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Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

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Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#31

Post by morelisp »

umvi wrote: post #25
sumofi wrote: post #3

Not having health insurance is not an excuse. In Germany you are required by law to have it.

> In Germany you are required by law to have it. Obama basically made this happen, but the net result was that all of healthy young adults (the kind that least needed insurance) were forced to start paying for insurance to subsidize the unhealthy older adults (or pay a penalty). So basically it was just a disguised tax targeting the young and healthy.

> the net result was that all of [low risk group] were forced to start paying for insurance to subsidize the [high risk group]

This is literally insurance.

Obama's plan failed because the public option was removed, employers and states refused to play along, and the Supreme Court undermined even the part you're complaining about. It was also not a great plan begin with, compared to European programs.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#32

Post by rmrm »

dangus wrote: post #11
redis_mlc wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the USA, acne and pregnancy are often disqualifying conditions. Services are often "out-of-network." So it doesn't matter if you pay the pemiums or not - you get massive surprise bills.

I agree that the US health system is beyond fucked up, but the statements in this comment are dramatization and not accurate on their own without a ton of qualifiers and clarifying statements. “Out of network” doesn’t mean your health insurance plan doesn’t pay for anything. It usually just changes coinsurance rate. Anyone who has a major expensive hospital event while insured will just hit their maximum annual out o…

Few things you might not be aware of:

1. Even in the event of Emergency visits to in network hospitals, one is often charged out of network fees if one of the doctors present is out of network. Which one is not notified of and has no say over, regardless. So going to an in nerwork hospital (which is the best one can do to align to their plan) means nothing.

2. When charged out of network, it most certainly does not mean only the coinsurance rate changes, you are also charged 10 to 50× more. So you are charged say 40% of $5000 rather than 20% of $300. Again, at an in network hospital.

3. Out of pocket max differs dramatically in network to out of network, in some plans going away completely in out of network scenario.

What you are saying above is not just a minimization its completely misleading and wrong.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#33

Post by vsareto »

dangus wrote: post #29
vsareto wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This person can call the billing department and say “I can’t pay” and watch that bill plummet. I don't think it works this way that often. It might just get sent to a debt collector. They might give you a lower fee, but it won't be by that much.

I think it works that way, you think it doesn’t work that way. So in that sense there’s no way to know based on “trusting random commenters.” But I can tell you this: there aren’t a lot of ways in which that debt collector can collect. They can’t take your home, they can’t take your car (as if the uninsured person even owns their car outright), and I don’t even think they can garnish wages. The statue of limitations…

Unfortunately a credit report can be a part of some jobs. I found this out the hard way when I tried to do what you said - ignore the calls - and there was an unpaid debt from 6 years ago on my credit report anyway when I had to get a clearance.

Many people frame this as a "say this magic phrase to get your bill reduced" and I just don't think it's that simple any more. Some of the consequences from not paying just come back down the road.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#34

Post by afterburner »

Havoc wrote: post #21
alexhutcheson wrote: post #16

The face values on medical bills in the US are like a bizarre joke - to a first approximation, no one ever pays them. Everyone with insurance gets insurer-negotiated "discounts" to around ~10% of the listed cost. It's tougher for people without insurance - my understanding is that you can negotiate with the entity that sent you the bill to get significant reductions, but I don't have first-hand experience doing this.…

>Everyone with insurance gets insurer-negotiated "discounts" to around ~10% of the listed cost. That whole setup is downright cruel & evil. Pretty much guarantees the most vulnerable get fk'd.

But won't you be so proud when you sign up for a health plan! You can exclaim to everyone "well I did my due diligence and I signed up for a great plan! why didn't you??"

Meanwhile people in non-US countries are thinking "I don't have to think about any of this shit, at all."

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#35

Post by alkonaut »

umvi wrote: post #25
sumofi wrote: post #3

Not having health insurance is not an excuse. In Germany you are required by law to have it.

> In Germany you are required by law to have it. Obama basically made this happen, but the net result was that all of healthy young adults (the kind that least needed insurance) were forced to start paying for insurance to subsidize the unhealthy older adults (or pay a penalty). So basically it was just a disguised tax targeting the young and healthy.

That’s like saying home insurance is a tax on people whose homes don’t burn down.

Isn’t the whole point of insurance to have everyone (sick and healthy) pay for the few?

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#36

Post by shigawire »

ackbar03 wrote: post #17
dangus wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This person is actually going to pay less than many people who are insured precisely because they’re uninsured. Someone who is insured in the US is not allowed to negotiate. This person can call the billing department and say “I can’t pay” and watch that bill plummet. The 50% or so of Americans who get their healthcare from solid employers will exhaust their deductible but otherwise be generally fine. Then there’s an…

Wait so there isn't a Healthcare cost problem in America then? I don't live in US but if your uninsured and can just call, say I can't pay and pay much less or just have your insurer pay, it seems to be OK either way?

It's ok if you ignore your bills as long as you have no intention of needing credit in the future.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#37

Post by redis_mlc »

dangus wrote: post #11
redis_mlc wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the USA, acne and pregnancy are often disqualifying conditions. Services are often "out-of-network." So it doesn't matter if you pay the pemiums or not - you get massive surprise bills.

I agree that the US health system is beyond fucked up, but the statements in this comment are dramatization and not accurate on their own without a ton of qualifiers and clarifying statements. “Out of network” doesn’t mean your health insurance plan doesn’t pay for anything. It usually just changes coinsurance rate. Anyone who has a major expensive hospital event while insured will just hit their maximum annual out o…

You're misinformed. What I said is correct.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#38

Post by PragmaticPulp »

redis_mlc wrote: post #6
sumofi wrote: post #3

Not having health insurance is not an excuse. In Germany you are required by law to have it.

In the USA, acne and pregnancy are often disqualifying conditions. Services are often "out-of-network." So it doesn't matter if you pay the pemiums or not - you get massive surprise bills.

> In the USA, acne and pregnancy are often disqualifying conditions.

This is not true. Premiums and coverage are only allowed to vary by age and location, not preexisting conditions.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#39

Post by krapp »

zamalek wrote: post #28
krapp wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless there are millions of deaths in the US from this, a return to the status quo seems like the most likely scenario, as people will assume the scope and danger of the pandemic was overblown by the media all along.

Things would stay the same even with millions of deaths. "Socialism is nothing more than communism" and "communism is evil" are two concepts that are deeply embedded here.

I don't know... once you can measure the scale of an event in Holocausts, all bets might be off the table.

Re: Total Cost of Her Covid-19 Treatment: $34,927.43

#40

Post by pwdisswordfish2 »

lidHanteyk wrote: post #14
CPLX wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That math only makes sense if you take the medical industry’s insane pricing model as gospel. If you had a straightforward nationally run healthcare system the math would be way more favorable still.

We know that a good rule of thumb in the USA is that health care costs are roughly twice what they ought to be. So just multiply by two: We could have treated around 238k people.

What’s the rule of thumb on the pricing of military equipment?
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