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wow.. that is messed up.

And what would be the rationale behind making people call to learn about negotiated rates instead of providing that information directly?

Curious as to why this contract agreement needs to be secret. Can it not be reverse engineered somehow? I'm imagining there's a set number of codes per doctor-insurer combination, or are these codes uniquely generated for each patient?

> Curious as to why this contract agreement needs to be secret.

Information asymmetry.

Because if Dr. X could see what Dr. Y is being reimbursed for procedure Z, and they learn that Y receives more, then in the next contract negotiation round, Dr. X will try to get more (or at least Dr. Y's amount) for procedure Z from the insurance company.

If none of the insurance counter-parties are aware of what the others are paying, they don't know if they are agreeing to less than they could have received.


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