Quote Originally Posted by Edwina's Secretary View Post
Not really Karen. Many insurance plans have doctor co-pays that are dependent on many factors. If you have met your deductible - and you could have a variety of doctors billing toward that deductible can make a difference in what you owe. Sadly, it is not at all unusual for a doctor's office to not be able to tell what the patient's co-pay is until they have processed the claim to the carrier and learned what the carrier is going to pay. Many plans vary what the co-pay will be based on the purpose of the visit as well.

Plans that have the same doctor co-pay regardless tend to be HMO type products.

Plans with variable co-pays are probably the most common these days as the insurance companies continue to look for ways to control costs and increase profits.

Don't blame the doctor's staff! It is just often not as easy as a quick computer search. I was in Kaiser HMO for a year and knew exactly what a doctor visit would cost. Now that I am back in a PPO (high deductible) I don't have a clue until the doctor files the claim and bills me.

(And if you wonder why I went back - I am tied to what the employer offers!)
This in a nutshell, is a huge fault with the current system.

It's why people wind up in bankruptcy for medical bills, hard to plan when you have no earthly idea what your expenses are going to be beyond some very, very vague guidelines, further exacerbated by the contractor shell game. (Well, yes, all our staff are PPO for your insurance, however, Dr XYZ isn't part of our staff, he/she contracts with us through Dewy, Screwem and Howe, and therefore aren't part of our PPO group. hat do you mean you didn't realize what you were agreeing to while you were in excruciating pain? We have your signature, it's valid.)