Medical costs

[REWahoo]

Many of us who retired before we are eligible for Medicare have individual high deductible health insurance policies. I'm one of those, choosing to go that route to have catastrophic coverage and use the negotiating power of an insurance company to lower the cost of what we pay out of pocket since it is unlikely we will come close to meeting our $5,000 deductible.

I recently had a check-up and just got the paperwork from my insurance company (BC/BS). I found the breakdown of "Billed vs. Allowed" charges very interesting:

Physical History: Billed - $192.00 Allowed - $95.99
Immunizations: Billed - $50.00 Allowed - $41.85
Routine Lab Services: Billed - $13.00 Allowed - $3.00
Routine Lab Services: Billed - $23.00 Allowed - $5.88
Routine Lab Services: Billed - $59.00 Allowed - $7.69
Routine Lab Services: Billed - $47.00 Allowed - $7.42
Routine Lab Services: Billed - $55.00 Allowed - $12.17
Routine Lab Test: Billed - $62.00 Allowed - $16.71
Routine Lab Services: Billed - $12.00 Allowed - $2.32
Routine Lab Screening: Billed - $130.00 Allowed - $2.79

Without insurance I would be on the hook for a total of $643.00; with insurance I'm paying $195.82, a savings of $447 (70%). Note the last item - the insurance company reduced the original charge by 98%!

My few previous bills have shown savings in the 40-50% range and I'm wondering if the change is due to increased charges by my doctor or decreased allowed amounts by the insurance company...