CA doctors offices mandating payment upfront for services- is this legal? Why is this common practice?

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

In the USA a drug gets tested for 5 years and then what company wants to pay for a 10 year test? Although a drug may be fine to sit on the shelf for more than 5 years here in the USA we send it down to Mexico and let them worry about it.

Same with medical equipment. Many things have a time of use. After that time a hospital gets rid of it. We send all kinds of stuff to third world countries during the year.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by pittsflyer

If I had to have a complex surgery done then I would stay in the USA but for routine non surgical procedures or meds I don't see why mexico is bad.


Maybe if you were on experimental drugs from the mayo clinic.

I'm not saying that it is bad... just the rules are different making it hard to compare since the playing field isn't level.

One way to get a better comparison is to ask for the cash pay price... you most likely will be pleasantly surprised...

This multi-tiered system of pricing is the thing I have the most trouble with... a test may bill for $600 and the provider accepts $115 as payment in full under a "Plan"

[oldtrader]

How are Mexican doctors able to charge 1200 pesos for a house call and meds delivered and US doctors you get charged 300-500 us dollars just for an office visit? Sure if your having some kind of experimental mayo clinic advanced treatment done then I suppose the sky is the limit but in most cases there is no excuse for the rates these doctors charge for normal things.


That's really the issue here.

The level of medical care for those house calls, and what you get in U.S. are two different things and cannot be compared.

What about each doctor in a practice may be paying $100,000 or more for liability insurance, because they may be sued at any time. That kind of costs, has to be covered by patients bills.

What about the new medical equipment, that by it's being used, more people will survive a medical problem and live a normal life again. Those machines can cost half a million dollars. That kind of costs, has to be covered by patients bills.

The salaries for the techs that operate these machines, has to be covered by patients bills,

Office rent, maintenance of building, salaries for office help, back office help you never see, nurses, etc., etc., and the doctors salaries, all have to be paid by patients bills.

When you go see your doctor, you are only thinking of the doctor you see, and think he/she is charging too much. The doctor is just one little bit of what it costs for the doctor to see you. The behind the scene costs you pay no attention to or even think about are much more what you are paying your share to have available than paying the doctor.