I saw about 10 different bills for one hospital stay due to appendicitis. That's what pissed me off, not the amount so much (I realize these things are expensive and I have the means to pay 'em). It was a gigantic hassle filling out so many checks to 10 different places, most of which could not be paid for online. Why can't I just pay 1 entity (e.g., the hospital or the insurance company) and have them distribute it as necessary? Or maybe I didn't know what I was doing. Bah. Still, the out-of-network cost that was reported by my insurer was absolutely ridiculous: ~$30,000 for an appendectomy. In-network and with insurance it was around $5,000 total out of pocket (I have a large deductible). Better, but still quite high.
My wife's first pregnancy resulted in a 1 inch binders worth of paperwork and bills. I am still getting letters associated with it almost 3 years later... I seriously have no idea how anyone thinks this system is effective. I make a good deal of money, but any serious medical work is shockingly expensive - it's no surprise to me that most bankrupticies are due to medical expenses.
And you know what else pissed me off (since this is a great place for gripes)? I had my surgery late Saturday night, and bright and early in the morning, the vultures for the hospital walk in asking me about payment methods and whatnot. Could they not wait a bit longer, really?
lol I was barely lucid when they came to ask me, thankfully my wife was there and ran them off till later when I could actually process what they were asking me. Im gonna make a bunch of yall feel a little better. me = no insurance aortic dissection price = 350,000 and counting carry on.
Ouch! I guess that makes me feel a little better. Me = no insurance Fixing a dislocated clavicle this past february = $40000+ in hospital bills last time I checked and I was only there less than a day, lol. I never got an itemization list but judging but what they did that night, one little bag of morphine cost like $5000 and two CT scans ran me about $10000 each, lol. I'm exaggerating of course, but yeah this is what they told me my bill was when I called him one time to ask. It sucks being a poor college student .
All of these horror stories and yet more than half of this country thinks Healthcare Reform is a communist abomination and tort reform will suddenly make the system perfect.
I'm confused by people who don't seem to realize how mind-numbingly ridiculous these costs are - it comes right down to the fact that hospitals charge this insane amount of money because no one has stopped them, and they NEED to be stopped.
Heh, I'll tell you a fun fact. Pharmacology costs are upwards of 125,000 for right at two weeks of painkillers(and I got b****ed at numerous times for putting off asking for painkillers till I was really hurting) + whatever anesthetics they needed during surgery. Tell me that is fair. 125K....1/8th of a million just for medications. yeah, Im screwed...but thanks for everyone's help, every bit helps
They charge those insane costs because do-gooders in the government mandate that they have to give their services FREE to those who cannot pay, meaning those of us who CAN pay have to pay 20 times what we should. As soon as businesses stop being told they have to give their services away for free, the costs will come down, along with mandates that they show you costs and options BEFORE services are rendered, so you can say ok, just let me go to my car, I will go to the hospital down the street, they charge half what you do, adios! Markets actually DO work, when the idiots in gov't who know nothing about economics get the heck out of the way.
That's rather callous. I understand the sentiment, but the practical reality of a civilized society with a philosophical ethos a few levels above nihilism and (hopefully) adverse to the more virulent Randian egoism leads us to not wish people to die simply because they happen to have been born without the proverbial "silver spoon". I don't like the method chosen, but in theory everyone will now be required to get insurance (or pay a tax) as per your argument above. Unregulated markets have been shown repeatedly to NOT work. I'm actually not disagreeing with you per say, just pointing out some complexities and caveats. Emotional statements are generally not factual or complete.
Yikes, that's ridiculous for 2 weeks of pain medication. Not to rub things in, but why on earth didn't you have health insurance if you smoked? We know the American health system is **** so priority #1 is taking care of yourself and taking steps to minimize your susceptibility to the system. I take a lot of calculated risks in life but I make sure to do things to offset crashing and burning as a result.
How the heck do they operate on you with no insurance and no money to cover expenses? Didn't you have to cover a certain amount before they would operate on you? How do you ever come close to covering those expenses? What happens when you cannot pay? Does it just go to debt collectors who hound you till the end of days?
No. They charge those insane costs because they (the CEOs and shareholders of healthcare companies) want to make as much money as they possibly can and everything (and everyone) else be damned. Markets only work for those born into a position to take advantage of them at everyone else's expense.
ToyC... You really need to drop UHC. I work in the medical field and UHC patients always have issues when it comes to billing. Not only that, all your lab work must go through LabCorp and they're a terrible lab company. If you can, you need to look at another insurance company.
You need to call your insurance broker end of story. Not to piss anyone off but very few in here have any idea what they are talking about. You need to talk to HR at your company and get the name or number of your broker and have them assist you. It sounds like most of you are overpaying your bills, simply because the doctor is sending you a bill, doesnt mean you pay it right away. Way too many details to go into on this forum just contact your broker. If that doesnt help send me a PM. FYI health insurance companies have a profit margin of 3% look it up. I am a broker i dont work for any company i can just tell you its just as much the cost of medical care which is not being addressed. Just call your broker he should fix everything.
Although contacting your broker will help, UHC has a lot of issues. He needs to look at making a switch.
