Health Care Uncovered

Are You Paying More With Health Insurance?

Are YOU paying more because you have health insurance?

You may be very surprised to learn that sometimes hospitals charge upwards of 400% more for services billed to your insurance company versus paying cash without insurance.

With increasing deductibles and co-insurance, this means you will be the one paying more, not your insurance company.

So why not just ask for the cash price instead of using insurance?

Not so fast.

Watch as Houston's KPRC local news explains.

As you will see, and as I've said before, if you want to save on your healthcare bills, you must know the fair market or cash price and shop around.

If you can prepare ahead of time, look up your tests and procedures at Healthcare Blue Book. If you have insurance compare this price with the hospital's contracted insurance price and their cash price. If you can't do this ahead of time, call the hospital and negotiate your bill. 

I also encourage people without insurance to compare the cash price with the hospital's contracted insurance or Medicare rate.

Keep in mind, not all healthcare services cost less when paying cash. Insurance companies negotiate rates with hospitals which means you should pay less.

The bottom line? The more you know the less you could pay.

Don't let your insurance company leave your assets half covered like a cheap hospital gown.

 

Comments?

The Truth About Healthcare Reform

There should be dancing in the streets.

Over the weekend, President Obama said health reform is already delivering 'real benefits' to millions of people and putting more power in the hands of patients and out of the hands of insurance companies.  

Wait, did I miss the insurance company revolution?

The headlines I read are, "Upset with high cost of healthcare" and "Blue Cross Blue Shield requests to raise premiums 24.6%."

The truth, according to insurance company and industry experts is that mandated coverage that will kick in soon, including allowing adult children to stay on parent's plans, will cause premiums to rise faster and greater than ever before over the next few years.

While Obama pushes expanded coverage, he has ignored skyrocketing medical costs, making it impossible for insurance companies to lower premiums long-term.

If affordable healthcare isn't the goal then Washington has sold us a bill of lies.

Then again, they are allowed to change the rules as they go along.

Case in point. Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office said the new healthcare law could cost $115 billion more than originally projected over 10 years, while still saving the country money.

Read the full report here.

It looks like health care reform is putting more power in the hands of government, not the American people.

 

What do think? I welcome your comments.