TLDR - the pricing of health care is strange
So I received a bill from an urgent care center indicating they had billed my insurance company $200 for the visit. My insurance company applied the $200 to my deductible but did not cover any of the cost, leaving me to pay the full $200 balance. I called the urgent care center and told them that $200 for an urgent care visit seemed unusually high - and, it didn't even include the secondary $80 bill I received from the physician who saw me and prescribed antibiotics.
They said I could write a dispute letter saying why I couldn't or didn't want to pay, and I said I would pay them something, just not $200, which seemed like either a mistake or maybe just a stupid amount to charge someone who simply came in, spoke to a doctor, and got a prescription. (remember $200 was just the facility fee, the doctor billed me $80 separately)
So she said that I could just pay the "Cash Price" of $80, which is what they charge to patients who don't have insurance.
Of course this activated all sorts of neurons in my brain which got me very interested to know why they charge two different prices for the same service - more than double for patients who have insurance.
Doesn't this violate some basic economic "law" that a product or service should cost the same regardless of who is paying for it? Doesn't this kind of pricing model result in higher insurance costs for everyone? If they will accept $80 from the patient as the "cash price", why don't they charge the insurance company the same amount? I left a voicemail with the urgent care "patient relations" woman, who I will be asking these questions to.. if she ever calls me back.. I'm sure I will get some very satisfying answers.
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