<p>Last year, when D needed a physical before going to college, we visited the pediatrician and got her checked out. She had a tetanus shot, meningitis vaccine, and a physical. They also took blood and looked for a few things. </p>
<p>Our insurance company, Care First Blue Cross/Blue Shield (which is supposedly nonprofit but made $28 million in profits the year before for it’s coverage in Washington DC) managed to consider that every charge “exceeded customary costs” and other BS and ended up paying the pediatrician’s office $35.</p>
<p>Now, maybe the blood work was excessive, but nothing else the pediatrician did was even remotely out of bounds. For some strange reason, I remember what my parents paid our pediatrician for my pre-college visit back when health insurance didn’t cover primary care check ups. It was also $35. Thirty years later, and they expect that there’s been no increase in cost?</p>