That makes me wonder if the doctor is losing money by accepting this lower sum, and/or if he’s gaining it alternately with compensation for accepting the insurer’s terms.

The basic American citizen has no cogency to drive the prices of their invidivual health costs down. An uninsured person is lucky to be treated, much less given the opportunity to negotiate their price for care.

It’s just really sad that "healthcare" is geared toward benefiting the healthcare providers and insurance corporations foremost, and then providing basic healthcare on their (the insurer’s) terms.

A registered nurse who is a friend of mine told me that she once dropped some pills on the floor and was unable to administer them to the patient. So she discarded them, retrieved two more of the same type of pills, and gave them to the patient. For billing purposes, the patient was to be charged for both doses of pills, though they obviously received only one. They can’t afford any waste! So someone had to pay for it.

As for malpractice suits, I believe that it is highly difficult for the average American to file them against doctors and hospitals. It is nearly impossible to prove outright negligence. The hospital always have the excuse that they are "understaffed," after all.

I empathize with hospital personnel, but the healthcare situation is out of control. It’s great that you researched this and passed the information along.

At least if they don’t lower our costs, maybe we can get a better tax incentive, such as lowering 7.5% to say 2.5% (yeah, right) for medical expenses. We can only dream.