From one point of view you could consider this a bit of "socialism on the sly", as the insurers are somewhat indirectly helping me - they can charge the insured a little more, and charge me a little less
- a substantial part of medical cost is incurred by the highly trained clerical support staff necessary to process all of the government and insurance company paperwork.
- Providers often incur long delays in receiving compensation from third party payers and therefore end up with substantial interest charges from their bankers.
- There is a definite risk that in the end the healthcare provider will be unable to collect part or all of their costs. Insurance companies and Medicare can and do change their mind about whether a given procedure is covered or at what rate even if the procedure was pre-approved, patients walk-away from their deductible, etc
THE POINT IS: If a patient pays their bill in cash the health care provider avoids those costs and risk, so they can legitimately offer, if not a special rate
per. se., a discount for cash. It is just good business.
