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US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

bbc.com

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Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#241

Post by FpUser »

xnyan wrote: post #232
FpUser wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I meant exactly what I said. Basically nothing is perfect. And while I completely support the idea of free universal healthcare I know on my own experience that Government is on a constant lookout to cut those expenses and does it at the first opportunity. Bunch of warriors with the downvoting clubs is not going to change anything. Frankly I do not give a s..t about being downvoted. I am not here to accumulate karma.…

Nobody is trying to change your mind, it's just that most people disagree with you.

Disagreement and karma are two different things.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#242

Post by krapp »

protomyth wrote: post #236
krapp wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US would be perfectly capable of providing better healthcare to Native Americans if it wanted to. It doesn't want to.

Why?

There is little political will or impetus behind properly funding programs for Native Americans, or running agencies like the Indian Health Service, because Native Americans don't have the visibility or political clout to force the American government to take them seriously, as do other groups like African Americans.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#243

Post by bcrosby95 »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #137
k_sze wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't even understand how the "health care" system and the insurance industry can be both so messed up in the US. It may be just anecdata, but In Hong Kong, my family has an insurance agent whom we work very close with. We're just middle class. E.g. only my dad has a car; my sister is 42 and I'm 38, and we still don't have our own car. Whenever something related to making use of the insurance plan comes up, the ins…

> We don't get this nonsense where the insurer tries to deny us and hope that we don't dispute. It’s also not the case in 99% of US claims. The ones you hear about are typically due to healthcare providers not providing sufficient justification for the healthcare or medications they are prescribing, which can easily cost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. The “insurers” are many times not eve…

When my wife had surgery and insurance denied part of our claim, hospital billing said it was normal, and it usually doesn't get resolved until one of their lawyers sends a strongly worded letter.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#244

Post by i_haz_rabies »

snakeboy wrote: post #139
Areading314 wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Unless there is some really amazing alternative, money is one of the best proxies available for for contribution to society This is an absolutely ridiculous assertion. Many people inherit, luck out, or get wealthy by other means. Personal wealth is a terrible way to determine "societal value". It is deeply disturbing to me that there are people with these types of views. I hate to assume but my impression is that y…

> It is deeply disturbing to me that there are people with these types of views. Just friendly advice: you're never going to have a meaningful discussion or a productive debate if that's how you treat a differing opinion.

Sometimes a differing opinion is disturbing enough that it should be called out as such.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#245

Post by baldeagle »

The really messed up thing about this is the tax implications. The doctor gets a write off for his 'losses'; his tax bill it lower.

The patients are subject to paying tax on this as-if it were income (because they received $X of debt cancellation). Their tax bills will go up.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#246

Post by spaetzleesser »

cryptonym wrote: post #91
shakezula wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Treatment and part of my income was insured by public actors (not US). No issue, everything is automatic, didn't had to pay a single thing and it would even be possible to get unlimited free taxi rides from home to hospital, free public transport, wig, sport... even a tax cut. I'm really thankful for this. Other part of my income was insured by a private company. They lost my files, claimed I didn't fill the forms an…

“Other part of my income was insured by a private company. They lost my files, claimed I didn't fill the forms and after months of fight and involving my employer, they magically found papers I previously sent and paid.”

That’s the same insane situation like during the mortgage crisis where banks constantly lost papers or made wrong claims and got away with that. It’s hard to understand that insurers and hospitals constantly get away with forgetting or misrepresenting things. I can’t imagine any other business being allowed to do that.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#247

Post by spaetzleesser »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #137
k_sze wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't even understand how the "health care" system and the insurance industry can be both so messed up in the US. It may be just anecdata, but In Hong Kong, my family has an insurance agent whom we work very close with. We're just middle class. E.g. only my dad has a car; my sister is 42 and I'm 38, and we still don't have our own car. Whenever something related to making use of the insurance plan comes up, the ins…

> We don't get this nonsense where the insurer tries to deny us and hope that we don't dispute. It’s also not the case in 99% of US claims. The ones you hear about are typically due to healthcare providers not providing sufficient justification for the healthcare or medications they are prescribing, which can easily cost tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. The “insurers” are many times not eve…

“It’s also not the case in 99% of US claims.”

From what I observe with people I know the number is way higher. If you have a serious disease like cancer you there is a very good chance that you will spend a lot of time fighting providers and insurance. It can turn into a full time job.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#248

Post by spaetzleesser »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #237
alistairSH wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m claiming that insurers do not erroneously deny claims in the hopes that people give up. You keep saying "erroneously" but I'm not sure what you mean by that. My experience is that for any major change in medication (either dosage or brand, but for the same chronic condition) the insurance will initially deny the claim. This kicks off many hours of phone tag between my family, the insurance, and the doctor. Eventu…

>You keep saying "erroneously" but I'm not sure what you mean by that. "Erroneously" as in denying coverage for something that should be covered (per the terms of the contracts). It's unfortunate that you have to go through all of that when changing medications. I don't know the reason for it in your specific case, but I would hope it's not widespread fraud across all of those companies.

“I would hope it's not widespread fraud across all of those companies.”

Assume it is. It’s the normal way of doing business. Deny things and hope that most people will give up.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#249

Post by csharptwdec19 »

imgabe wrote: post #17
starpilot wrote: post #3

He 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.

Yep, I wouldn't be surprised if the tax write-offs for this made the 'real' impact far less.

Re: US doctor forgives $650k in medical bills for cancer patients

#250

Post by dfxm12 »

atmosx wrote: post #48

A good question would be what can be done to fix healthcare in the US ? My understanding is that most voters don't support universal healthcare. IIRC even Obamacare was labeled as controversial. Current model costs way more, the model is clearly broken, why there is no pressure to fix it? ps. I don't want to get political or anything by mentioning Obamacare. I'm genuinely curious because the problems of the current h…

My understanding is that most voters don't support universal healthcare.

Most Americans think it is the government's responsibility to ensure all Americans have healthcare coverage [0]. Also, it seems like you're talking about Obamacare as if it is universal healthcare. It's not.

why there is no pressure to fix it?

There is pressure. We're not even weeks removed from the "Force the Vote" campaign for Medicare for all. This is just the latest push to get something done about healthcare in the US.

Overall, this is just another way where most politicians (in this case, Republicans and moderate Democrats) are representing their lobbyists more than their constituents.

0 - https://news.gallup.com/poll/4708/healthcare-system.aspx

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