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When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

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Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

#121

Post by hestipod »

dunnevens wrote: post #77
whateverm4n wrote: post #71

This is happening in Kansas. Everyone feels bad, but not enough to actually vote based on the issue. That suggests it isn't really a major issue for them. Not only do they suffer, but numerous people in progressive states also suffer because right-leaning states like Kansas vote the country towards these types of repressive laws.

I live in Kansas. We currently have a Democratic governor who is quite progressive by this state's standards. She's in her job because the voters rejected another 4 years of Brownback-style austerity. Brownback ended his term with ~21 percent approval. Currently, the state still doesn't have the ACA Medicaid expansion, but we're very close to having enough votes in the legislature. I'm cautiously optimistic about nex…

Medicaid as it exists denies a lot of people for various reasons. It has poor coverage and providers aren't obligated to take it so many do not. Simply closing the AHCA/Medicaid gap in the red states who refused to do so years ago isn't going to change much overall and is quite a hollow "victory" for those states.

Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

#122

Post by hannasanarion »

xhgdvjky wrote: post #119
mars4rp wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know people in HN hate to talk about politics, but this is a political problem. People, please vote for medicare for all candidates, it might not affect your life now, but you don't know what the future holds for you.

Why Medicare for all vs other reforms

Because for-profit healthcare is immoral, wasteful, and inevitably results in scenarios like the above.

A Bismarck system (nonprofit govt sponsored insurance companies that all charge the same and are taken by all doctors) would be fine too, but that's not on the table in the US

Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

#123

Post by privateSFacct »

dillondoyle wrote: post #100
narrator wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the best thing about Kaiser. The care may only be adequate, but the no surprise out of network bills makes it better than any of the other plans.

Is this really true though? I have kaiser I think silver marketplace plan. While they did cover a good chunk of a semi-recent hospital cost (out of state emergency with no Kaiser in the state). I'm still getting new bills that Kaiser won't cover. But maybe I don't know enough to file complaint/forms to push back

Yes it’s true - if you go to their facility no out of network bills. You may still end up w a bunch for different services but all considered in network. If you have an high deductible plan you'll still pay that whack. If you have gold / platinum no deductible plans you'll pay your co-pay.

You CANNOT go out if network though - that's really the deal / tradeoff.

If you travel a lot, have a fav specialist etc may not be a good fit - a national ppo may work better or us within us coverage for specific trips. Generally you can get $100K coverage for trips > 100 miles away from your home + 1 night away from home as part of your insurance package (exceptions related to traveling for medical work, getting drunk and hurting yourself etc).

Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

#125

Post by logicbombr »

hestipod wrote: post #36
hu3 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An extreme option to consider before the edge gets you: Move to another country. One that has free healthcare even to foreigners. Yes, they exist. Brazil is one. I'm not sure but I've heard Spain might too. Granted you wont get the best and most responsive health care in the world but at least you'll get some and for free. Things are different out there. Worse in some aspects, better in others. Just something to thin…

I've been trying to move back abroad since I returned to the USA. It's not as easy as people think in the best of times to immigrate, let alone when you are in such bad shape all around. No place takes broken and relatively broke people. Believe me I'd have been gone years ago if I could have managed it. I've thought about extreme ideas like asylum but my research shows it's never granted to people from such countrie…

If you are a software engineer just came to brazil and you will live as a king here. There more than 400,000 jobs opening related to computer science.

And I’m sure you will have access to universal health system and private ones.

Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

#126

Post by wil421 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #75
privateSFacct wrote: post #66

A quick suggestion. If things are really this dire sign up for platinum coverage under a total in-network HMO like Kaiser. Platinum 90 0/10 as an example. If you have serious medical costs these plans are MAJORLY subsidized because they don't discriminate on pre-existing conditions. You CANNOT go out of network.

No health insurance can deny insurance coverage for pre existing conditions since ACA was passed.

Relevant government website. It’s been this way since 2014. No one in the US should be talking about pre existing conditions anymore.

[1]https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/pre-existing-condition/

Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

#128

Post by fzeroracer »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #114
fzeroracer wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolute nonsense. What about the poor people who only have one hospital nearby that might not accept their insurance? What about people who go to a hospital that's in their network, but it turns out one of the many doctors was not? The people who have a time critical illness who can't afford to do the whole Free Market thing right after a accident? How does anyone know that when they arrive somewhere the exact numbe…

> What about the poor people who only have one hospital nearby that might not accept their insurance? What about people who go to a hospital that's in their network, but it turns out one of the many doctors was not? The people who have a time critical illness who can't afford to do the whole Free Market thing right after a accident? All of these only apply to time-critical procedures. Otherwise you should be able to…

> Let's assume that emergency medicine should be provided by cities in the same way as other emergency services like fire companies. What's the argument for doing it that way for all medical services, including the ones that are not time sensitive and allow you plenty of time to shop around and choose the provider with the best combination of price, distance, scheduling availability, etc.?

Because for a lot of people, there is no real choice involved. If there's one hospital around for hundreds of miles, they realistically don't have the option to go to one further out when their job expects them to be available for work every single day. Not to mention that requires every hospital to offer every service and to have every type of specialist for every type of disease.

Medical issues don't operate like a grocery store. You can't just walk into a hospital and choose between Name Brand MRI or Store Brand MRI. It requires a level of knowledge that most people don't have. It's knowledge I don't have! And something I'd prefer to never have to think about when I have other shit to deal with in real life.

> This is hardly the only circumstance where there are many variables. Should the government buy everyone the same car because there are so many different choices between prices and safety ratings and fuel economy and performance? How does that even help, since the solution space is the same and government knows less about your priorities than you do?

Your analogy falls apart because the government does make mandates for cars. Things like safety features. And you're trying to compare buying a car which is a fairly small subset of considerations for the average person versus trying to purchase medical assistance which is an incredibly wide field encompassing multiple types of examinations, surgeries, biopsies and more. When you're looking for a car, you have some properties of a car which are easily understandable. When you're searching for medical assistance, most people only vaguely know what's actually wrong.

Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

#129

Post by AnthonyMouse »

x86_64Ubuntu wrote: post #110
wdn wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Medicare for all is not a solution. The solution is make health insurance act like insurance. Health service provider needs to post their price like all services and products. They need to compete for our business.

The nature of medical care doesn't allow for "users" to decide rationally. This is primarily due to the lack of domain knowledge concerning medicine. If you have a lump somewhere, and a doctor wants to X-Ray/Biopsy/Open You Up, you generally don't know which one is best. So prices don't help at all. And that's if by chance you are conscious and able to consent. When you are under, you don't get to consent to the acti…

> The nature of medical care doesn't allow for "users" to decide rationally. This is primarily due to the lack of domain knowledge concerning medicine. If you have a lump somewhere, and a doctor wants to X-Ray/Biopsy/Open You Up, you generally don't know which one is best. So prices don't help at all.

How do prices not help? You at least know how much you'll have to pay, which is certainly relevant information. You still may not know which one is best (no guarantee that it's the one that costs more), but what solution are you proposing to that anyway? Even if the government was paying for your medicine, how would that help you choose which doctor to listen to?

> When you are under, you don't get to consent to the actions of the surgeons ,anesthesiologists or whomever else they decide to bring in to assist.

Which is why it may make sense to have an insurance plan that fully covers emergency services regardless of network. But emergency services aren't the majority of medical costs.

Re: When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested

#130

Post by ars »

mars4rp wrote: post #80
hestipod wrote: post #3

My life was ruined by badly done, and even worse ultimately unneeded surgery. That privilege initially cost me many thousands, along with career and insurance going away, and the subsequent struggle to survive since has cost multiples of that. My entire future billed away. For a time I was able to avoid collectors because of a significant savings a frugal life had left me, but as time goes on you have to choose betwe…

I know people in HN hate to talk about politics, but this is a political problem. People, please vote for medicare for all candidates, it might not affect your life now, but you don't know what the future holds for you.

> please vote for medicare for all

No thank you. I've helped people with medicare and it's the worst health insurance I've ever encountered, with insane rules and brain-twisting billing practices.

I have absolutely no desire to inflict this on the entire country.

When you are promoting medicare - have you actually tried it? Are you speaking from a position of knowledge?

I have, it's terrible.

But worst of all it doesn't fix anything!!! The problems with healthcare in this country are that hospitals and doctors will need to take a pay cut, and we'll need to fire a lot of people in order to save money.

Medicare for all, at current payment rates, will just cause havoc.

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