Price Negotiation

[ssafarik]

I'm planning to have surgery at House in March, but am stalled with getting the price nailed down.  Since St. Vincents is out of network I'm trying to negotiate the price before the surgery rather than after.  Insurance companies do this for themselves, and since there is no existing contract between St Vincents and my insurance, then St. Vincents and I are free to make our own agreement.  I think it is very reasonable to want a price that is similar to the amount they're paid by everyone else, rather than double or triple that (I've been quoted that it may be up to $300k).  So I guess my question is has anyone here done this, or have any experience in similar matters?  Thanks.

Steve.

[Pooter]

For what it's worth, my retrosigmoid surgery was about $75k but the insurance company was only billed about $25k.  Everything was paid at 100%, so to the insurance company, the surgery (plus ICU and 4 days in the hospital) was only about $25k. 

Good luck..

Brian