[quote=joec]On the medical front, there were some articles in the SD Union Tribune or LA times, I forget which was saying how some tests when paid with no insurance cash/rates were like $20, but with the crooked Blue Cross, was like $70 or something or over a hundred for a few simple tests since that was the “negotiated” rate. The health care operations and insurances are just scamming everyone else and over inflating a lot of medical costs IMO.[/quote]

I’m not one to defend hospitals or insurance companies in general, but part of the reason that hospitals charge their uninsured/cash patients less than their negotiated rates w/insurers is not because they’re being kind or feel they can gouge consumers who have insurance, but because they can write this deficit off. In other words, we’re all paying for it. And to make matters worse, built in to the rates that hospitals and other providers negotiate with the insurers (which show up in our premiums) is this write-off. So it all comes around in several ways. But at least the Affordable Care Act caps insurers’ MCR (Medical Cost Ratio), which stipulates how much profit over medical and admin expenses they can take.