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Yes, the doctors' fees are inflated. By the way, if you came to my office, I would have given you a prescription for the boot because insurance companies will not pay anything - not a single dime - for it. This is something your doctor gave you for free and paid for it himself, and here you are complaining about it! My fees are similar. The reason is the Insurance companies. My most onerous contract says that they will pay 120% of the Medicare fee schedule from 4 years ago (all insurance contracts are based on Medicare fees) -OR- they will pay one third of the bill, whichever is less. That means that I have to charge 360% (more than 3 times) what the Medicare fee schedule is in order to get the maximum fee from this insurance. So that is the basis of my fee. I NEVER get paid this, and I don't expect to. I have a self-pay fee rate that is much lower than my overall charge. But patients ask me all the time why my fee is so high. Now you know.