Save On Medical has doctors throughout New York and they list the average pricing and discounted pricing at their practices which you can get by scheduling online and even paying ahead of time. you don't have to worry about calling around and getting the wrong prices because it's right there. saves you lots of time..

Not only are they going to pay a high deductible, they are going to pay a 9.3% surcharge on their portion of the bill. The only thing this promotes is cramming in every possible procedure once the deductible has been met.

Not only are you hit with very high bills (with high deductible plans), you look get hit with a 9.3% surcharge on your portion of the bill! The way it is set up it causes consumers to cram in every possible procedure they can once the deductible has been met.

High deductible plans a are joke. People get sucked in by having less money taken out of their pay for these plans, then when they have to have unexpected surgery, the deductible isn't met, then they are stuck with a huge bill. This is another reason why people avoid care. Who can afford the office visit bills and all the after care. It's just wrong.

High deductible plans are a joke.....In reality, who has "an extra" $5-6,000 they can set aside to pay for medical costs they incur before they reach their deductible? Pretty sure I'm not the only one who doesn't! On the rare occasion that I need to see my doctor, I just pay out of pocket; for me, it’s actually much cheaper to do that than to buy insurance. To clarify: If I pay $400/mo for insurance, in one year’s time, I will have paid $4800. If my deductible was $3000, then when I went to my doctor, I’d have to pay the $60 -$80 fee out of pocket anyway. So, at the end of the year, I’m not out just the $60-$80 for my visit, but the $4800 as well. (I realize for people who have serious medical issues, they necessitate insurance, but for someone such as myself, who is healthy, it’s not.) Another angle to look at this from…..If I paid $4800/year for insurance for say 5 years & then something happened & I needed to be hospitalized, my $24,000 I paid over the years so I did have insurance would be non-existent; I would still be required to exceed my $3000 deductible before they would pay anything out. Yes, it would be nice to know that if I were to have a medical crisis I’d be covered, but it’s not financially realistic. Sadly, this dilemma is a perfect example of why my motto is “death is cheaper than hospitalization.”

It's really sad that because of the awful economy we have to shop around for bargain surgeries and procedures in hopes that it'll be a positive turn out. Really scary if you think about it. Makes me think that we have to pick and choose who we can trust by who we can afford.

All we ever hear is that consumers need to take an active role in their health care and better understand that the true cost is much more than a copay. Yet when an individual attempts to find out the true cost, there are constant roadblocks. I called to find out how much a visit to the dermatologist would cost to have some moles checked. I was told, "it depends on how the doctor codes it, and how complicated it is". Well that isn't very helpful to anyone. Consumers can't very well save money for procedures if they can't even find out a ballpark estimate of what it costs. And it makes shopping around impossible since you don't know if they have left something out that another place included. Glad someone wrote an article about this! Hopefully things will start improving in that regard.

Great story! The high deductible plan is a good trend for consumers. More awareness/knowledge of pricing will lead to pressure on providers to lower costs, and / or lower consumption if it's priced too high. When health care behaves more like a normal market we will all benefit. From personal experience, I shopped around for a vasectomy a few years ago, all three quotes were within $200 ($700 - $900).