Yes, and doing the entire thing without insurance is tough.
My wife needs a TB test to volunteer at our school.
I found a clinic that will do it on a walk in basis, $66.
Then the school referred me to a place that will do it, for some reason, at zero cost to us. They seem to know it's a requirement for the school, so able to do it for zero.
My son needs a physical to play competitive public school sports.
The same first clinic will give him a sports physical on a walk in basis, $79. The school recommended another place, $20.
These aren't the best examples about health services, as they are just regulatory requirements, not really necessary things for someone suffering ill health.
However, I think a great law would be that if hospitals agree to charge a certain cost for a certain service to a certain insurance pool's members, then charging more than that cost to anyone is illegal. Why in the world can hospitals charge different people different amounts for the same service?
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I'd also like to see something like insurance only comes into play above a set financial amount. Anything that costs less than $500 should not be covered by insurance, ever. And then let medical service providers compete for cash paying customers the same way the clothes store and food markets compete for their cash paying customers.
If you can't afford $500 for the service, fine, have the government open free medical clinics which do the stuff that costs less than $500, with a 6 month wait. |
