How one patient saved more than $8,000 for two MRIs

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Hi, I'm Marshall Allen, author of Never Pay the First Bill and Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win. Welcome to Victory Stories. Today. We're here with Kevin Vincent from Amarillo, Texas. He's going to tell us his victory story. Thanks for joining us, Kevin. So tell us, what kind of service did you need?

Yeah, so I needed 2 MRIs of my mid back and low back.

Okay. And then what did you do? Like, where did they send you, refer you to a place? And did you check there?

I did, absolutely. That was my first call, was to find out how much that was going to cost. I have a high deductible plan. I've got a $10,000 deductible.

So you called the place you got referred to and told them you're on a high deductible plan, and then what'd you say? Like, what's this going to cost me?

Yeah, exactly. I asked. You know, I told him, I have a high deductible plan, and what is that going to cost me? That's exactly right. I needed to know how much to bring to my appointment, and the lady on the phone said, okay for. And she had my orders already because they were faxed over to her. Okay, that the Insurance is charged $11,000, but if you're paying cash, that's $9,000.

What are you thinking when you hear the nine grand?

Yeah, so I think she could kind of hear the gasp in my voice. And so her first response was, don't worry about that. We have a payment plan that we can set you up on.

Oh, that's nice. So you can just go into debt for your MRIs.

Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. And I was just myself. I just. I really didn't know what to say.

I had.

I had a feeling that $9,000 was an extreme amount for two MRIs, but I didn't know for sure.

What was your next move then?

Yeah, so my next move was I know.

Josh Butler here in town. Who?

Josh Butler is a.

Benefits broker consultant in Amarillo. Right. Josh is the one connected the two of us together. So you know Josh. So you call up Josh?

Yeah, I called Josh because he and I had worked together on some employee benefit stuff, and I've heard him many times explain, you know, how you don't have to pay the first price and there are ways around.

Having to pay that full retail price. So I called him immediately after that, and he said, oh, no, that's ridiculous. And he told me to get my orders from my doctor and Fax them to green imaging.

Green imaging. Okay, so tell us what you know about green imaging.

I knew nothing about green imaging. They don't know me. It wasn't a plan that I had set up. There was.

There was.

It was so simple. I literally got my orders from my doctor and faxed them to the number that Josh provided. They called me. I put my contact information. They called me. They told me how much it would be, told me I could pay them now and set the appointment.

Was the first place you talked to affiliated with a hospital?

Well, they said they were affiliated with a hospital. I mean, it's not a hospital. It's an imaging center. But they did say they were affiliated with a hospital.

Okay, and is that why then the price was higher there, you think that's.

That was her kind of. Her explanation, you know, for better or worse? Just that we're. She kind of felt bad about it, but she said yes, since we are connected to a hospital, that is our pricing.

So you went to green imaging, and then how did they. Did they give you a price up front?

They did give me a price up front and in the price for both MRIs and red. So the price was $950.

That. Did they deliver on that? Is that how it worked out?

They absolutely delivered on it. They set the appointment. I went to the imaging center, which was about a half mile down the road from the other imaging center, and a great facility, very professional. They went in, got me taken care of, and actually sent me a read of the scans.

So you saved yourself over $8,000 just by going through this other referral source. So that's incredible. I mean, what'd you think about that when you save that amount of money?

You know, I just. It really made me feel for just the people that don't know. I mean, I know I have a high deductible, and I understand the plan, and I'm going to have to at some point, you know, have that and be ready for it.

The fact that so many people are financing this debt and they could save so much money, it was.

I didn't like it, frankly. You know, I didn't. I didn't like what is happening to other people, and I felt fortunate to be able to contact Josh and save that much money.

So what did we learn from Kevin's story? Well, first, health care pricing is crazy. If you don't shop around, you might end up paying thousands of dollars more than you should for the exact same thing. Number two, we learned that hospitals are often the most expensive places to get care. So if you need an mri, a CT or an X ray or other image or other types of care, see if you can go to places that aren't affiliated with a hospital. Number three. If you need an imaging test, try greenimaging.net see if they can get you a deal. Please don't forget, Go to my website, marshallallen.com and sign up for my newsletter. And please share your victory story. If you're an individual or an employer and you found a way to save, please share it with the rest of us so we can learn from you. And please pick up a copy of my book, Never Pay the First Bill. Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win.