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A comment on California's ‘Surprise’ Billing Law Is Protecting Patients and Angering Doctors. Parent comment

Re:California's ‘Surprise’ Billing Law Is Protecting Patient... by dehrmann on Saturday September 28, 2019 @03:41AM (#21099024)
> $25K, ~~reduced~~ [negotiated] by the insurance company to $1200

$25K is the sticker price that someone uninsured would see. Sure, they'll get parts "forgiven," but this markup makes patients feel ripped-off, and it almost looks like an accounting scam. I'd like to see something that the sticker price can't be more than 10% greater than the lowest negotiated price.

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Re:California's ‘Surprise’ Billing Law Is Protecting Patient... by ericd on Saturday September 28, 2019 @04:43AM (#21099233)
IIRC, the “forgiven” part of that “debt” is considered income by the IRS. Just as a nice cherry on that shit sundae.
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Re:California's ‘Surprise’ Billing Law Is Protecting Patient... by smsm42 on Saturday September 28, 2019 @02:59PM (#21102193)
Not sure it applies to a disputed debt. Otherwise I could bankrupt any (non-billionaire) person by just claiming they owe me a billion dollars and then "forgive" them. And then I could get a billion-dollar tax write-off. I am pretty sure IRS is not that insane to fall for such a scheme. Though maybe with hospitals it works, it's a bizarro world there.
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