This woman negotiated her payments down...something to think about and the article offers other ideas too on how to save on health care. BD
After a car accident left Michelle Katz, a Washington, DC, nursing student, with persistent back pain and numbness in 1998, she consulted a neurosurgeon, who told her she'd need an operation to repair her slipped disk. Katz, then 26, didn't have health insurance, so she did the only thing she could think of: She negotiated. Katz offered to pay her surgeon and anesthesiologist a portion up front in exchange for a hefty discount and arranged a payment plan for the rest. When she got her hospital bill, she haggled with the billing department to drop some charges. All told, she ended up paying just half of the original $28,000 estimate. "Before this, I didn't think you could negotiate with your doctor," says Katz, 35, now a corporate health care consultant and author of "Healthcare for Less," which was inspired by her own experience. "But all you have to do is ask.
And ask you should — repeatedly. In 2007, a family of four covered by a typical preferred provider organization insurance plan (PPO) is expected to receive an average of $14,500 in medical services. If you fit that profile, about $5,100 of that will be your responsibility — in the form of premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. That's an increase of more than 8% over last year, following 5 straight years in which costs jumped more than 9% annually.
How to save thousands on your health care - Health Care - MSNBC.com
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