If insurance is just an entity taking over payment over for a policy holder, can’t all practices take all insurance? Why should it matter which entity is footing the bill? They’d be happy to charge me full price, regardless, and I’m not an entity with money. Trying to find a dentist that takes Medicaid is hellish.
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because insurance don’t get charged full-price. private insurances will have their own negotiated price with hospitals, and will only rarely get charged full-price (say if you’re admitted into a hospital out of their network due to an emergency). even then they’ll probably still be able to haggle and find loopholes on prices, or set a maximum limit to which they’ll reimburse you.
medicaid and other public health insurances are the same. in fact, they set their own payment rates, and leave up to the healthcare providers whether or not they’re willing to accept. these payment rates often barely, if at all, make up the cost of the service provided, which is why many places will not accept medicaid. other places may accept medicaid for the supplemental benefits they receive if they do.
ps. this is also part of the reason why healthcare costs are so broken in the united states. insurance want to pay less than out-of-pocket patients, meaning hospitals will just raise their prices to make up the difference.
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