What are usual customary and reasonable charges?

A medical charges is "usual and customary" (UC) when it is the same or similar amount for the same or similar service in the same or similar geographic area by the same or similar medical providers. If 100 surgeons charge $5,000.00 to perform the same surgery in a close geographic area then the "usual and customary" charge is $5,000.00. If 100 surgeons charge between $4,500 and $5,500.00 for the same surgery in the same area then the range of usual & customary is $4,500 to $5,500 and the average UC is $5,000.00 If a hundred taxi drivers charge $75.00 for the same trip between an airport and a downtown location then the "usual and customary" charge is $75.00. Yeah, it's that simple. "Reasonable" is best left out of the discussion because it's an impossible Word to define. What's reasonable to one person may be totally unreasonable to another person. Note that UC is unrelated to the amount which an insurance company says is UC. The UC is not "set" by the insurance company or companies because the charge remains the same regardless of how much is paid. An insurance company may set an allowance amount which it then tries to retro-define as "usual & customary" but this is grossly inaccurate and used because it is self-serving to the insurance company. Best - LRL