When you get sick, you shouldnt have to decide between medical care and rent.
Medical costs are already unreasonablefor 25 percent of Americans, and are getting worse every year.
Pricey insurance and unexpectedmedical billsare a potential ticket to bankruptcy, and you have little power to protect yourself.
Lots ofspecialty drugswere born when manufacturers realized they could charge whatever they want.
Of course, that means we all pay for it in the end, through high premiums.
Hospitals have also driven prices upby gobbling up their competitors.
Some hospital systems even run their own insurance policies, which reduces their costswithout necessarily reducing your premiums.
Your dollarsarent necessarily buying better care, either.
Prices are whatever the provider and insurer negotiate.
Shopping around has been proposed as a solution, but that doesnt always work, as well see.
Butinsurance plans todayoften pass a lot of the cost of care on to you.
The idea is that youll be a smarter consumer when you bear more of the cost.
Youll avoid unnecessary care, and youll choose cheaper options when you’re free to.
(This doesnt mean you should skip insurance, though.
Youll pay more in the tax penalty if you do, and youll miss out ondeductible-exempt freebies.)
There are plenty more pitfalls in health insurance cost structures.
Weve discusseda few to avoid, like high or nonexistent caps on out-of-internet care.
Another isreference pricing, where the insurer sets a cap for how much they will pay for a service.
Great for them, sucks to be you.
Its the most unfair shift that Ive seen, says Mitchell.
Its not universal, but not uncommon, says Mitchell.
Hospitals and insurers can refuse to tell you their prices, citing confidential negotiations.
If youre lucky, you might have ways of finding out costs.
Many insurance companies provide a cost estimator somewhere on their website, says Mitchell.
Some states haveall-payer claims databasesthat track how much people are actually paying for health care.
Finally, there are databases anybody can use that give cost estimates.
You may even be able to find cost information on your neighborhood hospital.
But even if you do know how much something costs, you cant always do much about it.
In some cases, the difference between two nearby cities may make a road trip worthwhile.
Even if you have to pay a lot out of pocket, you still benefit from negotiated rates.
But if you find yourself still facing high costs, dont feel bad.
Its not you, its the system.
