Why We Need Transparency in Health Care Costs
Ten years ago, my daughter asked me “Why do we have health insurance if we aren’t allowed to see the doctor?” I had a three-day rule where my premise -- most non-serious conditions resolve in 72 hours -- so no need to waste my time or money going to urgent care. Besides, rising premiums pushed me into high-deductible health insurance.
More than a year ago I rushed my younger child to urgent care and the bill remains unresolved. After a heavy object was inadvertently dropped on his finger, causing it to swell 2X its original size, we headed to urgent care the next day when swelling, pain, and movement ballooned.
The visit was brief. Though the front desk clerks were inefficient, the nurse whisked him quickly to the exam room. The doctor’s exam was thorough -- he was judged unlikely to have broken bones or require surgery, yet a plain x-ray was ordered to confirm.
So I summarize: time spent included a 10-minute doctor visit, 10-minute x-ray, and 1 hour check-in. The bill arrived a few months later: doctor visit was $426.07 and plain x-ray was $501.38 for the facility and $78 for the radiologist. The $1000+ bill was crazy expensive. My outpatient kidney CT scan a few years ago was under $500, and despite my rule, my son saw the same urgent care doctor the month prior with a lower visit cost ($240.86) and a longer visit time (30 minutes). A friend seen at the same urgent care with a swollen ankle was also billed the lower cost visit.
I assumed they made a mistake. I called Stanford Healthcare to dispute my bill and was told only procedure codes can be disputed. So the rep gave me the procedure codes responsible for each item on my bill. The procedure code matched finger x-ray and the visit code was billed moderate versus low complexity.
Perhaps the x-ray procedure code was billed incorrectly. To find out, I called Aetna, my medical insurance provider, to obtain an estimate for the x-ray procedure code billed. Aetna’s rep called back a week later with my estimate: the finger x-ray code billed by Stanford Healthcare in Palo Alto with no deductible paid would cost $124.12. Much more reasonable, I thought. She had a caveat -- the number was an estimate and my bill may be higher or lower. Knowing the actual cost, I asked if my bill might be double or quadruple the estimate and was given a definitive “no.”
Read it all:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/10/why_we_need_transparency_in_health_care_costs.html