One of the most unfair characteristics of US healthcare is that if the health insurance company does not cover a claim, then the patient is responsible for the payment. It is unrealistic in practice for a patient to know or understand the process by which claims are made (since they are made by an error prone and disinterested provider administrator, and are made in a non-transparent and highly complex way), and also unrealistic for a patient to be able to do anything about a denied claim, since there is virtually no competition in the market for health insurance, and because a patient would almost never have the means to sue a health insurance company for damages. All this creates a very poor system that rewards administrators and shareholders at the expense of patients.
US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
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Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#12He has done more good than legions of software engineers who make multiples of his income.
He has done more good than legions of software engineers who make multiples of his income.
He has done more good than legions of CEOs who make multiples of his income.
So... what's the point?
Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#13One of the most unfair characteristics of US healthcare is that if the health insurance company does not cover a claim, then the patient is responsible for the payment. It is unrealistic in practice for a patient to know or understand the process by which claims are made (since they are made by an error prone and disinterested provider administrator, and are made in a non-transparent and highly complex way), and also…
And even if you can contest the denial, it can take days to months to get it back, meanwhile you’re shouldered with the burden of paying full price for your treatment with the _hope_ that they’ll reimburse you later.
My fiancée has cancer, and we regularly joke that dealing with insurance companies is worse than the actual stage 3 cancer she has. They constantly deny her coverage for medications she’s been on for years, they will randomly require new tests to make sure she still has cancer (megalolz), they’ll decide they don’t want to cover procedures just for fun until we call and argue with a representative for a few hours and then all of a sudden it’s a “billing mistake” that can be reversed.
It’s a racket, plain and simple. Medical care should never be tied to personal wealth, period.
Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#14He has done more good than legions of software engineers who make multiples of his income.
I wish I had $650k to forgive. I've forgiven debts for a total of about $3300, but there's still that guy who owes $10k and told me 3 years ago that he'd pay me once he gets his BMW repaired.
Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#15Perhaps I'm being too cynical, but accounts in collections are typically sold at about 4% value. They'd expect to get about 26k back from that debt. Perhaps they felt the good PR was worth that much?
I also wonder if it's different for tax purposes? Not sure if it's considered a loss or a donation at this point, but it's probably good to at least get it off the books if they are shutting down.
Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#16This is a prime example of a feel good story that is papering over systemic problems. We're meant to read this and think this doctor is a good person (and they are, at least for this act) rather than, "how is it possible there was this much medical debt for cancer treatment to forgive?"
Yes, debt forgiveness is great and something we can all do as mutual aid, but we also need to acknowledge that the deeply flawed idea that healthcare should be a "marketplace" rather than just a baseline good for everyone is the real story here.
Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#17He has done more good than legions of software engineers who make multiples of his income.
He's an oncologist who was able to shrug and write off $650k of money he was owed. I'm pretty sure his income is multiples of the average non-FAANG software engineer. He was running his own practice so low to mid 7-figures would not be out of the question.
Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#18One of the most unfair characteristics of US healthcare is that if the health insurance company does not cover a claim, then the patient is responsible for the payment. It is unrealistic in practice for a patient to know or understand the process by which claims are made (since they are made by an error prone and disinterested provider administrator, and are made in a non-transparent and highly complex way), and also…
And even if you can contest the denial, it can take days to months to get it back, meanwhile you’re shouldered with the burden of paying full price for your treatment with the _hope_ that they’ll reimburse you later. My fiancée has cancer, and we regularly joke that dealing with insurance companies is worse than the actual stage 3 cancer she has. They constantly deny her coverage for medications she’s been on for yea…
>"It’s a racket, plain and simple. Medical care should never be tied to personal wealth, period."
In agreement. Still Government covered medical care has their own methods of avoiding / delaying procedures. In the end it all comes down to money.
Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#19One of the most unfair characteristics of US healthcare is that if the health insurance company does not cover a claim, then the patient is responsible for the payment. It is unrealistic in practice for a patient to know or understand the process by which claims are made (since they are made by an error prone and disinterested provider administrator, and are made in a non-transparent and highly complex way), and also…
> One of the most unfair characteristics of US healthcare is that if the health insurance company does not cover a claim, then the patient is responsible for the payment.
As a general rule this is not an unusual characteristic. Get a procedure done in another country that turns out not not be covered and they presumably will bill you for it.
The mess comes about because of attempting to control prices with networks and pre-approvals, which is a fairly recent mess as they tried to control prices and govt layers requirements and escapes/loopholes on them. It would be better to just wipe that all away and get policies that say if you get sick you get a flat payment to spend as you wish. I.e., actual insurance.
Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients
#20One of the most unfair characteristics of US healthcare is that if the health insurance company does not cover a claim, then the patient is responsible for the payment. It is unrealistic in practice for a patient to know or understand the process by which claims are made (since they are made by an error prone and disinterested provider administrator, and are made in a non-transparent and highly complex way), and also…
And even if you can contest the denial, it can take days to months to get it back, meanwhile you’re shouldered with the burden of paying full price for your treatment with the _hope_ that they’ll reimburse you later. My fiancée has cancer, and we regularly joke that dealing with insurance companies is worse than the actual stage 3 cancer she has. They constantly deny her coverage for medications she’s been on for yea…
It's inevitable that medical care in some way is tied to personal wealth. Some treatments are so expensive and/or niche that public programs likely wouldn't cover them. Such treatments will probably always exist. (And if they didn't, then that could he a problem by itself.)
But at least basic modern healthcare (things that existed ~20 years ago) should be provided as (mostly) free to the patient. We need people to not worry about going to the doctor - there should be minimal paperwork and cost. More people going to healthcare earlier would hopefully pay off through better preventative care.