Towns want Verizon investigated for abandoning networks through neglect

Re:Towns want Verizon investigated for abandoning networks t... by refurb on Friday December 04, 2015 @12:42PM (#10677750)

I'm not sure that's true. Most insurance plans pay a percentage of charges with the patient on the hook for the remaining 10-20%.

If I were a patient, I'd go for the $500 MRI and pay $100 out of pocket instead of $300.

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Re:Towns want Verizon investigated for abandoning networks t... by Avshalom on Friday December 04, 2015 @01:31PM (#10678093)

You could only go for the $500 MRI if someone gave you the choice though. If the market will bear a $1500 MRI the two or three hospitals you might have a choice between don't have any real incentive to lower prices. Neither hospital is likely to believe there's a huge untapped market for MRIs that will make up for the loss of profit and an extra $1000 per MRI of profit means they'd have to at least quadruple their volume to make up for the smaller margin.

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Re:Towns want Verizon investigated for abandoning networks t... by refurb on Friday December 04, 2015 @05:47PM (#10679739)

I think the point is that there are already hospitals that have those kind of price differentials.

Most expensive brain MRI is $5,560. Least expensive $218. Both in NYC.

Most people can access out of network providers. If you're paying 10% in-network, the $5,560 MRI is $556. If you're paying 50% out-of-network, the $218 MRI is $109.

The problem is price transparency and aligned incentives to take advantage of different prices.

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