I agree, notrichenough. My understanding is that costs for procedures are already negotiated between the provider and the insurance co and the provider can’t make additional adjustments. But I’d assume hospitals, in particular, know what they can do with patient bills. More power to you, MomCat.
Yes, the insurance company would be all over the provider. I don’t think this is permitted, in fact, by contract. BUT, they do this. I got discounts for dental bills that I don’t think the insurance would have approved. But I don’t know for sure. I maximized my $1500 max dental nsurance benefit for two years by working with the dentists.
Agree that the insurance co might have a cow with this strategy.
I was a bit worried about that myself. But last night after reading notrichenough’s post, I Googled - hospital discount for paying in full
Turns out that lots of hospitals do this, and state it plainly on their websites. The uninsured can often negotiate HUGE discounts, according to some consumer websites. But hospitals will also give discounts similar to what I received to insured patients, lowering what they have to fork over for copays, coinsurance, deductible amounts.
Since the hospitals are so open about this, surely the insurance companies know it is going on.
The lab where blood testing is done has a sign in its lobby, advising all that there is a discount if you pay cash up front. Fortunately, our insurer pays 100% of most lab work.
I have never negotiated a discount for paying 100% of my portion, but will definitely consider that next time I have a large bill.
This week, we gave picked up 3 90-day supply of prescriptions. The grand total copay for these Rx was $0.00! No typo! Last year, only Prilosec was free. This year, it’s free as a generic Rx, H’s statin Rx is free and D’s nasal steroid is free! I was shocked. Also got 96 pseudofed pills (30mg) for under $10!
On the other hand a new formulation of an Rx I’ve been taking will be $70 copay. The older formulation has a copay that dropped from $60 to $15. I complained to the pharma rep and she will be giving me 12 discount cards so I can try the new formulation and let the patients in my support group try it as well for a discounted cost. She is trying to work with insurer to reduce the copay. Anyway, am holding off picking up this Rx until after I get the card tomorrow. 
I negotiated the cost of an implanted tooth. We had maxed out our amount for that tooth and our insurance company doesn’t pay anything for implants but when I said I was going to go to a College Dental school to get the work done and told them the price, my dentist matched their price. Big savings and a lot more convenient. Turns out where I was going was where my dentist graduated from.
Am SERIOUSLY pissed at Rue La La. No time to go into detail burt the replacement bracelet I ordered on Jan 30 was cancelled as they really didnt have them in stock. I am PISSED. Did I say pissed? I am pissed.
I just discovered raise.com which resells gift cards, often at a large discount. I picked up a Michael’s gift card for 26.8% off, and a Vans Shoes card for 25% off. Since they are gift cards, not coupons, you can use them in conjunction with store promo codes, so I am pretty pleased. Macy’s, Nordstrom, Home Depot, and lots of other shop and restaurant cards are available, although the most popular cards have a much lower discount. Still, a buck’s a buck…
Ouch, jym. They better do something nice for you! I feel your pain. Nordie cancelled my clearance dress order, so I reordered when another one popped up. Surely enough, that one was cancelled, too. I suspect they cancelled it because they realized it was waaaay mispriced.
I am very impressed with the way my international shopping went so far. My purchases from the UK and German stores arrived in just 2 days! Even with $20 for DHL shipping, the prices were way lower than what I would have paid here in the US, and with such speedy delivery, I feel that those $20 were very well spent.
bunsen - Be prepared to receive a customs bill from DHL. We received some gifts from Marks and Spencer in the UK and then were billed a custom tax
Sally, thanks, I have a practice of saving the enclosed invoices and can contest those charges if needed. The invoices include the applicable US customs fees and taxes as separate line items. Still, even with the taxes, the stuff is a bargain compared to what US stores would charge.
What did you buy overseas, BB?
A ton of stuff: a coat, a pair of shoes, a scarf, and a bunch of hose/tights (I still need to fetch the latter from the local PO - it was shipped via certified Royal Mail from the UK for only $13 B-) ).
Use Cardpool, which is similar to Raise. Sometimes one is the better deal, sometimes the other. I have never had any problems with either service. Love the discounts.
2 dresses from nordstroms , with gift cards, cost $59.
A caution when purchasing gift cards from 3rd party resellers like Raise or Cardpool… Sometimes the cards are not valid. I had this happen to me twice when purchasing Starbucks gift cards from Raise. The first time, my order was cancelled and I was not charged. The second time, my order went through, I was able to register the Starbucks gift card, transfer it to my main Starbucks card and use it once. Then suddenly the balance of my main Starbucks card went to $0! It turns out the gift card was not valid, and Starbucks shut down my entire account. Customer service at Raise was very good, and I quickly got a full refund. The problem was that I already had a balance on my main Starbucks card (like $13), and Starbucks took that away too. I eventually worked it out with Starbucks customer service, and even got some free coffee out of it, but it took a while and caused some frustration.
Moral of the story is - don’t merge the gift cards you purchase from 3rd party vendors with other gift cards. (It even says that in the Raise fine print, which of course I did not read.) If the 3rd party gift cards are bad, you may lose your entire balance including what you had before you merged cards. And you may not want to give those cards as gifts - would be awkward if they turn out to be bad. I still buy Starbucks gift cards from Raise, sometimes for > 10% discount, but I keep them separate from my main Starbucks card.
For those buying gift cards here is an interesting article.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/10/26/gift-card-scams-how-to-spot-them-how-to-avoid-being-victim/
My gift cards were 2 years of birthday presents
I was scammed in a secondary market gift card. I checked the card immediately after i got it and it was good. Then a few weeks later when I used it, the balance had been zeroed out. I was, fortunately, able to get reimbursed, but what a pain, and if I’d let the card sit for a while, I’d probably have lost it all.
I’ve gotten Starbucks gift cards in large amounts with a great discount and immediately used them to buy multiple smaller amount cards to use as gifts. Did it for my mother several times. But when buying these cards from secondary sources, use right away.