From: Dave Emery <die@pig.die.com>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 09:57:06 +0800
To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: Protocols for Insurance to Maintain Privacy
In-Reply-To: <7433f6e11aa46cf7b903a8251c3e35b5@squirrel>
Message-ID: <19971030201124.46048@pig.die.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



On Thu, Oct 30, 1997 at 09:33:52AM -0700, Tim May wrote:

> Turns out that Blue Cross and Blue Shield have negotiated, through enormous
> buying power, daily rates of about $700 a day. (These numbers come from my
> memory of a "60 Minutes" report a few years ago. Details and current
> figures may vary.)
> 
	My wife is a pathologist, and she tells me that some of the more
aggressive HMOs get away with paying 15-20% of the posted "official" prices
for procedures and tests.    The difference between what insurance
organizations pay and the nominal price is usually 2 to 3 to 1 for most
things these days.   And for many years Medicare has set defined prices
for medical reimbursement that less than the gold plated bill amount
as well.


-- 
	Dave Emery N1PRE,  die@die.com  DIE Consulting, Weston, Mass. 
PGP fingerprint = 2047/4D7B08D1 DE 6E E1 CC 1F 1D 96 E2  5D 27 BD B0 24 88 C3 18