The Price for Being Sick.

Today, I had to go to the doctor.  We don't have health insurance.
I had the Cobra from my old company when I was laid off last January but didn't renew in December when the president extended Cobra coverage because I was hoping the gig I'm at now would come through with a permanent position and health care would come with it.  We are now five months into the year and still no permanent position, hence, no health care.
I was pretty sure that this was going to cost a ton of money. I was running a 102 fever for most of yesterday and overnight.  Flu, strep throat, what??  How many tests, how many meds? I need to go to work, I don't get paid when I don't work. This sucks.
Turns out our doctor has a cash option. If you pay cash, the visit is $80.00. Not cheap, but they billed our insurance $170.00 for that same appt when we had it. We were responsible for paying $65.00 for it. So a $15 savings for not having to pay a premium every month, I was pleasantly surprised.
They did the flu test, negative. We passed on strep, not enough gunk in my throat. He determined something was going on so he called it a upper respiratory infection. Now for the antibiotics and the pharmacy visit.
Off to the pharmacy. They didn't have the script at first so I had to go back. They rang it up. $129. and some odd cents. I said, no. That was not what I asked for. I told him I had told the dr. I was on a cash basis so generic low cost med was what I needed. The dr. said it would be $10 at the most. The cashier went and talked with the pharmacist. Turns out when you pay cash, the med was only $5. How did it go from down in price $125? Well, they don't have to file all the fun paperwork. 
So, I did miss out on a full day of pay, which will hurt in two weeks when I get paid again. But I'm thankful that I didn't have to use another day's pay to figure out what was wrong with me and get it taken care of.
I ran into this with Sy in December. I paid cash for his 4-year checkup and vaccines. I checked Metro health for the vaccines and they were going to be over $100.  I called the dr.'s office to see what they would do for us as a cash patient. Turns out you can get a 20% discount for paying cash.  As for the vaccines, if you fill out a form, I'm sure it was from the gov't, but I'm okay with that, I got all 4 vaccines for $10 each.  So a bill that was given to the insurance for $300+, I paid just over $100 and we were done. 
When we did have insurance, I was still paying $45 for that same visit over and above my monthly co-pay to the insurance company.
This experience and the one with the pediatrician got me thinking this afternoon With all this health care reform, did they ever consider NOT covering regular doctor's visits? And having doctors, labs, hospitals post all their pricing, cash and what the pricing negotiated with the insurance companies they work with? I'm sure that violates some law somewhere, but I think they could get away with posting cash pricing. That way people could make a decision on what they want to do. Either open a health care savings account and put money away to cover small to mid-cost medical expenses and carry catastrophic insurance for long-term hospital, rehabilitation stays or pay for the full coverage plan for the small items too.
I believe most people would like to have a little more control over what they pay and to understand what it is they are paying for. In my humble opinion, that would be liberating and most people would manage their health and treatment in a more pro-active manner.