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Comment by shereadsthenews | Hacker News Reader

I'd like to know where the patient with the $870 MRI bill was seen. My last MRI was billed at over $7500. Before I started treatment for my brain tumor I got divorced for purely financial reasons and gave all my remaining money to my children. USA is so fucked.

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For non-emergency imaging studies it's worth shopping around. Prices really can vary by a factor of 10× between facilities in the same area. For those with private insurance, most major insurance companies offer some sort of cost estimator on their web sites which allow members to see which radiology centers are cheaper.

(I do appreciate that this is a bad experience for patients.)

I needed an MRI a few years ago, and my insurance provider actually called me to tell me about insurance-preferred imaging centers, and how much the out-of-pocket cost would be at those centers vs. the one my MRI was initially scheduled at.

Yes some payers will check the stream of incoming X12 278 Prior Authorization messages for expensive procedures and then attempt to steer members toward lower cost options. This helps to hold down costs for the healthcare system as a whole.

Other than cash, how do you give money over $15k without being nailed by the gift tax? Keeping as much money in retirement savings seems wise as those are exempt from liens.

On top of the yearly exemption, you have a lifetime exemption in the US of $11.18M.

Currently you do. At a recent visit to my estate planning attorney he said it's likely that will be cut in half in the next few years. I don't recall whether it was because there's a time limit on that particular part of the law that's going to run out, or because it was likely the ruling parties would switch and they would vote it back down. But either way just remember that it can change in either direction at just about any time.

IRAs are not exempt from creditors in all states, FYI. Texas has solid unlimited protection at least, though.

Some of the cost difference is likely due to different procedures and materials(i.e. contrast agents).

We've got private MRI clinics in Canada, and Googling prices for my city gives a number of clinics with prices in the 700 CAD range.

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