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Paq, most of the line items are provided at a negotiated rate between the insurance company, the hospital, and their medical groups. The parties agree on the "full retail" and then on the discounted insurance amount. This is different from what you'd pay as an individual without insurance and complicates understanding the amounts. For fun, call later and ask for the same items as if you didn't have insurance. Sit down first.
Luckily, most medical facilities provide a poor-boy discount or alternate payment plan for the uninsured/unimployed. If you're uninsured and short on funds it's good to let them know ahead of time. Different doctors have different opinions on discounting. Ask for alternate treatments and the implications. It isn't uncommon for a doctor to use different treatments that work just fine and that will cost you much less if they know funds are limited.
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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195
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