Reply #8: I found out a long time ago that [View All]

[FlaGranny]

insurance companies pay about 80 percent (for standard insurance) of the actual hospital and physician charges. The patient gets a bill for, say, $1000. The insurance pays $800. The rest is a write-off. In an identical case, the uninsured patient gets the bill for $1000 and is expected to pay it - all of it. I also found out, from experience, that most hospitals and physicians WILL negotiate that 20% off your bill, but the patient has to ask for it. We used to have mostly nonprofit hospitals in this country and there is a law that nonprofits must treat indigent patients without charge. There are very few nonprofits any more and I really don't know what the law is regarding a for-profit hospital treating indigents - if there is one.

While I am sure there are many physicians like your wife, I don't know many. I do know one oncologist who will treat indigent cancer patients, even to the point of taking the hit for cancer drugs, if he has to.