show what the standard range (reference range) for values and whether there is an exception outside the range.
Re: Gawd, what a rip-off
Posted by:
Olde Farte, II
()
Date: April 04, 2013 11:56AM
ex-Lester Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> About 90% of the work is getting diagnosed. The
> doctor mostly interprets the test results and
> prescribes accordingly...
That's actually an interesting topic - the lab (Quest, albeit via BCBS) does the tests and generates a rather cool report that includes results of all the tests the doc wanted AND includes the appropriate "healthy" range of values for the tests for the patient in question (thus an old fart like myself has a certain range of healthy values that might be different from a female or young stud (...)).
So, by the time the doctor had called me up to discuss the results, I had already read over the lab report and seen where my own results fell w.r.t. what is considered "healthy" - that is, no direct doctor analysis involved with whether or not MY results were "good".
-------------------------------------------------------
> About 90% of the work is getting diagnosed. The
> doctor mostly interprets the test results and
> prescribes accordingly...
That's actually an interesting topic - the lab (Quest, albeit via BCBS) does the tests and generates a rather cool report that includes results of all the tests the doc wanted AND includes the appropriate "healthy" range of values for the tests for the patient in question (thus an old fart like myself has a certain range of healthy values that might be different from a female or young stud (...)).
So, by the time the doctor had called me up to discuss the results, I had already read over the lab report and seen where my own results fell w.r.t. what is considered "healthy" - that is, no direct doctor analysis involved with whether or not MY results were "good".
Re: Gawd, what a rip-off
Posted by:
ex-Lester
()
Date: April 04, 2013 12:16PM
Many doctors won't let the patient see the results. My dad's doctor was overprescribing medicines for mild diabetes and hypertension. When he was admitted to the local hospital for LBS (low blood sugar), the physician wrote out new prescriptions scaling back the dosages to the minimum levels, which is where they are to this day.
Some doctors may have financial incentives/motives to overprescribe. Once you're on a drug regimen, you have to have periodic 3-month follow-ups to get the next refill.
Some doctors may have financial incentives/motives to overprescribe. Once you're on a drug regimen, you have to have periodic 3-month follow-ups to get the next refill.
Re: Gawd, what a rip-off
Posted by:
Dr. Ben Dover
()
Date: April 04, 2013 12:17PM
Olde Farte, II Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not sure who is ripping off who but it's a rip-off
> for sure.
>
> Just got a statement from my medical insurance
> about a bill they paid - in full. The lab tests
> (on blood) were billed at $204.87 and the
> blood-drawing itself was billed at $18.87 for a
> total "blood work" bill of $223.74.
>
> The insurance company paid $19.91 total - and that
> is thus the entire bill per their agreement with
> the doctor's office and the lab.
>
> Gack.
>
> Those without insurance, of course, would
> literally have paid MORE than =eleven times= that
> $19.91 for the same service.
>
> ===========
>
> Someone is setting prices WAY too high if those
> same prices can be discounted by 90% and everyone
> involved on the money side is still making a
> decent living.
>
> Crazy - and THERE'S where a REAL healthcare fix is
> needed.
Your right, Obamacare will make sure that everyone will pay the $223.74. It is only fair.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not sure who is ripping off who but it's a rip-off
> for sure.
>
> Just got a statement from my medical insurance
> about a bill they paid - in full. The lab tests
> (on blood) were billed at $204.87 and the
> blood-drawing itself was billed at $18.87 for a
> total "blood work" bill of $223.74.
>
> The insurance company paid $19.91 total - and that
> is thus the entire bill per their agreement with
> the doctor's office and the lab.
>
> Gack.
>
> Those without insurance, of course, would
> literally have paid MORE than =eleven times= that
> $19.91 for the same service.
>
> ===========
>
> Someone is setting prices WAY too high if those
> same prices can be discounted by 90% and everyone
> involved on the money side is still making a
> decent living.
>
> Crazy - and THERE'S where a REAL healthcare fix is
> needed.
Your right, Obamacare will make sure that everyone will pay the $223.74. It is only fair.
Re: Gawd, what a rip-off
Posted by:
ex-Lester
()
Date: April 04, 2013 12:22PM
I misspelled the site name. It should be privatemdlabs.com. That is the largest one which arranges appointments at Labcorp facilities in the area and around the country. There are so many lab sites and labs springing up now. The big thing now is medical diagnostic and monitoring using smartphones which you use to transmit results to your doctor.