On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 18:00:24 -0400, gfretwell wrote:

On Sun, 11 Apr 2010 13:29:40 -0700, "Bill McKee"
wrote:

Why not just catastropic coverage only? The savings on insurance cost
would pay for a bunch of office visits. But they would rather pay lots
more for insurance and not have to budget for a doctors checkup?

Exactly my point. It would actually save most people a lot of money and
they would be a lot more conscious about what they paid. People would
argue about ridiculous bills. We had an article here about hospital
bills (Lee Memorial Hospital) and it turns out they bill about 4 times
what they actually will take if you negotiate.

Hospital bills have to be taken with a large dose of salt. I suspect
they are padded quite heavily to aid in insurance company negotiations.
While Joe Blow might be able to negotiate the bill, the insurance company
often tells the hospital what it is willing to pay, or has pre-
negotiated. The end result, those without insurance often pay the
highest cost.