@YARNLADY @wundayatta For me it’s both issues. If the insurance company paid more to the doctor than what I would have been charged self pay, then that means my insurance is paying too much, which means premiums go up. If there is no copay this can happen, and if there is a copay it can happen. My husband’s CT, the diagnostic center made over $2k between the insurance company and the $1k I paid, when I could have self paid somewhere between $550 and $750 depending on the clinic. Even if my copay had been zero, $20, $30, instead of the $1,000 because I was satisfying my deductible I still would be pissed about it. I notice the dishonesty in billing probably more than you, because my deductable is $2,500. But, even before when I had coverage similar to yours I would find out at times insurance paid more than what I would be charged. My antennas are up to hate the system, becauee I have been gouged by it, and I almost lose sleep at night at the seeming lack of integrity in it, so I ask more questions about pricing to my doctors.
It is sort of a Republican thing, if we bring politics into it, that the consumer knowing what they are paying will help bring prices down, but then the republicans protect the insurance companies. Most people have no idea what the doctor is paid for services and how much tests cost, because they never look at their EOB, because there was just $20 for them, or free. But, premiums go up and up, and that is because the insurers sometimes pay the doctor’s too much, and insurance companies line their own pockets too. It’s both.
If it were totally socialized, then all this would probably be better to at least some extent, because doctors would be paid whatever they are paid, and there would not me wild fluctuations in fees from one insurance company to another and compared to self pay. Well, I guess we could still habe a different price for self pay, but I don’t think there should be.