Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200 • Hacker News Board

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#101

Post by omegaworks » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 11:54 PM UTC

oppositelock wrote: post #86

brink wrote: post #4

I just got an itemized bill today for a minor fall I took a couple months back.. On top of the nearly $6k in other charges from the hospital, they charged $531 for one dab of superglue or "liquid stitches" on my forehead for something that would have healed by itself. One of my friends died two years ago from pneumonia. He didn't go to the hospital when symptoms first started because he was afraid of the bills that w…

I went to the ER with chest pains seeming like a heart attack. They did an EKG, determined it wasn't a heart attack, then a blood test, which determined it was low potassium, and did a chest x-ray just in case. I received a saline IV and potassium pills as treatment, and went home after a couple of hours. The bill was about $18,000 for this. The insurance negotiated rate was about $1,500, of which I had to pay about…

>I don't understand why this isn't prosecuted.

Simply examine the way the issue was presented by frontrunners in the supposedly liberal party of the United States on the debate stage yesterday.

Two candidates call for true universal coverage, a few call for a public option but brand it as universal coverage to confuse viewers, and several (with moderator and broadcast sponsor support) outright mislead by stating that universal coverage that eliminates private insurance will threaten access to health care.

We have a long way to go.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#102

Post by RandomBacon » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 11:54 PM UTC

droithomme wrote: post #6

> Hillary Schuler-Jones, a Breg spokeswoman, declined to answer questions about the price of the Deluxe Shoulder Immobilizer. “It is important to note,” she said, “that Breg’s customer is not the patient, but the healthcare provider.” In most cases, “we don’t sell our products directly to patients, and we therefore don’t have a patient price list.” This is pretty infuriating given that the article previously said tha…

> asked at their courthouse about it and the clerk told me

Sounds like they were in on the scam. What would be the appropriate method to legally-resolve this and shut it down?

Contact the state's Attorney General?

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#103

Post by avocado4 » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 11:55 PM UTC

oppositelock wrote: post #86

brink wrote: post #4

I just got an itemized bill today for a minor fall I took a couple months back.. On top of the nearly $6k in other charges from the hospital, they charged $531 for one dab of superglue or "liquid stitches" on my forehead for something that would have healed by itself. One of my friends died two years ago from pneumonia. He didn't go to the hospital when symptoms first started because he was afraid of the bills that w…

I went to the ER with chest pains seeming like a heart attack. They did an EKG, determined it wasn't a heart attack, then a blood test, which determined it was low potassium, and did a chest x-ray just in case. I received a saline IV and potassium pills as treatment, and went home after a couple of hours. The bill was about $18,000 for this. The insurance negotiated rate was about $1,500, of which I had to pay about…

Medical cartel needs to be investigated by FTC. HHS and Medical Boards are infiltrated with physicians with conflict of interest, so their supervision is not enough.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#104

Post by joe5150 » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 11:55 PM UTC

droithomme wrote: post #6

> Hillary Schuler-Jones, a Breg spokeswoman, declined to answer questions about the price of the Deluxe Shoulder Immobilizer. “It is important to note,” she said, “that Breg’s customer is not the patient, but the healthcare provider.” In most cases, “we don’t sell our products directly to patients, and we therefore don’t have a patient price list.” This is pretty infuriating given that the article previously said tha…

Do you think the clerk was in on the scam, or just couldn't be bothered to look into it? Unbelievably shitty either way.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#105

Post by teej » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 11:57 PM UTC

ericd wrote: post #2

We had a call with someone who works on the pricelist/chargemaster for a major metro hospital recently, they set their prices by taking the Medicare reimbursement rate, and multiplying by 8.

Hospitals that take a majority Medicare patients go out of business. Medicare patients are subsidized by the rest of a hospital’s patient population.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#106

Post by repiret » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 11:57 PM UTC

oppositelock wrote: post #86

brink wrote: post #4

I just got an itemized bill today for a minor fall I took a couple months back.. On top of the nearly $6k in other charges from the hospital, they charged $531 for one dab of superglue or "liquid stitches" on my forehead for something that would have healed by itself. One of my friends died two years ago from pneumonia. He didn't go to the hospital when symptoms first started because he was afraid of the bills that w…

I went to the ER with chest pains seeming like a heart attack. They did an EKG, determined it wasn't a heart attack, then a blood test, which determined it was low potassium, and did a chest x-ray just in case. I received a saline IV and potassium pills as treatment, and went home after a couple of hours. The bill was about $18,000 for this. The insurance negotiated rate was about $1,500, of which I had to pay about…

They’re not shell organizations, hospitals just outsource tons of stuff, frequently including physicians. (In fact, in California, hospitals may not legally employ physicians to practice medicine)

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#107

Post by joe5150 » Fri, Sep 13, 2019, 11:58 PM UTC

RandomBacon wrote: post #98

janesvilleseo wrote: post #82

I’m sure going to get downvoted for this but.... I just don’t pay my medical bills I pay my dentist and eye doctor bills since those are different. But I just let my insurance pay their part and I walk away from the rest. I haven’t had anything catastrophic yet. But have and do have bills in the 1,000s. My credit score is great in the 740+ range. I know big stuff they could take me to court or put a lien on my proper…

Do you go to a different dentist and eye doctor each time? Also, if you had to go to an emergency room, would you give them fake personal info so they can't send you bills?

You can be several thousands in arrears (and even in collections) to the hospital and still visit the ER, see your doctor, get a CT scan etc. I know because I've been doing it since 2017, but I have insurance and the people I see probably just assume the bills are getting paid if I keep coming back. Care providers and admitting people don't generally access your financial/billing information.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#108

Post by blhack » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 12:05 AM UTC

Has anyone here ever worked in this industry? I'm curious what the justification for these prices is?

I can't imagine it is quite the scrooge mcduck caricature where the people reaping these profits are literally trying to defraud people. I would love to talk to a health insurance insider or something and ask them to justify this stuff.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#109

Post by reaperducer » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 12:08 AM UTC

brink wrote: post #4

I just got an itemized bill today for a minor fall I took a couple months back.. On top of the nearly $6k in other charges from the hospital, they charged $531 for one dab of superglue or "liquid stitches" on my forehead for something that would have healed by itself. One of my friends died two years ago from pneumonia. He didn't go to the hospital when symptoms first started because he was afraid of the bills that w…

I always think that in threads like this one a little name and shame is called for.

Most people would be surprised how closely hospitals and other medical companies pay attention to their social media and Google alerts.

Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200

#110

Post by zaroth » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 12:08 AM UTC

rwcemergency wrote: post #53

brink wrote: post #4

I just got an itemized bill today for a minor fall I took a couple months back.. On top of the nearly $6k in other charges from the hospital, they charged $531 for one dab of superglue or "liquid stitches" on my forehead for something that would have healed by itself. One of my friends died two years ago from pneumonia. He didn't go to the hospital when symptoms first started because he was afraid of the bills that w…

I just got an emergency room bill. I had a severe sore throat and fever for 2 weeks, step tests came back negative. Then at night my back side started hurting so I went to the ER. I paid $850 at the ER and today I received another bill for $850. The only thing on the Bill just says > "Charges": $11,680 > "Adjustmnets: $9,980 I just got off the phone with them and they say that it will take 10 business days to receive…

A couple things you should know. First, there is no such thing as late fees or interest on a hospital bill. Second, if you have called to question the bill, they cannot send it to collections until they have fulfilled your reasonable requests for more information.

If you really did just get the bill it will be several months (and several more copies of the bill sent to you) before a final bill would show up that would indicate the account is "PAST DUE" and heading for collections.

IANAL but you can safely wait for the itemized bill.

In the future to save on costs, you might try to find a 24-hour Urgent Care instead of full-fledged ER. Unfortunately the level of equipment that they have to keep in a full ER means just having someone in a bed costs them a lot of money, even if they are just swabbing your throat for a strep test.