Kids and Health Care: Paying Cash

If you pay cash, there's not much to the mechanics of seeing a doctor. You simply hand over the money or write a check after each visit. In some cases, the doctor or (more often) hospital will require partial payment in advance of treatment; on the other hand, either may give you 30 days or so to pay.

If you pay cash: Make sure to ask for the cash prices for time and treatments. Most doctors and hospitals offer discounted rates to patients who pay in cash. This is called the professional discount.

Some health care providers are more accustomed to being paid in cash than others. Dentists, eye doctors, many general practitioners and most alternative-medicine specialists usually aren't covered by insurance. They are thus better prepared to take cash payments.

Most hospitals and certain medical specialists -- heart doctors, cancer specialists, anesthesiologists and even pediatricians -- are almost always paid by insurance companies or government programs. They may not be set up to accept cash payments, at least not conveniently.

One of the many ironies of the medical industry is the fact that providers who serve the highest and lowest ends of the socio-economic spectrum are used to being paid in cash. Marginal outfits and clinics in seedy neighborhoods accept cash readily -- and, often, so do plastic surgeons and general practitioners in the wealthiest. Among other reasons, rich people often pay cash for their medical care for privacy, to avoid the paper trail caused by insurance.

Don't assume because you're paying cash that means you have to settle for the low-end. Call a few doctors in swank locations, if only to find out how far your cash will go with them.