Check out the REAL price of a COVID Test in Honolulu, October 2021-Shame on them!

Look at this bill for COVID Test

Notice that the company tried for $175. The original bill was almost $200 but the insurance company wasn’t trying to hear it. Look what the company accepted from insurance. Less than a third of the asking price. If I didn’t have insurance I would’ve been billed $175 and the best I would be able to hope for would’ve been a payment plan. Why don’t individuals get the same price naming privileges?

Hawaii residents were given an expensive alternative to Mando vaccination

In August 2021 Governor Ige (pronounced EE gay) said that anyone who did not want to vaccinate themselves or their children could get a weekly COVID Test to demonstrate they probably weren’t going to transmit the virus to others. These tests had to be paid for out of pocket. The price bandied about by the media at the time was $150 per test. That’s $600/month. The jobs people were trying to keep were state jobs. We are not talking Fortune 500 salaries. That amount would not be painless. Consider this, my one bedroom is $1550/month. If you have a state job you don’t get rental assistance, food stamps. People routinely pay more than half their income to put a roof over their heads. That’s just the roof, not the items needed underneath to he roof. The cost of one air conditioner in an apartment will usually result in a $300 electric bill. In case you out-of-staters do not know, a half gallon of organic milk can be as much as $9.49 in Safeway but usually hovers around $7. I never thought I would pay $5 for a half gallon of milk. If I see a sale price of 5.49 for a half gallon of organic milk, I grab it. Maybe I get a second one and freeze it. I always hope the organic label is not a con job and I would be smart to save the $5.49 for a gallon. I know you are shocked. The numbers are accurate.

Hawaii residents with good jobs do not usually have a spare $600 for a COVID Test. Too bad people are not insurance companies.

You saw the bill my insurance company sent me for my verification that I was the one who received covered services and not an identity thrift. I could be misreading it. I probably lack relevant info that would make the bill more understandable. Based upon my reading it looks like the providers of the test, (either the product or the service or both) will take what they can get. They will settle for$63.75 if that’s what insurance pays. I had no co-payment. Maybe the only way to lower the price of the test for some is to overcharge other people. I suspect pricing is like a negotiation and the first offer is outrageous. Individuals do not get to negotiate over price, nor do they get to flatly state “take it or leave it.”

Is it possible for individuals to name their own rates like medical insurance companies?

Caroleena, proposing a way to make the alternative to mandatory vaccination economically viable for Hawaii workers.

Maybe I am not opposed to special privilege out of principle but bc I am so often excluded, though I admit it seems like I have favor in this situation. Untrue. If the COVID Test is not ordered by a doctor I have to pay full price out of pocket. I hope the vaccination I received has changed this requirement.

Does anyone else know about the price disparity? Please note in comment section. Thank you beloved readers.