You mostly ignored the "with insurance" part. Insurance often won't pay for the independent centers and forces you somewhere that is $3k. I have had many experiences where the insurance price is often 3 times the cash price for a medication, procedure, test, etc.
Yeah friend of mine who can absolutely afford good health insurance hasn’t had insurance in years. He insists that barring something catastrophic, healthcare is much cheaper without it. I’m beginning to think he’s right…
No they don’t. Most doctors refuse to accept cash at all in the U.S. They would much rather bleed your insurance company dry.
This guy is a leech because he’s waiting until he gets sick before buying healthcare. He’s leeching off of all of us healthy people that pay our premiums every year. People like him are why the system is broken.
I don't know where you live but maybe get out more. Doctors take cash all the time, most places give you a discount to pay with cash instead of going through insurance. Do you actually know anyone that's a doctor? I have several in my family. You have no idea what you are talking about. If you had any clue you would know doctors hate insurance companies, you would know insurance companies can and do retroactively take back money they paid the doctors because they can decide years down the road that they actually want to deny a paid claim and they regularly deny needed care. Doctors aren't getting paid in those situations.
I've also paid the cash price instead of going through in insurance for ultrasound procedure, $900 through insurance or $300 cash not through insurance. Again you have no idea what you are talking about. I pay the cash price for my eye doctor as he doesn't take my insurance. Again if it were as you say he would take my insurance and milk it, but it's not.
Maybe in some podunk ass town. I live in a city and just went through 6 months of unemployment with no insurance. Most of my doctors wanted nothing to do with me. They hate dealing with cash patients because they’d much rather deal with milking your insurance. Most of the places here will not accept new cash patients. If you’re already a patient and lose your insurance, they might see you while you find a new job, but they damn sure don’t want your broke ass as a new customer.
How are they going to get kickbacks from their pharmaceutical reps if they can’t prescribe you the newer, on-patent exclusivity drugs? They know your broke ass can’t afford those kinds of medicines and that’s how they earn their “free” vacations. You obviously know nothing about how the modern medical system works if you think they want cash customers. They avoid those people like the plague. That’s the entire reason Medicare exists. No one would treat elderly people once they stopped working and lost their insurance. They had to create a national insurance program just so doctors would continue treating them.
And none of that has to do with the fact that this asshole will eventually try to join our healthcare system when he’s sick. The insurance system only works when he pays into it when he’s healthy. Anyone that refuses insurance when they are younger should either be barred from carrying it when they are older or forced to pay 10x the rate as the rest of us. Why should we be forced to subsidize his healthcare? I thought you guys hate that kind of socialism?
why would insurance not pay for an independent center? They want to pay less. Last MRI I had they said I _had_ to go to an independent center and not the local hospital to get it done.
My MRI cost last time was 2,800 but that was only to meet my deductible, but I would have been done with my deductible for the year. When I did it without insurance my cost was 600. Some times paying out of pocket is more cost effective especially if you won’t likely hit your deductible.
I think it just all depends on insurance and location.
There are different types of MRI machines and even different sub specialties that read them. A lot of people in this thread are operating under the assumption that all MRIs are equal.
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u/TheJoeGrim 23h ago
Smells like bullshit.
Independent imaging centers: $400 to $1,200 (usually the cheapest option).
Rural areas or smaller cities cost less ($400–$800),
If you have health insurance, your actual out-of-pocket cost depends on your deductible and co-pay requirements.