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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GraceZ who wrote (7157)	12/5/2002 2:49:05 PM
From: Elroy Jetson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

You really need medical insurance for their contract rates. Your insurance contract allows a rate of $950, which includes a 4% profit margin, on which you pay the $190 co-payment. The cash patient pays the full $10,400 fantasy price, which includes an 88% profit margin. Most cash patients cannot pay and walk away with ruined credit or a bankruptcy. But Tenant Healthcare et. al. use this evidence of the unpaid $10,400 bills as the basis for additional cost recovery from insurance companies and Medicare (Outlier Payments). A Single-Payer system is an extreme solution to dishonest medical pricing which is protected from the free market. But it may be the only cure. Can you imagine buying a car for $52k if you have a "contract rate" but otherwise the only price on offer is $570k. No good or service other than medical care operates on fictional pricing.

To: GraceZ who wrote (7157)	12/5/2002 4:09:42 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 306849

Used to be that you could find lists of doctors and clinics that offered discounts for payment in cash at time of services, also called a time of service discount, or for prepayment before time of service, which is called prepaid care. One could save 30 percent of the dentists bill by arranging to pay prior to the visit. It looks like the government and the insurance industry has killed anything that makes it dificult for them to shift the burden of costs onto someone else. below is an article on tos discounts. acofp.org