(Edit for additional tidbit: to do the actual write-down for the patient portions, deductibles...you would 1099-misc the patient. Have any of you ever received a 1099 from a medical provider that forgave your bill? No? Not surprised. Incredibly rare. )
Insurance company contracts require you don't disclose your reimbursement rates. They also require you 'charge' them the same you charge others (those top line fee tables for each CPT code.) Then, to throw the entire thing out of whack, some (especially Medicaid/ Medicare) only reimburse at a percentage, say, 18% of what you charge.
For you to be able to take the 18% insurance, you have to ensure you are billing roughly 5x what you NEED to recoup. Then you have to charge every patient (therefore their insurance company) that amount so that you are in line with ALL your contracts.
The write downs are not tax deductible. The only thing that is is when a patient fails to make their copay, coinsurance, or deductible amounts that you are required (by your contracts) to make a good-faith attempt to collect.
You will find that most small health providers are amicable to sharing our ACTUAL prices (the amounts we internally know that we MUST recoup, on average to stay afloat) but it would break our contracts to do so. We have to offer 'cash discounts' (which is roughly what we ACTUALLY Charge) to you if you pay upfront so we don't have to deal with months of claims adjudication and third party costs to get your insurance company to pay.
The transparency is fine. The insurance companies are going to be the ones that cause hell. They'll use this opportunity to flatten small-medium sized providers that have little negotiating clout on their contracts.
Don't get me started on 'teaching' hospitals that go on and on about their 'lower rates' (how much they charge at the top line) when at the end they get 2x-4.5x the actual negotiated pay because they are attached to a medical school. That's altogether another form of higher-learning taxpayer wealth transfer.
Booked as a loss for what end? Tax reductions are THE reasons for write-downs. You can’t reduce your taxable income with these write downs. There are no recoverable losses to write down. The labor, office supplies, etc. were already deductible. This higher dollar amount doesn’t matter. It would be like saying a store puts 10k on a tv, but always rings it up for 2k. They don’t get to wipe out their taxes owed on their profits by claiming the 8k they made up for a label.
"The write downs are not tax deductible. The only thing that is is when a patient fails to make their copay, coinsurance, or deductible amounts that you are required (by your contracts) to make a good-faith attempt to collect."
So, is it a possibility that they don't want the patient to make co-pay/co-insurance/deductibles, so that they can write them off?
....I collect 100 from you now, or I wait until I file my taxes in April to reduce my income by 100 so I don’t pay the corporate tax of 20% on it, saving me $20.
This puts the left's "government run healthcare" to bed. They would now be able to rob every taxpayer nationwide at IRS gunpoint. If they knew about this they wouldn't simp for single payer.
The reason they didn’t publish prices, is because every hospital in the country is running an insurance/tax fraud scheme.
They’ll ‘mark up’ their services, for example charge $1000 for a cat scan that probably cost them $10 to perform.
The insurance company, or Medicare, will ‘pay’ $100 for it but bill the patient $500 co-pay
The hospital then ‘marks down’. i.e. takes a 900$ loss
The insurance company makes 400$ (400% profit )
The hospital likewise makes a 1000% profit, tax free, but marks it as a loss on their books.
The patient get screwed, paying 500x more than what it would normally cost.
GET IT? This is the modern medical insurance accounting scam
(Edit for additional tidbit: to do the actual write-down for the patient portions, deductibles...you would 1099-misc the patient. Have any of you ever received a 1099 from a medical provider that forgave your bill? No? Not surprised. Incredibly rare. )
Insurance company contracts require you don't disclose your reimbursement rates. They also require you 'charge' them the same you charge others (those top line fee tables for each CPT code.) Then, to throw the entire thing out of whack, some (especially Medicaid/ Medicare) only reimburse at a percentage, say, 18% of what you charge.
For you to be able to take the 18% insurance, you have to ensure you are billing roughly 5x what you NEED to recoup. Then you have to charge every patient (therefore their insurance company) that amount so that you are in line with ALL your contracts.
The write downs are not tax deductible. The only thing that is is when a patient fails to make their copay, coinsurance, or deductible amounts that you are required (by your contracts) to make a good-faith attempt to collect.
You will find that most small health providers are amicable to sharing our ACTUAL prices (the amounts we internally know that we MUST recoup, on average to stay afloat) but it would break our contracts to do so. We have to offer 'cash discounts' (which is roughly what we ACTUALLY Charge) to you if you pay upfront so we don't have to deal with months of claims adjudication and third party costs to get your insurance company to pay.
The transparency is fine. The insurance companies are going to be the ones that cause hell. They'll use this opportunity to flatten small-medium sized providers that have little negotiating clout on their contracts.
Don't get me started on 'teaching' hospitals that go on and on about their 'lower rates' (how much they charge at the top line) when at the end they get 2x-4.5x the actual negotiated pay because they are attached to a medical school. That's altogether another form of higher-learning taxpayer wealth transfer.
The write down doesnt have to be tax deductible if its booked as a straight loss
Booked as a loss for what end? Tax reductions are THE reasons for write-downs. You can’t reduce your taxable income with these write downs. There are no recoverable losses to write down. The labor, office supplies, etc. were already deductible. This higher dollar amount doesn’t matter. It would be like saying a store puts 10k on a tv, but always rings it up for 2k. They don’t get to wipe out their taxes owed on their profits by claiming the 8k they made up for a label.
Meaning that it offsets all their income so they operate at a loss/not-for profit status
"The write downs are not tax deductible. The only thing that is is when a patient fails to make their copay, coinsurance, or deductible amounts that you are required (by your contracts) to make a good-faith attempt to collect."
So, is it a possibility that they don't want the patient to make co-pay/co-insurance/deductibles, so that they can write them off?
....I collect 100 from you now, or I wait until I file my taxes in April to reduce my income by 100 so I don’t pay the corporate tax of 20% on it, saving me $20.
I think I want you to pay your fucking bill.
Thanks for this. I forgot what it was, but I knew there was another step where the insurance company takes advantage of the ‘markdown’. This is it.
God I hate these fuckers
What a fucking scam. Whatever happened to paying for a service up front? No insurance middlemen messing with numbers in an attempt to screw you over.
HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH.......Nice one!
Anyway I can read more about this?
This puts the left's "government run healthcare" to bed. They would now be able to rob every taxpayer nationwide at IRS gunpoint. If they knew about this they wouldn't simp for single payer.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/econtalk/id135066958?i=1000457112687
Really interesting podcast
Another Pede show me this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRn9ySc-RDM#t=6m