I am completely in the camp of those who think the amount and system involved with current health care billing is crap. We also recently had a child, and were in two different hospitals with him over the first week+, and had over $30k worth of bills, of which my insurance covered most but I was/am still stuck with $4-$5k. My sister had twins at 28 weeks a few years back. they were in the NICU for 3+ months...I think she said the total bill at the end of the day was $1.8 million. HOWEVER, while I agree the system can and should be much better, it is also important to remember exactly what kind of service you're getting. In my sister's case, those kids would be dead. DEAD. Instead, they are now healthy 3 year olds. Clearly, no price is too high for that. Make it better? Definitely. It should be clearer and cost less. But the system will always have complexities and will always cost a lot, because this is serious stuff we're talking about. I mean, shouldn't something as serious as the birth of a child, with complications, and a week in a hospital kind of cost the same as an average car?
Easier said than done... where is he going to go? he can go to a private plan but it will cost him more because his employer is picking up part of the cost of his current plan, its an employer sponsored plan its not in his control. UHC is just fine i was covered by them and had no issues. I deal with thsese companies on a daily basis, he just needs to talk to his broker so he can explain exactly what he owes. Without looking at his plan i would put money on the fact that he probably should not be paying more than 5,000 this year. Contact your broker.
Exactly. Like I said in my first post - UHC has out-of-pocket maxes (mine is 5k ind 10k fam, for example).
Not to get too D&D, it is vastly needed, and what they passed is an abomination. You will now be required to pay for crappy insurance, and costs will continue to rise. Every option has its drawbacks, but something more needs to be done.
Most companies have two to at least three other insurance providers they can choose from. I work with insurance companies on a day-to-day bases as well and I also deal with several pissed off patients due to their bills through UHC. UHC is also on the ***** list for most physicians because of their billing issues/ties to LCA. Contacting his broker is probably the smartest way to handle it but he may have other options moving forward. Most patients normally just keep submitting the bills back to see if the insurance company will pay for it.
Well, considering they thought that I was potentially seconds away from dying, they really had no choice. As soon as they realized the reason why my legs went numb was because my aorta was splitting, they immediately called for Lifeflight to get me downtown where the best cardiac surgeons operate. I probably wont be able to and I will probably be hearing from bill collectors till Im old and grey, but I will make my best attempt to give them as much money as I can. It's not like I had much choice....this wasnt some random optional surgery that I could have lived without. Ronny, as soon as you can find me insurance that I can afford, I would have had it. Believe it or not, those un-insured numbers that get thrown around arent just the stupid and illegal....lots of middle class families like mine get caught in the grinder if they happen to work for small companies that do not provide any sort of medical options. and ftr...I do no longer smoke., see sig
got burned too. Paid over 5K upon check out thinking that was already my final obligation. Then after 3 freaking months, started getting bills worth 2K. WTF!
.. and I knwo somebody who is a general health practioner, he owns a ferrari and hsi house has an elevator.. there's something wrong iwht our healthcare system. doctors are way overpaid.
There otta be a law against hitting up a guy with a recovering ticker with those kinds of bills. I'm shocked. All around. Crazy. In the end...they're just numbers. Big numbers. But numbers. What can they do...really? Celebrate your life, and cherish your friends and family. Let the bill collectors and accountants sweat the bills... Man...I'm speechless here...just can't relate to this stuff. Glad you're all recovering.
This reminds me of a scene on the Cosby show that cracked me up the first time I saw it. A kid Denise was dating basically said lawyers and doctors were crooks. Mr. Huxtable said that the costs charged to the patient are so high because of the possible complications that could occur and the equipment needed as a result, to which the kid responded with something like, "... and if those complications don't happen, do you give that money back to them?" Mr. Huxtable wanted to slap him. Having worked in a hospital, some of the prices they charge are borderline insane.
Doctors are actually underpaid when you consider the years of training it requires to become fully licensed. Do you have the dedication to train upwards of 12-15 years and not even be a full professional at that point? Furthermore, the average debt load of the medical student these days run well into the hundreds of thousands. No other profession takes on that amount of risk on a daily basis in regards to being possibly sued by a patient. Many people see huge salary notices that physicians make, but don't even consider the amount they are paying in malpractice insurance. No one goes into medicine these days to get rich. It's just a stable career. To add insult to injury, Medicaire is cutting reimbursements by 21% as well now. You need to improve your spelling too.
How is it kept low? The number of medical schools in America have increased greatly in the past 20 years. There are also many foreign medical schools as well that introduce doctors into the USA. Dental schools are harder to get into these days than medical schools. Reason being is there are far fewer dental spots at this point and no foreign schools either. That is why their dentist salaries on average are higher than most non-specialist doctors. Do you really want medical school to be easy to get into as law school or business school? There has to be some standards if we want to maintain the best health care in the world. You need to have the best and brightest.
Really? The AMA itself is happy to to admit their mistake (although they won't overtly admit the motivation behind it). Basically in the 1980s they wrongly predicted in 10-20yrs we'd have a surplus of hundreds of thousands of doctors and the market would crash. Of course they got it wrong and overshot in the other direction and now we have a huge shortage. "Whoops." Naturally, salaries surged. (I'm not claiming ill-intent necessarily, but it does smell funny) Some quotes from the AMA themselves: There has to be a more practical method for selection here... that's all I'm saying.
Fair enough. I edited my last post (a few minutes before you posted this actually) addressing this concern. Last paragraph.
