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Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

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Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#31

Post by whb07 »

maxxxxx wrote: post #18
scarejunba wrote: post #6

Well, it doesn't have to cost that much to take care of a heart attack. Remove the AMA from the equation and it'll clear up. The real problem is that we restrict the supply of doctors. Without that, competing hospitals can arise that will compete on price.

Why don't they compete now or why can't you even get a price upfront from them? EDIT: I am responding to a comment that the AMA is the problem. Maybe the AMA is a problem but it has nothing to do with hospitals not competing over prices.

Because price negotiations aren’t disclosed and are privy between hospitals and insurance provusers.

The real crux is that point, the patient is removed from pricing and so the whole market becomes distorted. It’s like going to a store without price tags and complaining that your bill is much higher than you expected.

Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#32

Post by ReverseCold »

CommieBobDole wrote: post #21
elorant wrote: post #14

40k for four plastic tubes. Why on earth are medical supplies so fucking expensive?

Because the markup is arbitrary. An NPR article notes that the average price paid for the stents by hospitals is $1,153. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/27/6408918...

First reaction: Hmm that's not so bad.

Second reaction: It doesn't seem as bad because it's put in context of "40k" - in reality that's still pretty bad.

Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#33

Post by manigandham »

jhayward wrote: post #11
jtokoph wrote: post #7

> UPDATE: Monday, shortly after publication and broadcast of this story by Kaiser Health News and NPR, St. David’s said it was now willing to accept $782.29 to resolve the $108,951 balance because Drew Calver qualifies for its “financial assistance discount.” Sounds all fine and dandy until you realize that these charges will just be made up for by people that aren't able to get NPR to publish a story about them.

> Sounds all fine and dandy until you realize that these charges will just be made up for by people that aren't able to get NPR to publish a story about them. No, St. David's has already fully recouped their costs and then some. They were simply trying to extract as much money as the stone could bleed.

The point is that the bill won't just go away for other people, regardless of how much profit is made and whether costs are already covered by the hospital.

Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#34

Post by paulcole »

Went to the ER on the advice of my doctor. Went to my insurance's website to find an ER that accepted my insurance.

Got there and asked at admittance, "Do you take my insurance?" Was assured they did.

Got a big bill a few months later and it turned out the doctor working in the covered ER was not covered by my insurance.

Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#35

Post by maxxxxx »

How is a regular person who has other things to do than to read and understated all the details and traps of his health insurance supposed to navigate this insane system?

From what I read going to a hospital is pretty much a gamble that has a certain probability to bankrupt you and there is pretty much nothing you can do about it.

There should be bipartisan agreement that these practices are just not acceptable and that there must be a way for a patient to get binding information upfront.

Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#36

Post by lacker »

jhayward wrote: post #11
jtokoph wrote: post #7

> UPDATE: Monday, shortly after publication and broadcast of this story by Kaiser Health News and NPR, St. David’s said it was now willing to accept $782.29 to resolve the $108,951 balance because Drew Calver qualifies for its “financial assistance discount.” Sounds all fine and dandy until you realize that these charges will just be made up for by people that aren't able to get NPR to publish a story about them.

> Sounds all fine and dandy until you realize that these charges will just be made up for by people that aren't able to get NPR to publish a story about them. No, St. David's has already fully recouped their costs and then some. They were simply trying to extract as much money as the stone could bleed.

I was going to respond saying that most hospitals are nonprofits and aren't actually making a great profit margin off this sort of overcharging. But then I looked it up and St. David's, despite having a religious nonprofit-sounding name, is actually owned by HCA Healthcare, which is a for-profit that has almost 4x'd its stock price over the past five years while acquiring more hospitals to grow. So, yeah, this one is about corporations squeezing money out of people because they can.

sources:

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-transactions-...

https://www.google.com/search?q=NYSE:HCA

Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#38

Post by maxxxxx »

donretag wrote: post #20

"Calver asked whether his health insurance would cover all of this... The hospital told him not to worry and that they would accept his insurance." From my experience, it is completely legal for any medical practitioner to say they accept an insurance even though they really do not.

That's just nuts. As patient you go in blind and can just hope for the best.

Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#39

Post by cabaalis »

armanini_io wrote: post #24

Only in US.

There are different horror stories from different systems. Bottom line is that access to health care professionals and equipment is a scarce resource, and any resource management process whether through governmental regulation, or individual funding, insurance program, etc will be faced with managing access to that resource one way or another.

Re: Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

#40

Post by agumonkey »

jtokoph wrote: post #7

> UPDATE: Monday, shortly after publication and broadcast of this story by Kaiser Health News and NPR, St. David’s said it was now willing to accept $782.29 to resolve the $108,951 balance because Drew Calver qualifies for its “financial assistance discount.” Sounds all fine and dandy until you realize that these charges will just be made up for by people that aren't able to get NPR to publish a story about them.

The power of companies. They write words and numbers on a stamped letter and now it's god spell.

I once played dumb to an importer abusing fees, after monthes of bouncing mails to different people babbling the same thing over and over, then dealing with a 'lawyer firm' who behaved the same (basically nobody knew precisely what they were talking about). They suddenly accepted to give me a rebate of NN%. So I received a new bill with 100$ - '80$ promotional deal' = 20$ (normal fee). A very partial grin ensued.

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