Paying Medical Bills in Cash Slashes Costs

Most Americans are unaware that many hospitals and doctors offer deep discounts for patients who pay in cash — as long as they don’t use their health insurance.

One hospital in California lists the price of a CT scan of the abdomen on its website at $4,423. Blue Shield of California says it negotiated a rate at the hospital of about $2,400 for patients with coverage.

But when the Los Angeles Times asked for the cash price, the hospital said it was $250.

The newspaper cited the case of a woman who was charged $6,707 for a CT scan of her abdomen. Blue Shield said she needed to pay just $2,336. She later discovered that if she had not gone through her insurance plan and paid cash, the cost would have been $1,054.

David Belk, an internist in Alameda, Calif., who launched a website about medical costs, pointed to the vast differences in costs for routine blood work. He said a local hospital charged a patient $782, and her insurer said she owed $414.

“She could have gotten it for $95 in cash,” Belk said. “How does that make sense? The last thing the insurance companies want you to know is how inexpensive this stuff really is.”

Hospitals have been trying to increase revenue by encouraging patients to pay upfront so the hospital can avoid an uncertain collections process, the Times reported.

“Cash prices — typically available for hundreds of common outpatient services and tests — have a real appeal to millions of consumers who are on the hook for a growing share of their medical costs as employers and insurers cut back on coverage and push more high-deductible plans,” the paper observed.

The California Hospital Association asserted that discounted cash prices are intended for patients without insurance, not those with coverage, but added that most hospitals offer a different discount to insured patients who are willing to pay their bill upfront.

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5. Mayor Bloomberg Called ‘Sugar Nazi’ Over Soda Ban

A leading financial website has published a blistering attack on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg over his proposal to ban large servings of soda and other sugary drinks at restaurants, delis, sports arenas, and movie theaters.

The headline on the editorial from Investor’s Business Daily (IBD): “New York City’s Sugar Nazi Mayor Strikes Again.”

Last year, the city prohibited smoking in all parks, beaches, swimming pools, and pedestrian plazas. A few years earlier, Mayor Bloomberg banned smoking in restaurants, bars, and workplaces.

The IBD article asks: “Is there anything the Ego That Ate New York won't make illegal for New Yorkers to consume?”

In 2006, New York ordered restaurants to remove “trans-fat” from their meals, even though “trans-fat amounts to a fraction of total fat consumption,” the editorial points out.

“The real solution to obesity and heart disease, of course, is knowledge and responsibility. Americans actually have a pretty good record on making responsible use of their freedoms — when government butts out.

IBD quotes American Council on Science and Health President Dr. Elizabeth Whelan, who warned that Bloomberg was bringing the nation “one step closer to endorsing the principle that government should determine what we eat and how we should live.”

Bloomberg, called an “out-of-touch, big-government billionaire bully” by IBD, sought to counter criticism by declaring: “We’re not taking away anybody’s right to do things. We’re simply forcing you to understand that you have to make the conscious decision to go from one cup to another cup.”

But the Daily Beast website also took a shot at Bloomberg: “Mayor Bloomberg’s crackdown on large sodas makes him a walking advertisement for libertarianism.”