One relief was that it happened in March, not on Dec 31, so it's not like I wouldn't have paid some of that bill in care, which is now 'free'
The other thing I learned, since the hospital was unwilling to negotiate on total price is that they just want you to commit to paying and will give you a long, low monthly, zero interest payment plan to make that happen. I'm a 'no debt' kind of guy, but if they'll float me a loan for free, I plan to just keep adding future visits to this network to my payment plan indefinitely.
This is one of the big problems: if one went without insurance entirely, the hospital may negotiate 50-75% of the inflated charges away for cash on the spot, but with insurance involved, I have no control over the price I pay for that $150 Tylenol, which insurance knocked down to $75. On a HDHP, I'm out that $75, because the hospital 'isn't allowed' to negotiate further after insurance.
An obvious example of this is with prescription drugs. I have a monthly script that is something insane like $250 'U&C' charge, but after insurance, it's $90. However, at a particular pharmacy, with GoodRx, it's $21. Paying 'cash' with GoodRx ends up being the better deal, even though it doesn't count towards my OOP/deductible with the insurance, because I'm not likely to hit that with a HDHP.
Would my total cash outlay for a hospital visit be cheaper without insurance? Maybe, but the fact that I can't determine that upfront unlike what I can do with a script is what is infuriating.
The other thing I learned, since the hospital was unwilling to negotiate on total price is that they just want you to commit to paying and will give you a long, low monthly, zero interest payment plan to make that happen. I'm a 'no debt' kind of guy, but if they'll float me a loan for free, I plan to just keep adding future visits to this network to my payment plan indefinitely.