The high cost of being uninsured and some unanswered questionsReader comment on: Bloomberg on End-of-Life Cancer Treatment Submitted by JB Chetney (United States), Mar 9, 2010 12:53 Patients without insurance are charged those inflated prices for health care. They are the very ones who can least afford it. Why is their care more expensive than the care of insured patients? What are the real benefits for health care providers in accepting negotiated prices for insured patient care? Why is the difference between "billed amount" and the negotiated amount so great? Are the insurance companies are blackmailing the healthcare providers into accepting payment that does not cover the actual cost of the treatment, whatever that may be? Note: Comments are moderated by the editor and are subject to editing. The Future of Capitalism replies: It could be that, as you put it, "the insurance companies are blackmailing the healthcare providers into accepting payment that does not cover the actual cost of the treatment." But it could also be that the healthcare providers are marking up the sticker prices of treatment to unreasonably high levels in response to what they know will be a bargaining down of the asking price by the insurance companies. The "actual cost" of most medical care is mainly labor, the biggest part of labor is the doctors' compensation, and a lot of those doctors are driving around in Lexuses and BMWs and Mercedes. All something to consider when the doctors or hospital complain about their reimbursement rates from either Medicare or the insurance companies. As one person put it to me, "they are complaining about their reimbursement rates all the way to the bank." Other reader comments on this item
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