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

#191

Post by danenania » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:13 AM UTC

omegaworks wrote: post #101

oppositelock wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I strongly support the Warren/Sanders universal healthcare plan, but in terms of optics, I don't actually see what the point is to making “duplicate coverage” private insurance illegal. It invites FUD and provides a convenient bogeyman while being entirely irrelevant in practical terms. If the government is providing comprehensive free healthcare to all, why would anyone need duplicate private health insurance? There's no reason to make it illegal, because there's no reason anyone would continue to pay for it. It will shrivel up and die on its own.

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

#192

Post by u801e » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:14 AM UTC

lopmotr wrote: post #140

hurrdurr2 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lobby for insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and hospital chains spend ungodly amounts of money to influence our political process. Once all the politicians are bought and paid for everything becomes kosher.

For some reason, Americans keep complaining about the same problems with their government over and over again - particularly lobbying, and yet every election they nearly universally reject all their concerns in favor of tribalism and vote for the same two parties that are responsible for everything they don't want, or nobody at all, which has the same effect. Wouldn't it be fun if whenever somebody criticizes their g…

> People rationalize it by saying that voting for a 3rd party is "wasting" their vote

In reality, voting for someone who didn't win the election is a "wasted" vote. But people will say that a particular candidate has no chance of winning the election, so voting for them is "wasting" your vote. Unfortunately, because most people follow this line of reasoning, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

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

#193

Post by Pfhreak » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:15 AM UTC

iamgopal wrote: post #186

Why medical tourism not a big thing ? All incidents mention could be cure in India at nice competent hospitals at fraction of this bill including air travel. What is the biggest problem in this space ?

Trust. People here are conditioned to not trust socialized medicine or medicine from less wealthy countries.

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

#194

Post by MegaButts » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:16 AM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #170

mkhalil wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but when you pay for services you don't expect to have to write checks for every subcontractor your service provider users. They do that. You pay them. Everywhere but our messed up Medical System is like that. Imagine if every time you went grocery shopping you had to pay for the people stocking the shelves, putting the carts back if you used one, the cashier, and each wholesale distributor. It's crazy and sens…

> Yeah, but when you pay for services you don't expect to have to write checks for every subcontractor your service provider users. Well, yeah, that's true by the definition of “subcontractor”, which doctors in hospitals often are not. OTOH, healthcare isn't the only place where you might pay a fee to a facility for use of the facility and a fee to a service providers associated with the facility for services they pr…

> OTOH, healthcare isn't the only place where you might pay a fee to a facility for use of the facility and a fee to a service providers associated with the facility for services they provide in the facility.

Where else does this occur?

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

#195

Post by ttul » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:18 AM UTC

My son broke his femur at school. He was transported to hospital where he underwent surgery to insert rods. He stayed for four nights in a state of the art, brand new children’s hospital, brimming with wireless tech. The nursing care was top notch.

I had to pay for parking.

Once he was back at school, the school district brought out occupational therapists who assessed his new disability and provided extra assistance while he was wheeling around.

He has had four follow-up visits with the orthopedic specialist. In a month or two he will have another surgery to have the rods removed.

I will then have to pay for parking again.

Welcome to Canada.

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

#196

Post by noelsusman » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:18 AM UTC

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…

You are far from alone. And people wonder why hospitals try to squeeze patients so much. Medical debt is extremely hard to recover.

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

#197

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:19 AM UTC

Retric wrote: post #126

teej wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

That’s a common but false talking point. Hospitals with above average Medicare patients generally get paid more than the general population. It’s also a question of what percentage of a nominal bill gets paid vs sent to collections.

[deleted]

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

#198

Post by cmonnow » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:19 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…

Do not make money in the sick room - Hippocrates

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

#199

Post by noelsusman » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:21 AM UTC

mattmcknight wrote: post #154

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.

Simple change to next year's Medicare plans: if you accept Medicare you cannot charge any patient more than you charge Medicare.

Simple way to put most hospitals out of business overnight.

Or, more likely, simple way to force hospitals to make drastic cuts to services.

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

#200

Post by paulcole » Sat, Sep 14, 2019, 2:22 AM UTC

iamgopal wrote: post #186

Why medical tourism not a big thing ? All incidents mention could be cure in India at nice competent hospitals at fraction of this bill including air travel. What is the biggest problem in this space ?

First sentence of the article:

> Cathy Birker-Hake tripped over a hose in her Valley Village backyard not long ago, dislocated her shoulder and made a beeline for the emergency room.

Nobody’s hopping on a plane to India with a dislocated shoulder.