What the office charges a patient is completely up to them. They can essentially charge anything they want. With that said I believe they should get the best price out there. If you ask any doctor they will say they have all wish they were a cash only practice (and by cash I just mean no insurance). I do bill for one office like that and as you can imagine it is a breeze. Sure the more offices that don't deal with insurances means it is less likely they will need our services but that doesn't change the fact that cash patients are the easiest to bill for. In a nutshell...they can charge whatever they want...but in my opinion they should pay less than any insurance out there because of they cost the least to bill.Of course there are those that are deadbeats but that is for another thread all together.
You can have a cash price for patient's with no insurance. It should be fair though. Our cash price is based on the average "allowed" amount of the insurances we contract with. If we can take the cut from the insurance company, we should take it from the patients who don't have insurance. We don't want our care to be out of reach, financially, for our patients. Just a side note, I will say that the patient's who have to pay out of their own pocket appreciate the doctor SO much more than people who never get a bill. Worker's Comp patients have a tendency to be the most abusive of care since their job "owes it to them". They flake on appointments and we can't charge for the missed appointment. Just a pet peeve of mine.