> While it's an interesting story, I doubt they needed Claude to work a hospital bill down to that amount. Hospital billing folks are acutely aware that the initial bill is outrageous and indefensible from their end.
OP agrees: "Ultimately, my big takeaway is that individuals on self-pay shouldn’t pay any more than an insurance company would pay—and which a hospital would accept as profitable business—than the largest medical payer in the country. I had access to tools that helped me land on that number, but the moral issue is clear. Nobody should pay more out of pocket than Medicare would pay. No one. ... Hospitals know they are the criminals they are and if you properly call them on it they will back down."
> I've heard a ton of cases where folks basically "pay what they can" for the bill and that's good enough for both parties. I doubt the reasoning Claude provided was ultimately what got the hospital to knock the bill down, probably more around the legal action and PR threats. Ironically, the hospital will probably count this as charity even though OP didn't want to be considered charity, as they had to write off part of the bill.
I read that OP refused to sign something that fraudulently said the full price was $195k but rather insisted on signing on a bill that said the full price was $33k or $37k or something. (Maybe $4k was called charity.) They might have presented a completely different bill to the IRS to justify tax-exempt status, but that illegal action would be totally on them; OP is not participating in their tax fraud. I applaud OP for that and hope this becomes the norm.
OP agrees: "Ultimately, my big takeaway is that individuals on self-pay shouldn’t pay any more than an insurance company would pay—and which a hospital would accept as profitable business—than the largest medical payer in the country. I had access to tools that helped me land on that number, but the moral issue is clear. Nobody should pay more out of pocket than Medicare would pay. No one. ... Hospitals know they are the criminals they are and if you properly call them on it they will back down."
> I've heard a ton of cases where folks basically "pay what they can" for the bill and that's good enough for both parties. I doubt the reasoning Claude provided was ultimately what got the hospital to knock the bill down, probably more around the legal action and PR threats. Ironically, the hospital will probably count this as charity even though OP didn't want to be considered charity, as they had to write off part of the bill.
I read that OP refused to sign something that fraudulently said the full price was $195k but rather insisted on signing on a bill that said the full price was $33k or $37k or something. (Maybe $4k was called charity.) They might have presented a completely different bill to the IRS to justify tax-exempt status, but that illegal action would be totally on them; OP is not participating in their tax fraud. I applaud OP for that and hope this becomes the norm.