So, I was just catching up on some bills and stuff tonight, and I have to say how horrible and mortified I am to see exactly how much my surgeon got paid. A mere $1,100 was allowed -- and my insurance paid 100%!!

I feel so bad! Never, ever will I walk into his office and gripe if I have to pay for a fill or something. Insurance is such a discrace sometimes. People have no idea how their doctors get ripped off. They're not as rich as you think. After a surgeon pays malpractice, staff and overhead, there can't be much left to pay himself from a measly payment like that !!!! :(

I've seen my bills to urgent care, billed $120/ tricare paid $20. I have one office that I really love the staff and go to frequently, since it's easier than getting into my Dr on base. I'm glad that they agree to take Tricare but can't believe how little they actually pay them. I went to a different Urgent Care, waited over an hour when I was the only patient there, they saw me for maybe 5 mins and Tricare paid them $200.

I can't remember exactly, but i think my surgeon got about $5,000, plus I had to pay a $1500 program fee. The hospital stay on the other hand, billed my insurance $77,000!!!!!!!!!! INSANE! I think they only got about $2,000 though.

I don't think that many Americans understand that THIS is what they are inviting when they support health care reform. Once we understand how the industry works from the provider side we understand that in the long run, we are only hurting ourselves. I especially love the plans that have a copay that is higher than the allowed amount. So patient pays premium, patient pays higher co-pay, doctor gets paid copay only and has to eat the rest, doctor crams in more patients or trys not to schedule patients with your insurance, insurance company pays nothing on the claim, so just INSURANCE company wins!!!

I have personally been told by doctors that "had they known" they wouldn't be practicing today and would have done something else. If ALL insurance carriers pay as badly as the described in this post....well then all of America is going to be "under-served" medically, as the County I live in already is for this very reason.

But as someone already posted, it IS complicated and please don't jump on me to start a political war! I'm just stating what's happening in the industry as large insurance carriers prepare for the cost to cover all Americans, not saying one way or another my political beliefs! Thanks!

Believe me, dental insurance is even worse in many cases. There are quite a few that pay less for a cleaning than the Dr. has to pay a hygienist, so the Dentist is in the red on those. This is why in some cases the dental office encourages "up-selling". They try to get the patient to do extra things like extra fluoride treatments or extra x-rays that really are not needed. When you have to pick a dentist from a list of providers and you find only a few that will take that insurance, that is a sign of those companies who don't pay the dentist well. You may have no choice to get better insurance, so you go to one of those on the short list. You get to the office and feel like you are being herded through and you are just a number. The personalized care feeling is gone. In those cases the dentist and hygienist have to see 2, 3 or more patients in the time they would have only seen one with better insurance. It's the only way they can keep the lights on, buy supplies, pay someone to run the front desk and pay malpractice insurance. There was a case just the other day where the insurance company only paid the Dentist $5 each on a couple fillings he did on a man. The man did not have a co-pay because he pays the insurance company for the upgraded plan. The insurance company is making the money off him, not the Dentist. The dentist paid more in supplies and a dental assistant than what the insurance paid him for doing the fillings. I could go on and on about how the insurance companies are ripping off Dr.s and Dentists. I think it will only get worse in the future.