Hospital vs. Independent Labs

It’s Black Friday season and every consumer in America knows what that means. Massive hordes of people waiting outside of stores at 6 pm on Thursday (missing some quality Thanksgiving Day football) to trample each other and Usain-Bolt-style sprint for that coveted item. The 65” television, that is way too big for your living room, or the latest Apple gizmo may be nice, but what costs are you incurring to obtain it? Is there a way to trim some of those costs so that you can watch the last half of the football game, avoid being trampled by massive crowds, while still being able to purchase all of the gifts on your Christmas list? You could wait until Cyber Monday, like most millennials, or take a more drastic approach and finish your Christmas shopping at 8 p.m. on December 24^th.

What point are we trying to make here? The point is that there are methods to cutting costs for just about everything, while still maintaining the same high-quality outcome. The is also true about your healthcare costs. Back in August we discussed many different ways to trim your healthcare costs (you can check that post out here!), but let’s take a closer look at one of those solutions, using independent labs versus ones affiliated with a hospital.

Here is the average cost for a “Central PA Hospital” vs. an “Independent Lab”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have questions about your healthcare benefits package? Talk to our experts today!

Robert Glus, FSA, MAAA, FCA
Partner and Consulting Actuary
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