Shopping for medical care

For those of you not in the loop, I've been going to different appointments trying to figure what's wrong with me. I have what I think is a good doctor and he's being very methodical. The sad thing is that I wasn't overly worried about what was going on until I went to a doctor and then found out how serious it could be.

We've gotten the really nasty diagnoses out of the way, not without a little sweating though. I don't have ALS or cancer... The next big thing to rule out is MS (I'm thinking positive), but to do that I need some MRIs done.

I found out tonight that my insurance is denying all of my claims so far so I have no reason to think that they'll pay for my MRIs. That's a bit of a problem because they are pretty expensive. I'll find out on monday, but I'm willing to bet that the price is between $1500 and $2500 each, and I need two.

It turns out that there are places that have discounts if you pay up front. And I'm talking about some serious discounts, I can go up to northern Virginia and get an MRI (with a radiologist reading) for $630 each. Yeah, it's a three hour drive, but what the hell, it's worth the savings!

I am going to call up the place that is scheduled to do mine on tuesday and see if I can't negotiate a better price and use this other location as their competition. It's worth a shot. If they can get close, I'll do it here instead of driving. We'll see just how much of a business it really is and how willing they are to move their price in order to avoid the complications and hassle of insurance.

Even if they don't budge, I'm happy that there are alternatives. That's the way it should be, competition is good for us!!!

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MRI, cash discount, medical, medical cost