Thou shalt pay what we tell you

You have probably been to the hospital or a regular doctor. Have you been told upfront how much will procedure cost? It's often true that insurance covers your costs, and all you pay is deductible, but you are in a sense paying customer. You would imagine your dialog with doctor should look like that:

You: Hi doctor! My throat hurts.
Doctor: Hi, nice to see you here! Thank you for choosing our clinic. Have receptionist already told you that we will charge you a fee for just looking at you?
You: yes, of course, $80, correct?
Doctor: yes, $80. Okay, now lets look at your throat... Okay, looks red. I cannot tell by the looks of it what is wrong, I would need to do some tests on you
You: sure, no problem, what you need?
Doctor: just a bacteria swab and blood test. This will cost you $40.50 for one and $87.00 for another.
You: okay, fine. Can we do without blood test?
Doctor: probably, lets just do the swab, I only offered so that you don't need to wait should another test be needed.

Why does this dialog sound so unrealistic? You can visit auto mechanic, and you will be told how much each procedure costs. You could call a plumber, and he will tell you what he charges. But not doctors, never.

What's even more irritating - most doctors would flat out refuse to tell you what their service costs. This might be explained by the fact that insurance covers everything above deductible, so there should not be any difference if your physician charges you plus or minus several dollars, but that is not true. You are considered financially responsible, next time you are at the doctors, take a time to read all those papers they want you to sign. But if you try telling receptionist that you are paying cash, and that before the procedures are performed, you must know the cost and approve them, they will flat out say no.

And then, of course the problems start. Most of us have health insurance, where you only supposed to cover deductible. But the doctors also have multiple other services, such as blood lab, x-ray, and others. Each one of them will charge you separately, so it will not be a single bill, there will be many. Each one will trigger deductible.

I decided to open this blog for two reasons. First, share my frustration with the system as a whole. Second, try to find solutions to the problem. Each one of us is clearly racketeered by medical mafia, but we don't have to bend over, and we certainly don't have to stay silent. When someone hurt you, there is no benefit in keeping that under the rug.