This month I reduced my debt by $42 to 12,960. I still don’t have roommate for some personal reason that I don’t want to discuss here. Besides that, my main unexpected expense this month was related to healthcare. I have a decent health insurance provided to me by my employer. Still, I had to pay $700 out my pocket for something because my insurance company decided it should go under my deductible for this year.
I don’t want to get into current healthcare debate. However, I don’t understand why costs of healthcare are not transparent at the beginning or prior to receiving the care. Normally, you go to health professionals and get treated for ailments without having any idea for what is going to cost you. Even you get estimated cost, you have no idea how much you will be ultimately responsible. For non-emergency ailments, knowing the accurate cost prior to any procedure would help you decide to treat, wait, or shop around.
In this age of iphones/blackberries and 1-800 numbers, can’t we legislate (or?) for health insurance providers to give us an estimated cost (with margin of error) for requested procedure as well as comparative prices. This will not only save money for patients but also save millions for insurance companies. People may decide that they will go with a relatively new Dr. Smith for $500 rather than going with Dr. Jones for $2,000, who happens to be recommended by their friend. If we decide to treat (certain) healthcare products as an economic commodities then why not really treat them like one?
Image based on photo by CarbonNYC
Image based on photo by CarbonNYC
