<tangent alert>

I was put in a knee brace by my GP. I was told that if insurance did not pay that I would have to. (Obviously)

I got home and googled the brace. The first couple of places that looked like decent ecommerce sites had the brace listed for just under $200 shipped. The GP billed $459 which was the MSRP of the brace from the manufacturer. My insurance paid $456!

Of course I've seen it the other way too. My DD had >$1300 in labs done years ago and insurance paid (and the doctor accepted as payment in full) less than $200. If I hadn't had insurance I wonder if they would have settled for cash @ 50 cents on the dollar. I doubt it.

</tangent>
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"There is not a man of us who does not at times need a helping hand to be stretched out to him, and then shame upon him who will not stretch out the helping hand to his brother." -Theodore Roosevelt