> Yeah, US hospital billing is based on the idea that the patient has insurance and won't really care about what their insurer gets charged.
Not quite: US hospital billing is based on the idea that the insurance company does the haggling for you.
Insurance companies negotiate (cough) "the best rate that the hospital has to offer," therefore: What the insurance company pays is confidential, and the official unnegotiated price is highly inflated. That's why hospitals will always negotiate with uninsured patients, because they're deliberately inflating their fees.
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In 2011 I had surgery. The first bill was for $100,000, which was sent to the insurance company. Then the insurance company got a letter (cough) "reminding" the hospital of the negotiated rates. The next bill was $20,000. On a follow-up visit, they did an X-ray, and sent me the bill. I sat on it, and then called my insurance company. The insurance company called the hospital to (cough) "remind" them that the negotiated rate for that kind of X-ray was $0.
Not quite: US hospital billing is based on the idea that the insurance company does the haggling for you.
Insurance companies negotiate (cough) "the best rate that the hospital has to offer," therefore: What the insurance company pays is confidential, and the official unnegotiated price is highly inflated. That's why hospitals will always negotiate with uninsured patients, because they're deliberately inflating their fees.
---
In 2011 I had surgery. The first bill was for $100,000, which was sent to the insurance company. Then the insurance company got a letter (cough) "reminding" the hospital of the negotiated rates. The next bill was $20,000. On a follow-up visit, they did an X-ray, and sent me the bill. I sat on it, and then called my insurance company. The insurance company called the hospital to (cough) "remind" them that the negotiated rate for that kind of X-ray was $0.