So I recently had my first physical in a few years. I'm a bit unfamiliar with how this works, since it's been a while.
No cost to me for the physical - I thought it might be $20, but I'm fine with that. But it's free.
Today I got an invoice for the lab tests on blood and urine samples. Now this gets weird.
11 different tests were done, with costs for each ranging from $33.27 to $234.30. But CareFirst says that the "allowed costs" for these tests range from $0.62 to $8.20. Apparently LabCorp would charge $234.30 if I did not have the clout of Blue Cross Blue Shield on my side?
LabCorp wanted to charge $1,135.85 for the tests. CareFirst is paying them $43.53. I pay nothing (other than my premiums.)
This whole thing baffles me. What's up with the rest of the $1100+ of the bill? Is this just some kind of game that everybody plays? My insurance pays for 3.8% of the bill, and the lab writes off 96.2% of the bill?
This is a bizarre system, to say the least.
Should get to the Bill Murray reviews soon. The Bond series is in limbo until I can find a way to re-watch the Dalton films, but they're not on cable much, and not to be found in the library system. Bodes poorly - they are apparently the least popular.
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