God @#%@ I hate our healthcare system

[squarecut1]

Yes, 10,000 dollars for a simple blood test. You heard that right. Only in America

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...15/a-10000-blood-test-yes-really/?tid=HP_more

 

[CountZero]

Healthcare in America is largely broken and ACA doesn't fix the biggest issues.

Three ways our systems is broken:

1) Most people get insurance through their employer. The item to cover you when you are sick depends on you being well enough to work.

2) The bills from medical care alone are enough to drive people to bankruptcy. FICO has/will stop using medical debt when scoring and this is a good thing but is also a sign of just how messed up our system currently is.

3) The billing/cost structure is an enormous mess. There is no consistency in pricing anywhere and in any form. There is no transparency. The complexity of dealing with so many insurance companies with different requirements adds additional, unnecessary cost.

A system that fixes all of these would make a tremendous difference. IMO any country that has citizens going bankrupt from medical expenses (by that I mean the actual costs of coverage not the loss of income from being sick) is not a developed country.

 

[Muse]

If you knew what it was supposed to cost from the get-go you'd be able to figure out when they make a mistake. We can't have that now can we?

Get an itemized bill! That can save you a lot of money, BTDT. Mistakes in medical billing are rampant.

Sorry if this sounds stupid but I have to say it anyway. The best way to keep your out of pocket medical expenses down is to stay healthy.

 

[DesiPower]

lol idiot

Really? Am I? you are forced to take these tests and other medical procedure, then you are forced to pay for them. Noone ever asked you opinion if you want them, noone ever told you how much it will cost. Later you are slapped with the bill, which you will have to pay otherwise it goes to credit collector's. These thugs might as well put on a hood and rob you at gun point as soon as you enter their facility.

 

[highland145]

Really? Am I? you are forced to take these tests and other medical procedure, then you are forced to pay for them. Noone ever asked you opinion if you want them, noone ever told you how much it will cost. Later you are slapped with the bill, which you will have to pay otherwise it goes to credit collector's. These thugs might as well put on a hood and rob you at gun point as soon as you enter their felicity.

Felicity should be entered. Often.

 

[PlanetJosh]

It's all mysterious and shrouded in a fog trying to get prices from the net for simple to medium difficult medical procedures. Or from anywhere I guess.

 

[DesiPower]

Felicity should be entered. Often.

<-- Babe thread

 

[PlanetJosh]

The bills from medical care alone are enough to drive people to bankruptcy.

I was hoping the 8k per year "cap" on my out of pocket expenses would prevent that kind of bankruptcy. So are those caps listed in insurance plans (pre ACA like say 5 years ago) just a sham?

 

[highland145]

<-- Babe thread

Reason: highland145 is a db

O.K., I'm laughing out loud.:biggrin:

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yes, 10,000 dollars for a simple blood test. You heard that right. Only in America

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...15/a-10000-blood-test-yes-really/?tid=HP_more

That's what happens when health care is commercialized into a business. Pretty sad really.

 

[SurelyYouJest]

I was supposed to have a nasal procedure that the doctor said would take fifteen minutes and I could go back to work that day. The only thing is it had to be performed at the hospital due to him having to use a scalpel and make incisions or some such crap. I was fine with all that until the hospital called and told me my deductible and out of pocket was going to be $6,820! The total bill was going to be something like $21,000! I asked very rudely if the hospital was F...g nuts!!
Needless to say I didn't get it done. For damn near $7,000 I can buy a lifetime of nasal decongestant spray.
Any way I think I'm in the wrong line of work. I need to open a hospital so I can charge $84,000 an hour! The great thing about providing health care is you can charge astronomical amounts, most people don't have a choice they have to figure out how to pay.

 

[Brainonska511]

I was supposed to have a nasal procedure that the doctor said would take fifteen minutes and I could go back to work that day. The only thing is it had to be performed at the hospital due to him having to use a scalpel and make incisions or some such crap. I was fine with all that until the hospital called and told me my deductible and out of pocket was going to be $6,820! The total bill was going to be something like $21,000! I asked very rudely if the hospital was F...g nuts!!
Needless to say I didn't get it done. For damn near $7,000 I can buy a lifetime of nasal decongestant spray.
Any way I think I'm in the wrong line of work. I need to open a hospital so I can charge $84,000 an hour! The great thing about providing health care is you can charge astronomical amounts, most people don't have a choice they have to figure out how to pay.

Maybe you should find another doctor or see if he has access at a different facility that doesn't charge so much.

 

[mattpegher]

To OP
You are confusing the doc and the imaging facility. Both can tell you what they bill for any given proceedure. What they cant tell you is what your insurance will pay and what your copay will be. That is a contract between you and your insurance company.

What I do. I ask the provider (hospital in the case of US) what the unadjusted cost is. Then I contact the insurance company to review estimates of what my copay will be.

Even with that, I need to know my deductable, and the copay/% of my responsibility.

Everyone blames the doctor or hospital for inconsistancy of the bill, but they bill the same thing every time. Your insurance policy determines what you pay.

 

[mattpegher]

I was supposed to have a nasal procedure that the doctor said would take fifteen minutes and I could go back to work that day. The only thing is it had to be performed at the hospital due to him having to use a scalpel and make incisions or some such crap. I was fine with all that until the hospital called and told me my deductible and out of pocket was going to be $6,820! The total bill was going to be something like $21,000! I asked very rudely if the hospital was F...g nuts!!
Needless to say I didn't get it done. For damn near $7,000 I can buy a lifetime of nasal decongestant spray.
Any way I think I'm in the wrong line of work. I need to open a hospital so I can charge $84,000 an hour! The great thing about providing health care is you can charge astronomical amounts, most people don't have a choice they have to figure out how to pay.

Your insurance company must have considered this an uncovered proceedure for your OOP to be this much.

Most hospitals get only 10 cents on the dollar for billed proceedures from the insurance companies. They usually give 80% discount (so 20 cents on the dollar) for cash pay, because if they charge the cash patient less the insurance companies want to pay less.

 

[SurelyYouJest]

Maybe you should find another doctor or see if he has access at a different facility that doesn't charge so much.

I thought of that but it doesn't matter because of the way my insurance is set up I would pay the same and the insurance company would pay less. My insurance pays 80% up to $8,500 after that 100%. I pay 20% co-insurance up to $8,500 plus deductible and copay. It's the $8,500 That kills me I expected a 15min procedure to cost $3,000 or less! I don't know where they came up with the $21,000+ total but I think it was the result of pharmaceutically induced stupidity.

 

[Phynaz]

Really? Am I? you are forced to take these tests and other medical procedure, then you are forced to pay for them. Noone ever asked you opinion if you want them, noone ever told you how much it will cost. Later you are slapped with the bill, which you will have to pay otherwise it goes to credit collector's. These thugs might as well put on a hood and rob you at gun point as soon as you enter their facility.

Yes you are. There is not single medical care provider in this country that forces you to do anything.

 

[pete6032]

Healthcare in America is largely broken and ACA doesn't fix the biggest issues.

Three ways our systems is broken:

1) Most people get insurance through their employer. The item to cover you when you are sick depends on you being well enough to work.

3) The billing/cost structure is an enormous mess. There is no consistency in pricing anywhere and in any form. There is no transparency. The complexity of dealing with so many insurance companies with different requirements adds additional, unnecessary cost.

I don't understand why our policymakers don't understand this.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I don't understand why our policymakers don't understand this.

What they understand is they need money to win elections. Insurance is a top 6 contributor:

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/mems.php

ahead of the Oil industry, Hollywood and Commercial banks.

Also notice doctors are 4 on the list, which is why cutting money out of their side (which would be needed to finance any universal system) is a real political problem.

 

[mattpegher]

I don't understand why our policymakers don't understand this.

Because our politicians are bought and sold by the financial institutions, and insurance is the biggest one. No reform will ever take place as long as politicians pay for campaigns with "donations".

The only way a free market healthcare system could work will require:
1: decouple health care purchasing from employement - direct consumer choice
2: eliminate group rates, and open up insurance purchase choices/copmpetition - ie car insurance
3: Make it illegal for insurance companies to restrict providers from giving cash pay patients the same discounts that insurance companies get. ie changing rates based on cash pay discounts.
4: Simplify benefit packages that can be sold, without 40 different possible packages, consummers wouldnt get caught unclear what their responsibility would be.

As a ER physician, I provide care to all patients regardless of ability to pay. So I see that eventually the US will have to go to a canadian or British type socialized system. The two biggest but clandestine opponents to this are the insurance industry and Legal industry, as they are the ones to lose the most.

 

[DesiPower]

Yes you are. There is not single medical care provider in this country that forces you to do anything.

Really, My wife went for sonogram, the advanced, in color, fancy type. She was tested for 2 other things that we both were not aware of, and one was not even covered under insurance. We both talked to the doctors office about it, reasoned, argued, did whatever we could, eventually they sent registered mail, stating that the case will be sent to collection agency after 30 day. If this is not robbery then what is? We were not alone, heard similar stories from so many others, practically everyone I know.

 

[Slew Foot]

Really, My wife went for sonogram, the advanced, in color, fancy type. She was tested for 2 other things that we both were not aware of, and one was not even covered under insurance. We both talked to the doctors office about it, reasoned, argued, did whatever we could, eventually they sent registered mail, stating that the case will be sent to collection agency after 30 day. If this is not robbery then what is? We were not alone, heard similar stories from so many others, practically everyone I know.

Do you have a signed consent stating that you agreed to a procedure? If not, then f em.