[colbyh]

Yeah I think the big problem here is related to the scale, not the fact that it's cheaper when you pay in cash. But that insurance would pay $500 (after negotiating the price down) and then push a > $1k charge to the patient when the clinic would have been ok with a $500 payment up front is just wrong.

It's also worth noting that many clinics, if not most, won't actually try to collect the balance here. They'll often go through the motions and forgive the balance after some number of attempts to collect.