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A comment on Congress is set to ban most surprise medical bills. Parent comment

Re:Congress is set to ban most surprise medical bills by learc83 on Monday December 21, 2020 @02:08PM (#25498232)
A dentist office is more comparable to an urgent care clinic than a hospital. And in many cases an urgent care clinic can tell you what simple procedures will cost. There are imaging services companies that can tell you upfront how much diagnostic tests are going to cost as well.

A broken tooth is a much less complex injury than a broken arm. In many cases you don't even need to be a dentist to diagnose it. Try walking into a dentist office with a more complex injury that could involve multiple different dental specialties and severe underlying complications. You aren't going to get an immediate upfront price.

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Re:Congress is set to ban most surprise medical bills by mehrdadn on Monday December 21, 2020 @06:52PM (#25501222)
I don't understand how this answers the question about X-ray cost.
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Re:Congress is set to ban most surprise medical bills by learc83 on Monday December 21, 2020 @10:07PM (#25502419)
1. Dental x-rays are more straightforward and involve fewer people, so the price is easier to calculate.

2. Dental x-rays are more often than not elective procedures. It's much easier to comparison shop elective procedures than emergency procedures. Therefore market forces frequently compel the dentist to come up with an up front cost for an x-ray.

The same market forces don't apply to hospitals because you can't wait a week or more while you shop around for treatment for a shattered hip.

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