>>>>>>>Now we'll see how many people use it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
https://www.ajc.com/news/national/hospital-prices-are-about-public/2jXYHgoR5CObBj6fSJQQUO/>>>>>>
>>>>>>I had a ten day stay in the local hospital this summer.
>>>>>>Medicare and my supplemental insurance paid about 20% of the hospital's (outrageous) bill and that was OK with the hospital.
>>>>>>I'd imagine that at least half that hospital's patients use Medicare.
>>>>>>So, I'm not sure what the hospital's price list really means.
>>>>>
>>>>>It means that you can shop around for the best price :)
>>>>
>>>>And you get what you paid for :)
>>>
>>>It's like anything else -- the highest price does not always mean the best product.
>>
>>Then, what do you mean by "best price"? :) $1 above the lowest? :)
>
>I see the smiley at the end, but still offer my earnest rule of thumb:
>the price where [perceived/current] customer [satisfaction/relation] of current biz partner is close enough to the triple of lowest prices so that I can spare the effort to check out alternatives.
>
>Usually if my current contract price is under 5% distance of low bidders, I do not even check out alternatives.
>Between 5 and 10% I try to ascertain if that price difference is/was stable for at least the year before, and if actual savings are high, perhaps change.
>Between 10 and 25%: check out 3 lowest prices, usually NOT going for cheapest offer (and making certain that lower offer is known to other side)
>
>And always give current partner chance to match lower prices if current relation is good.
>
>Hoping to get marked as price sensitive, but still valued customer - for instance in car insurance I can discuss surcharge for non-factory line equipment or allowance for other drivers if there is a need (my accident free time span gets nice reductions esp for high HP, but sometimes it is better/smarter to allow other driver for special trips). TANSTAAFL...
Healthcare and car insurance = apples and oranges.
"The creative process is nothing but a series of crises." Isaac Bashevis Singer
"My experience is that as soon as people are old enough to know better, they don't know anything at all." Oscar Wilde
"If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too." W.Somerset Maugham