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Sure, few people self-pay for the entire thing.

Many, many people pay a deductible, though. Many people pay a copayment. For these, you can still quote the cash price, I would thing, or give a range for what the entire thing costs, explaining the range is because of insurance discounts. In the age of modern tech, this shouldn't be a big deal.




I had an appointment that was billed at $400, if I recall correctly, while one insurance allowed $140 and another $70. That's the total cost, none of which was paid by insurance due to a large deductible. LabCorp I think has been similarly marked down from hundreds to tens, although I don't remember numbers. I don't think it's uncommon to have the official price be multiples of what's reasonable just in case someone might pay it.

A long time ago, I was told that a local hospital automatically gave half off if you paid cash. But that could well be gouging relative to insurance or Medicare.




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