> If you know this, you can tell them, "if you reduce the bill to $40, I'll pay in cash today." Unfortunately, most people don't know this.
I've often heard this, but have recently been asking for cash prices for some routine services, and the responses I've gotten have been either "um, we don't do that", or just simply referencing their fake inflated prices.
It's probably different if you've already got an unpaid bill in front of you, especially for a larger procedure, and you're dealing with the billing skinjob rather than the receptionist. But that's still quite far from how sane transactions work.
> It's probably different if you've already got an unpaid bill in front of you, especially for a larger procedure, and you're dealing with the billing skinjob rather than the receptionist. But that's still quite far from how sane transactions work.
Yes, that's what I'm referring to - negotiating down a bill, as opposed to negotiating the price up front. This also is far more likely to work for inpatient services than outpatient services, and for large bills (4 or 5 figures) than small ones. I just chose $100 as the base to keep the numbers simple.
The reason is that hospitals would rather have you pay a small bill than risk having you default on the bill. Accounting-wise, the former is preferable, especially since they don't actually expect uninsured patients to pay the massive sticker price anyway. (That's not meant for patients; it's meant for negotiating with insurers, and it's only an unintended side-effect that uninsured patients end up having to see it).
I've often heard this, but have recently been asking for cash prices for some routine services, and the responses I've gotten have been either "um, we don't do that", or just simply referencing their fake inflated prices.
It's probably different if you've already got an unpaid bill in front of you, especially for a larger procedure, and you're dealing with the billing skinjob rather than the receptionist. But that's still quite far from how sane transactions work.