Walmart Hospital

Quote: Evenbob

Never gonna happen. Try and
ask your doctor how much
your visit will cost and nobody
in the office will know or care.
It has to be flexible to work.

Doesn’t have to be flexible at all. I get my oil changed the price is right there. No reason medical can’t be different for the basics. Just so it is not mandated. Some docs could do an all you can eat version and others a discount airline charge for every extra model. Then let me shop.

Quote: Gandler

I love this as a GA resident.

I have long been advocating cash based Medical and Dental visits with pre charted prices for exams and procedures.

I love the idea of a Walmart Medical Clinic that is cash focused. This may be the future of medicine. I have long hated the influence of private insurance.


I am an advocate of centralized healthcare. However, I am also an advocate of cash based healthcare (no insurance). I think the system that we currently use is a poor combination, we need to go full socialized or full cash. People rely on medical insurance for routine visits. Insurance used to be for unexpected medical catastrophes, not for your annual flu shot, your physicals, and your medications.... That should all be paid in cash...

Have you tried negotiating prices with your health care? I have several times asked for [and received] a discount for cash at dentists and chiropractors. Also got a better price for alternative care by paying in silver eagles.

Along the Mexican border there are health care towns, filled with Canadians who come down for dental work all winter. The Mexican dentists take cash. They advertise in our local paper for prices on crowns, etc. About 1/4-1/3 what it costs in America.

Quote: AZDuffman

Doesn’t have to be flexible at all. I get my oil changed the price is right there.

Not the same thing. It's balanced
by many factors and there's a
formula that only a computer
understands. I'm not kidding
when I say I've asked everybody
involved and none of them know
how it works, exactly.

Quote: petroglyph

Have you tried negotiating prices with your health care? I have several times asked for [and received] a discount for cash at dentists and chiropractors. Also got a better price for alternative care by paying in silver eagles.

Along the Mexican border there are health care towns, filled with Canadians who come down for dental work all winter. The Mexican dentists take cash. They advertise in our local paper for prices on crowns, etc. About 1/4-1/3 what it costs in America.

Dentists and Chiropractors tend to be far better than MDs/DOs about transparent pricing.... I think because they depend less on insurance (far more cash patients).... Also (for the most part) procedures are more routine....

Some MDs won't even talk prices until they have your insurance card....

Quote: Gandler

Some MDs won't even talk prices until they have your insurance card....

No. They won't even talk about
it then. Try and ask them a
question about pricing and
they won't have an answer.
They're trained to be vague
so you can never pin them
down to a fixed price. They're
biggest go to answer is 'ask
your insurance company'. So
I call them and they say that's
the doctors field, ask them.

I even tried to find out why
my insurance co was charged
a certain amount and nobody
knew.

Quote: Evenbob

Never gonna happen. Try and
ask your doctor how much
your visit will cost and nobody
in the office will know or care.
It has to be flexible to work.

I was the guy who did know what anesthesia cost my entire career. My partners could make a guess within 30-40% at best. The problem when someone would call me in advance of surgery and ask I would always tell them my number was approximate, as there is a 'start' component and a 'time' component, and of course time is only known exactly after the case. For types of cases that are almost always cash and never insurance, we did have an exact set fee, and I could give that to the patient.

The harder part would be when a patient would ask me what we charge, and I'd tell them approximately, but then they would ask me if they had a co-pay or co-insurance or deductible...... there was no way I'd be able to know that; in theory the patient should already know that from their insurance contract.... yeah right....

As far as an office visit...... there are different prices for time spent, level of complexity, possible need for additional test (CXR, blood work, EKG, etc...) that cannot be determined when you make the appointment.

Quote: SOOPOO

would always tell them my number was approximate,

Exactly. This is why nobody will
commit to a number, no one
person knows the cost. There
is a formula involved and all
cases are unique. If you start
asking you will just get referred
to a person you've already asked.
And when you get a final bill
there is nobody who can or
will explain it to you.

Quote: Evenbob

And when you get a final bill
there is nobody who can or
will explain it to you.

At least for my practice, this is not true. I explained more bills than I can count to inquisitive patients. My billing service was easily able to also.
As i said before, how much your insurance company decided to pay and what was your co-pay and what was your deductible was between you and your insurance company.

But my bill.... I could easily explain it. My point is it is not a problem with the doctor sending a bill, its a problem with your contract with your insurance company.

Quote: SOOPOO

its a problem with your contract with your insurance company.

Every doctor can explain
HIS part of a bill, what
they can't explain is the
whole thing. You get the
runaround at every turn.

My doctor knows how much
HE charges for a physical.
What he can't explain is
the amount my insurance
co paid. And neither can
the insurance co.