This is part of a series taking a look at CNN Money’s Fifty Ways To Cut Your Health-Care Costs and this is the third tip in the series. Again, related to the first tip of negotiating your health care bill, this tip recommends paying up front, in case in order to get them to slash the bill some more. Pam Deloney of the American Private Physicians Association believes that by paying in advance and in cash, you can usually negotiate your bill 10% lower because they won’t have to spend the time and the money on the collection side. They estimate that doctors lose thousands on unpaid bills and credit card processing fees – so cash can usually save you some money.

Source: CNN Money

This is part of a series taking a look at CNN Money’s Fifty Ways To Cut Your Health-Care Costs and this is the second tip in the series. This one is related to the first tip of negotiating your health care bill, they recommend that you request the costs for some of the common medical procedures so that you have more ammunition when you go to bargain with your doctor. Shopping for health care is like shopping for groceries, you should have a general idea of how much a gallon of milk costs so that when you see it on sale for $10, you don’t get suckered in by the “sale.” The difficulty with medical costs is that it usually happens when you’re not well and you, hopefully, don’t buy much health care so you aren’t aware of how much a procedure should cost. Money recommends that you ask your insurance company as they will probably be able to help you the best.

Source: CNN Money

This is part of a series taking a look at CNN Money’s Fifty Ways To Cut Your Health-Care Costs and this is the first tip in the series: ask your doctor for a good deal. I was surprised, but not entirely surprised, that the rates doctor’s charge weren’t absolute and that they had the discretion to change their rates. I was surprised only because I never thought to bargain with a doctor, even though when you think about it… they’re a business like any other. Where this makes the most sense is when you have a high deductible or have no insurance whatsoever and are paying out of your own pocket. In those situations, you can probably explain to your doctor and they’ll usually be sympathetic.

Here an interesting statistic:

According to a 2005 Harris Interactive poll, about two-thirds of adults who negotiated for lower prices with a hospital or dentist succeeded, as did three out of five adults who bargained with their doctor.

Source: CNN Money

If you’re a fan of the National Football League, you’ll recognize my next reference and the source of an astounding statistic. Former CEO of UnitedHealth, William McGuire, earned about $1.6 billion over 14 years. That’s an hourly rate of $57,000 for someone at the center of the backdating stock options scandal.

New Record for CEO Gluttony: Last week William McGuire, CEO of insurer UnitedHealth and a centerpiece of the latest corporate-boardroom scandal (backdated stock options) agreed to leave the company. The Wall Street Journal estimated that for his 14 years running UnitedHealth, McGuire pocketed a total of about $1.6 billion. That’s $457,000 per day, or $57,000 per working hour. So McGuire paid himself more per hour than the median American annual household income. And this was during a period when UnitedHealth was cutting benefits to those it insures, cutting benefits received by its own workers, and cutting payments to physicians and hospitals for health care. Obviously this greedy little man is beyond disgrace: To experience disgrace, one must have a conscience. But why isn’t McGuire’s $1.6 billion simply considered theft from shareholders? UnitedHealth is a public company, and there is no possibility the fantastic amount was justified by market forces — that is, that the UnitedHealth board could not have found a similarly qualified CEO for less than $1.6 billion.

via Tuesday Morning Quarterback on ESPN.