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The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

nytimes.com

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Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#411

Post by pstuart »

sanderjd wrote: post #395
Spooky23 wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Democrats are a big tent party and idealology doesn't rule as a result. When they get ideological they pay dearly, as gay marriage demonstrated. (Lots of older white and black voters stayed home or voted GOP) Republicans can't win the numbers game so they hammer home on right wing populism. Unfortunately, the last 30-40 years hasn't been kind to the "Main Street" centrist republicans of the past.

My impression is that the tent-restricting social issue that has held the Democrats back in recent years is abortion, not gay rights. I'd be interested to hear if you have studies or polls showing otherwise.

I'd say it is God, Guns, Gays, and Gynecological Gerrymandering.

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#412

Post by Fej »

We will have our universal healthcare, eventually. More and more people are scorned every day by the perils of our system. The Democrats couldn't manage to pass a public option during Obama's honeymoon period but the country might be ready for it once the pendulum swings back in 2020. Even my somewhat economically-conservative father admits that it is inevitable.

These next two to four years are going to suck, though.

I am a New Jerseyan and the medical industry is going to fight tooth and nail on this. My district swung (!) and even the Democrat won't endorse single-player.

Hopefully we can effect change as the Boomer leaders die off, at the very latest.

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#413

Post by prawn »

stephen_g wrote: post #386
com2kid wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In contrast, to America working for a good employer: 1. Schedule with GP. Say I am in pain. Get in within 2 days. 2. Get a referral to Physical Therapy. Asked if I have any preference where to go. My doctor knows my network and gave me a number of choices that were within network (a number of which were within walking range of where I lived). 3. Call PT office. Schedule an appointment. They apologize that their next…

Two days to schedule with a GP? That's insane... In Australia (with our universal healthcare) it's pretty much always same-day for a GP... X-rays and blood tests are generally same day and free, I've even had an MRI scheduled for next-day (just a knee thing, not an emergency) and again no out of pocket cost.

Another Australian report - I don't go to the doctor often, but can usually get a GP appointment the same day (they're often running late and waiting is boring, but that's the worst of it). When I recently needed a blood test, I showed up without an appointment and was finished and out of there within 10-15 minutes.

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#414

Post by rdtsc »

dankohn1 wrote: post #316
0xbear wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I can tell by looking at my premiums, it actually significantly sped up the growth of costs. I don't know how anyone could argue otherwise with a straight face.

Because premium growth actually has slowed since Obamacare was passed: http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/slower-premium-growth-under...

> If the RNC wanted to show what has happened to employer-sponsored premiums under the Affordable Care Act, it should have started the clock in 2010, the year the law was passed. But that makes Obama look better. The rate of growth in average premiums from 2010 to 2014 is 22 percent.

That's why factcheck should not be used to check... facts. Just as they claim the RNC have twisted this and that to make themselves looks better factcheck is twisting things here as well, to make someone else look better. Health insurance providers had raised premiums in anticipation of the vote and the legislation passing. So it's specifically important to look not at 2010 when it was signed into law but a few years below when there was this uncertainty about it. One way market deal with uncertainty is to hedge their bets. "Not sure what will happen, but this might pass, and why don't we just raise the rate now" kind of idea.

I've heard this directly from the health insurance representative who came and told us told us, "sorry but rates are going up sharply because we anticipate this new legislation".

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#415

Post by BurningFrog »

ssambros wrote: post #339
kirrent wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, in my country, the government would laugh, and then only pay a standard amount.

And unless they pay enough no providers will do the procedure unless you somehow force them.

Sure, but if you're the single possible payer, you can push that number down quite low.

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#416

Post by kalleboo »

FireBeyond wrote: post #394
mahyarm wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also most dental insurance will only pay up to $10-5k total per year, so its not some unlimited spout of money you can abuse like medical insurance in the USA. Some dentists offer a direct subscription plan that costs around the same amount of costs as a dental plan directly as a result.

> so its not some unlimited spout of money you can abuse like medical insurance Apropos of outliers, this type of attitude is problematic and emblematic of issues in the US. "Needing healthcare" is not "abusing medical insurance".

I think he means the hospitals abusing it by billing inflated charges - not patients using healthcare.

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#417

Post by seanmcdirmid »

tptacek wrote: post #320
0xbear wrote: post #317

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can measure whatever you like, but my costs have gone up nearly threefold and my plan is worse now than it used to be. I'm not interested in solving world peace here. I just want to understand why insuring a relatively healthy family of three under a very high deductible plan costs $1700/mo, and why is it now illegal to not go along with this ridiculous rip off.

Your plan was already going up before the ACA was proposed, even if you were in medium or large group markets. (My firm offered health insurance to employees in California, New York, and Illinois from ~2006-2012.) Family health insurance on the group market was something like 1100-1200 pre-ACA. If you're paying for your own insurance, you're in the individual market, which is significantly more expensive, and what yo…

This is why Switzerland doesn't have a group market. Everyone is forced into the individual market, which makes individual polices cheaper (I.e. You can't get health insurance from your job).

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#418

Post by valleyer »

FireBeyond wrote: post #394
mahyarm wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also most dental insurance will only pay up to $10-5k total per year, so its not some unlimited spout of money you can abuse like medical insurance in the USA. Some dentists offer a direct subscription plan that costs around the same amount of costs as a dental plan directly as a result.

> so its not some unlimited spout of money you can abuse like medical insurance Apropos of outliers, this type of attitude is problematic and emblematic of issues in the US. "Needing healthcare" is not "abusing medical insurance".

I'm pretty sure your parent comment was characterizing the doctors and hospitals, not the patients, as abusing the system.

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#419

Post by seanmcdirmid »

rdtsc wrote: post #414
dankohn1 wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because premium growth actually has slowed since Obamacare was passed: http://www.factcheck.org/2015/02/slower-premium-growth-under...

> If the RNC wanted to show what has happened to employer-sponsored premiums under the Affordable Care Act, it should have started the clock in 2010, the year the law was passed. But that makes Obama look better. The rate of growth in average premiums from 2010 to 2014 is 22 percent. That's why factcheck should not be used to check... facts. Just as they claim the RNC have twisted this and that to make themselves loo…

They anticipated Obama care in 1999? Obama only took office in 2009.

Re: The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills

#420

Post by defen »

bdamm wrote: post #167
astockwell wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> luckily my wife doesn't work so I didn't have to take time off for all the phone calls and following up that was required This. This is so horrifically true, it takes call after call after call (and emails, and faxes, and snail-mail claims forms that take "30 days" to "process") to get anything changed, and by then you have collections companies harassing you and your credit goes down the drain. Meanwhile you must…

A friend of mine was in a sports accident almost two years ago. He had a good medical insurance plan for exactly this possibility. He fractures his pelvis into 14 pieces, and broke another dozen major bones including both femurs. The surgeries are still ongoing although he is mostly himself again. But even two years later, he is facing a daily barrage of calls, being put on hold, no callbacks, paper shuffling, record…

> He fractures his pelvis into 14 pieces, and broke another dozen major bones including both femurs.

That sounds horrific. What sport was this?

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