Should I be relieved? Or is it too soon?

[DaveJ]

Today I got up the guts to look at my wife's Humana claims summary from 2007 and it actually looks good. She's had a car accident and some other minor issues, totaling a dozen or so claims totaling about $5k. And all we owe is two $75 co-pays. At this rate, I may need to adjust my opinion of today's health insurance system.

A lot of it has to do with negotiated rates, where our family doctor might ask for $180 but only get $46 instead, or the emergency room asks for $3,300 and only gets $550 because they are in-network. I talked to a rep who said that literally all we owe is those two co-pays. Am I lucky or is there something I'm missing?

[Viva_La_Revolution]

1. you are lucky, your doctor, not so much...

sounds like he's the one getting ripped off here.

[DaveJ]

2. Perhaps, but consider that it's only 10 minutes of his time

We basically go in knowing exactly what we need prescribed, so he gets $46 for his signature. His office is never crowded, though, so it's a shame since he seems like a very nice guy. I'm sure he does well in the end though.

[NGinpa]

3. It's an important point-negotiated rates

Any consumer directed healthcare system (CDHS) that pits the single individual against the healthcare provider indusry in a caveat emptor environment is tantamount to cruel and unusual punishment, at least financially speaking. Now in a single payer system, this would not be a problem. However in the system we have now or in the one the conservatives are proposing (CDHS), the insurance company negotiated rates of about 40-50% of the actual priced charged by providers is about the only protection, the only check patients have on what should be real prices!