Copycat.So far so good. I cut my leg too and the resultant infection has had me making multiple trips to the Doctor. But I call and get in the same day!.
Soylent Green?Time for plan C.
As long as it's contained in P&N, no one noticed.I was even more surly than usual here yesterday..
As a matter of fact it was! I pissed off a couple of our fine outstanding contributors. But that's not what kept me from sleeping last night.As long as it's contained in P&N, no one noticed.
My OOP is $10K before we get the 80/20 split....shits are not given.
Shit, I've been found out.:ninja:Yes - we get it - you are rich. So rich you cut yourself just so you'd have another reason to spend all that extra money you have
Im in the same boat. My out of pocket for some tests my wife had done was over $2,000 and I supposedly have decent coverage.
And it's not even the doctors that are ripping you off, it's the medical facilities and ancillary services/products providers. Case in point - I want to have a minor outpatient surgery that will take about an hour in a generic outpatient office that is basically just another doctor's office that they keep clean. It's a surgery that will improve functionality after an injury I sustained a long time ago (no not my man-bits, or the back door you sickos). Call it a minor knee operation - it's a good example.
Doctor's charge - $4k, but my insurance knocks it down to like $2,800 and I would have to pay $1250 or so.
Facility cost? $23,000. Yes $23,000 for about 1 hr in a suburban strip office center. I think there's a freaking Remax agent in the next office. It's ridiculous. When I asked why the facility is charging almost 6 times what the GD surgeon is charging (you know the guy with the freaking KNIFE cutting me open), they gave me the "codes" BS. I worked my way up to the highest level administrator and point blank asked her to itemize that charge and she flat out refused to do so. So, to use their facility for 45-60 minutes (and they have no special equipment) I am going to have to pay $6,000 + $4,250 ($23k-$6k * 25%) = $10,250, and I won't even have paid the doctor yet. It's insane. Keep in mind I am already shelling out about $13.5k/yr for insurance.
Oh I know that, but as soon as you say something like that, it triggers the built-in communist berserker mode in a lot of people: "Oh, so you want us to be Cuba now? Get out of my country, you damn commie!"Every other first world country plus some others who are not "first world".
Cuba has a healthcare system vastly superior to American one. Many Middle Eastern countries' citizens have heatlh benefits and facilities that the citizens of the richest nation on earth can barely dream of.
A crying shame...but that is unchecked greed for you
From the article link I posted:Fact. The majority of people who have to declare bankruptcy due to medical expenses DO have insurance.
NerdWallet estimates nearly 10 million adults with year-round health-insurance coverage will still accumulate medical bills that they can't pay off this year.
"With an average American family bringing home $50,000 in income, a high medical bill and a high-deductible insurance plan can quickly become something they are unable to pay," LaMontagne said. "If you have an out-of-pocket maximum of $5,000 or $10,000, that's really tough," he said.
Yeah. Things like that are ridiculous. My experiences haven't been as bad as yours but you can see the difference in prices here:
Surgeon billed $464 / Aetna's rate $322.25
Pathology lab billed $207 / Aetna's rate $72.16
Anesthesiologist billed $1,071 / Aetna's rate $712.39
Facility billed $7,149 / Aetna's rate $2,022
TBH you can ask most surgeons what a prodecure will run and they can give you a pretty accurate cost for what THEY BILL
most of the cost comes from the other hospitial bullshit like charging 500$ for a disposiable gown and other stupid crap like a 300$ dose of asprin. - that shit you cant ask about
if you happen to get an itemized bill its pretty insane what they bill for all that crap. its generally not the Doc who is doing the operation who is charging you an arm and a leg
It's either this or we start choking on Socialism. I will gladly pay $300 for a dose of Asprin because I know that businesses are competing head to head to each other on a free market making everything cheaper and affordable for patients just like me.
Oh I know that, but as soon as you say something like that, it triggers the built-in communist berserker mode in a lot of people: "Oh, so you want us to be Cuba now? Get out of my country, you damn commie!"
"Terrorist" is a similar trigger word.
TBH you can ask most surgeons what a prodecure will run and they can give you a pretty accurate cost for what THEY BILL
most of the cost comes from the other hospitial bullshit like charging 500$ for a disposiable gown and other stupid crap like a 300$ dose of asprin. - that shit you cant ask about
if you happen to get an itemized bill its pretty insane what they bill for all that crap. its generally not the Doc who is doing the operation who is charging you an arm and a leg
That's probably why I've heard the word "barbaric" used to describe US health care. Medications are advertised like any other product.Unfortunately that is what they have been programmed to think. Just like the "keep the government off my Medicare!"
There has to be at least a tiny bit of reason that no decent health care system in any country in the world is based completely on free market. Maybe, just a tiny maybe, they realize that free market does not work in a system where the customers are not so much customers but helpless hostages...
Maybe the rest of the world knows something we don't. It is an outrageous thought to many, but maybe it is possible...
You shouldn't have to pay more than $12,700 a year under Obamacare. Half that if you have an individual plan.$10,250, and I won't even have paid the doctor yet.
So, what do you consider "not high" at your hospital?Start asking the room rates of your local hospitals
Just got a bill for $588 and I have good healthcare. I hate how you can go into an office and get a NECESSARY medical procedure completed or evaluated, and you have absolutely no clue what the financial cost will be.
I would have gone to the doctor regardless...but what is the big deal with keeping the cost a secret? Ugggggh
EDIT: I have a $550 deductible and that has already been met. I forgot our company switched from $200 to $550 this year. WHeeee!! My OOP is $1800
Example #2.
Had tubes put in my toddler son's ears (kept getting infections):
Doctor - $475 - insurance rate
Outpatient facility (We were there for 11 minutes. 11. I know because I called my brother on the phone afterwards and I checked the time of the call) - $7,800.
11 minutes. $7,800.
The local paper ran a story on this (and I was one of the examples they used).
I suspect that the facility is charging what they think you can afford. I am trying not to be that cynical, but a neighbor that makes a lot less than me had his kid's ears done there too and their unadjusted charge was a lot less.
It's all a scam, designed to be as confusing and obfuscated and full of obstacles as possible, so when you actually have to dispute, it's better just to pay.
That's probably why I've heard the word "barbaric" used to describe US health care. Medications are advertised like any other product.
The ads for hospitals might as well say, "How much is your life worth? No, seriously, how much are you capable of paying? Remember that if you have kids, they're also going to be willing and able to pay something."
But given the level of corruption in the federal government here, we'd likely end up with more of the same status quo. Those inflated rates would become the new rates, healthcare stocks would go nuts, executives retire early with insane stock bonuses and pensions, and the public gets a rubber-gloved middle finger.