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Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

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Re: Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

#61

Post by jrockway »

maxerickson wrote: post #60
jrockway wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they actually write a check for the amount the hospital owes. I think my EOB for surgery looked something like: Item: drugs Amount requested: $7000 Amount paid: $3 Amount owed by patient: $0

Do you mean the amount the hospital bills? I'm talking about a bill I have to pay to meet my deductible, so the 5x number is the number that appears in the EOB (the covered amount for the service) and unless I am mistaken, it is the amount they would pay if I had met my deductible. My paranoid speculation is that they push back harder against the coding of bills that they are responsible for than they do for bills th…

I was well over my deductible by the point of surgery, so I don't know. I paid the hospital a total of 22 cents of my own money for an overnight stay. That was probably an oversight, but whatever, they can have 22 cents.

Anyway, like everything in life, the prices are negotiable. My insurance wouldn't cover the surgeon's time for the surgery despite pre-approving it, I negotiated quite a discount on that. (It was Aetna too. Good to know the claim was denied after a good night's sleep.)

Re: Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

#62

Post by brianwawok »

artursapek wrote: post #14
MrTonyD wrote: post #7

I hate insurance companies. For one, they refused to pay for pre-approved claims when my wife had cancer and was being treated at Stanford (We were double-insured. Apparently, when you have two insurances, it is common for carriers to decline payments in the hope that the other insurance will pay it.) So my wife couldn't get out of bed and we literally had a stack of unpaid bills over a foot high and totaling over a…

Two years ago my wife and I were unable to get Aetna to pay for a home birth, even though we got it approved ahead of time. After months of futile phone calls where they basically kept me on hold for 30 minutes and then told me to fuck off, what finally got them to pay up was an angry tweet I wrote. I thought it was silly, but was advised to try it as a last resort by the midwife's billing assistant. Amazingly, they…

Currently in battle with Blue Cross Blue Shield. Complete garbage of the universe. Been through 2 rounds of appeals with people that tell me that I am right, but the guidelines say they can't help me. Guess time to fire up the angry tweets.

Re: Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

#63

Post by KKKKkkkk1 »

sna1l wrote: post #17
MrTonyD wrote: post #7

I hate insurance companies. For one, they refused to pay for pre-approved claims when my wife had cancer and was being treated at Stanford (We were double-insured. Apparently, when you have two insurances, it is common for carriers to decline payments in the hope that the other insurance will pay it.) So my wife couldn't get out of bed and we literally had a stack of unpaid bills over a foot high and totaling over a…

Medical insurance in the US doesn't make any sense. Insurance is supposed to be a hedge against a large risk, but in the US we use our medical insurance to pay for common visits and prescriptions. Everyone is so used to this model that it doesn't seem weird. Imagine if you used your car insurance to pay for gas. That would be ludicrous. No other "insurance" is handled in this manner.

Health care works using a subscription model all over the world. You are simply confused by the word "insurance".

Re: Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

#64

Post by nommm-nommm »

Spooky23 wrote: post #54
nommm-nommm wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a fair legal minimum is the average price of a new car.

The property is a trivial cost in comparison to personal injury liability.

Yes, of course! I never claimed otherwise!

However, you need some number so I think that makes some sense as a starting point. 20k is the minimum here and that's low in my opinion.

Actually now that I think about it there bodily injury is separate from property injury. Here it's 20k property injury and 30k bodily injury are the legal minimums.

I just remember being surprised because cars are so expensive it is not hard to do 20k in property damage, just hit a late model car.

Re: Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

#65

Post by MrTonyD »

maxerickson wrote: post #51
EliRivers wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yes, the "death panels" nonsense. I remember that bullshit. These insurance companies already are death panels, by design. They have a big pile of money and they get to keep every penny they don't spend on someone's healthcare. Of course they're a fucking death panel. Their business model is letting the most people die without it becoming so obvious that people stop giving them money.

There is now the 80/20 rule: https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/rate-... They have to spend 80% of premiums or give money back. This is supposedly a cost control, but it isn't clear to me that it provides the right incentives (the easiest way for an insurance company that hits the rule to increase their profits is to raise premiums...).

Having worked for Fortune 50's for most of my life, I'm not optimistic about that law. There are so many ways to adjust accounting that it is just amazing. And every company uses many offshores these days - they provide services and costs to get profits offshore. And they provide "services" that can be classified in any way they want. Really, that law sounds like just another deception for the masses who don't really understand how the system works for the rich.

Re: Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

#66

Post by jrockway »

maxerickson wrote: post #60
jrockway wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think they actually write a check for the amount the hospital owes. I think my EOB for surgery looked something like: Item: drugs Amount requested: $7000 Amount paid: $3 Amount owed by patient: $0

Do you mean the amount the hospital bills? I'm talking about a bill I have to pay to meet my deductible, so the 5x number is the number that appears in the EOB (the covered amount for the service) and unless I am mistaken, it is the amount they would pay if I had met my deductible. My paranoid speculation is that they push back harder against the coding of bills that they are responsible for than they do for bills th…

And yes, I did typo/braino that. The hospital owes no money :)

Re: Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

#69

Post by EliRivers »

MrTonyD wrote: post #65
maxerickson wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is now the 80/20 rule: https://www.healthcare.gov/health-care-law-protections/rate-... They have to spend 80% of premiums or give money back. This is supposedly a cost control, but it isn't clear to me that it provides the right incentives (the easiest way for an insurance company that hits the rule to increase their profits is to raise premiums...).

Having worked for Fortune 50's for most of my life, I'm not optimistic about that law. There are so many ways to adjust accounting that it is just amazing. And every company uses many offshores these days - they provide services and costs to get profits offshore. And they provide "services" that can be classified in any way they want. Really, that law sounds like just another deception for the masses who don't really…

On a related tangent, I am reminded that the extraordinarily successful Harry Potter series of movies made a loss on paper. As you suggest, these people laugh in the face of the law.

Re: Aetna's CEO pays workers up to $500 to sleep

#70

Post by Godel_unicode »

atomical wrote: post #24
Godel_unicode wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how you see a voluntary program to pay employees to do something they should be doing anyway is creepy and/or overreach?

Voluntary work from home policy (required for work from home): We can visit and photograph your desk at home any time we want. I have seen contracts like this and it's becoming more and more popular.

Citation needed
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