Wow. I knew it before, but this is the first time I've seen it with my own eyes. Insurance companies have so much power.
A few weeks ago I went to the doctor for my yearly physical/checkup. They routinely drew some blood (standard practice to make sure everything is normal) and had it sent off to the hospital's lab to be processed.
The cost for the lab technicians and/or the laboratory doctor to examine the blood smear and run other tests on it came out to be $55.
Fifty five dollars. That's a very reasonable price to have multiple sets of eyes (and computers) look at my cells and perform other tests on my blood to make sure I'm in good health!
Blue Cross Blue Shield apparently disagrees.
Check out the "Processed Insurance Claim Report" I received in the mail today from Blue Cross. It's simple, but suprising.
Right next to the hospital's requested $55 fee for the blood work (circled in blue below) is how much money Blue Cross told the hospital it would get paid instead: $12.10
Twelve dollars and ten cents!
So this gigantic corporation is able to smugly tell doctors/hospitals/lab technicians (aka "Providers") "Welllll, we think we'll just pay you twelve dollars for doing that work-- take it or leave it."
I'm pretty sure if I tried that at the Wal-Mart checkout the cashier would laugh at me. If I tried it at Zale's Diamonds I'd probably get arrested.
If I was an insurance company, I could get away with it.
That's quite some power.
A few weeks ago I went to the doctor for my yearly physical/checkup. They routinely drew some blood (standard practice to make sure everything is normal) and had it sent off to the hospital's lab to be processed.
The cost for the lab technicians and/or the laboratory doctor to examine the blood smear and run other tests on it came out to be $55.
Fifty five dollars. That's a very reasonable price to have multiple sets of eyes (and computers) look at my cells and perform other tests on my blood to make sure I'm in good health!
Blue Cross Blue Shield apparently disagrees.
Check out the "Processed Insurance Claim Report" I received in the mail today from Blue Cross. It's simple, but suprising.
Right next to the hospital's requested $55 fee for the blood work (circled in blue below) is how much money Blue Cross told the hospital it would get paid instead: $12.10
Twelve dollars and ten cents!
So this gigantic corporation is able to smugly tell doctors/hospitals/lab technicians (aka "Providers") "Welllll, we think we'll just pay you twelve dollars for doing that work-- take it or leave it."
I'm pretty sure if I tried that at the Wal-Mart checkout the cashier would laugh at me. If I tried it at Zale's Diamonds I'd probably get arrested.
If I was an insurance company, I could get away with it.
That's quite some power.
2 comments:
I can't believe it!!! That is pretty terrible.
Oh, you don't know the half of it! I have been getting in Kylie's bills from the hospital, and of course, no amount of money would be too much to pay for her care- I would have done anything and everything to pay for it without insurance, but anyway... The heart doctor charged like $650, and BC/BS only paid him $142 for his services (ultrasound, consultation, and care). Insane...
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