Quote:Actually, hospital payments rates are contracted for the majority of their patients. Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare are government programs, so you don't get to negotiate a rate, you simply take what they offer or don't participate. Commercial payers like Blue Cross, Aetna and United Healthcare negotiate individual contracts with physicians and facilities that pay on some percentage of the Medicare rate (good rates are 110 - 120% of Medicare, bad ones can be 80% or lower). Once the service is rendered the insurance company has the leverage because they can (and do) simply deny the claim and not pay it short of a judge forcing them to. They also deny claims for illegitimate reasons or say the service is the patient's responsibility and force the physician to rebill the claim costing labor time and a delay in cash flow or force the patient to spend time on the phone demanding they pay the claim. You've not seen corporate greed until you've seen how an insurance company works to hold on to their dollars!