Way back when, my sister needed to have some blood test done. There was our non-profit-hospital’s lab, which everyone knew about because everyone went there because that was where all the local physicians sent their patients, and then there was the litte, non-hospital-affiliated, for-profit lab that had been in town longer, but everyone forgot about when the hospital brought in its own lab.

Guess what? I called up the for-profit lab, and they were just begging for business. I mean, you could hear it in the secretary’s voice on the phone. Guess what else? The price for the same test was way cheaper at the for profit lab than the hospital’s lab. The quality of the test would have been the same, since both had to send out blood samples to the same outfit.

Eventually, the for-profit lab went out of business. LITERALLY, everyone forgot they existed because all the doctors in town sent patients over to the hospital, as the hospital was very aggressive (and had the money for) marketing.

If you ask the doctos about costs, they really haven’t a clue, so they just do what is most convenient, which is to send people to the places they know about. I once got stuck with a HUGE (really huge!) bill for a blood test at our local hospital’s lab, when if I had known I could have had the same blood test for 1/2 price if I just gone down the road about 30 miles. I mentioned the price at the follow up and my doctor was horrified at how much the price was, especially since the hospital lab didn’t send him the report in a format he found easy to use.

Second real life story:

My son has Physical Therapy at a private for profit center. When insurance was not available to me to cover the considerable expense, they were very good about giving me every single discount they could. Guess what though? Once our insurance carrier started covering the bills (really, applying everything to deductible), my out of pocket costs went up. Why? Well, now it was the insurance person at the clinic who had to spend time inputting info into the insurance carrier’s website, and its a real nightmare. Eventually (maybe) I will “get my money back” but goodness.

I could go on with other stories. I honestly believe we need to get most insurance and the governement out of health care and go back to cash across the barrel.