Steve B. wasn’t going to be fooled twice. He’d recently seen an ear, nose, and throat specialist for a “tickle in the throat” that wouldn’t go away. He’d forked over a co-pay at check-in, but then the doctor said he needed “to put a scope down there” and check his throat. He later received a bill for $250, reduced by his insurance company to “only $190.”
He was irate: “If my doctor would have told me: ‘Steve, I think we should scope you, but that is a $250 service that isn’t part of the office visit. I don’t know what your end cost will be,’ I could have made an informed decision… I didn’t get that option.”
