Isn’t Life Strange?

I’m sure I’m not the only person shocked by the high cost of health care.  It’s no wonder some want the government to take over the system… even though the government continues to squander our social security, and government-run education gets worse and worse no matter how much money is pumped into the system, and government-run energy policies are currently making everyone miserable…  But before I take that tangent and step on my soapbox…

I opened a bill today for some recent blood work that is done every six months due to a minor medical condition that requires me to take prescription medicine.  They usually take two or three tests just to check various things in my blood and make sure everything looks the way it should.  The cost of these tests is usually relatively reasonable.  This time it was a new experience because my doctor just built a new medical plaza which also includes its very own blood lab.  I was told the charges for the tests upon handing the phlebotomist the paperwork and I don’t remember any of them sounding out of the ordinary. 

Imagine my surprise when I read that the lab wanted to collect $381.19 from me!  The charges from the lab I had previously used were only about a hundred dollars for the same tests, so I wondered why there was such a big difference.  I called the billing office and was told that the price as billed was intended for insurance companies and that it would be reduced if I would pay for it directly. 

I was put on hold for a couple of minutes while the bill was adjusted - to $44.15 - a very reasonable fee.  Now I am no mathematics genius but if I did my division correctly, this means the lab intended the insurance company to pay 8.63 times the billable price of the tests!  The funny thing is that under many insurance plans, the twenty percent share I would have to pay (after paying for the deductible, of course) would have been $76.24.  So if I would have paid this bill though insurance, I would have had to pay more than I did without their "help".

I sure wish someone could give me a direct answer for why such inflated numbers are necessary.  The bottom line is that we’re all getting ripped off.  I’m just glad the lab was reasonable and offered me a direct pay option.