The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU • Hacker News Board

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#81

Post by qmmmur » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

marcinzm wrote: post #69

_huayra_ wrote: post #2

I don't understand how people can be so anti-universal healthcare in the US. When you have an $8k deductible, your insurance is basically a gift to the CEO's yacht fund.

I've heard a lot of negative stories about the British health system including people waiting 6+ months to see doctors (while in pain or having other symptoms that lower quality of life significantly). If you think an American universal health system will be somehow better than that then I suspect you're a lot more optimistic about the US government than most people. edit: I do love echo chambers, someone asks a ques…

Because it's been decimated by the Tories for ten years now.

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#82

Post by leesalminen » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:00 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #27

wang_li wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has universal care, it passed in 2009 and it establishes that everyone does their part and buy insurance. It establishes help for low income individuals. There are caps on annual expenses. You may not like how it’s structured. You may not like the amount that people are expected to pay. But twelve years later the only people who don’t have coverage are people who are not meeting their civic obligations. And I’…

> But twelve years later the only people who don’t have coverage are people who are not meeting their civic obligations. The folks at the poverty line with a "free" fully subsidized Bronze ACA plan has an enormous deductible that may be $6-12k before that coverage actually starts paying out. The ACA's max out-of-pocket for a family in 2021 is $17,100 . ( https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/out-of-pocket-maximum-li...…

My uncle-in-law just signed up for health insurance under ACA in Colorado. He pays a $22/mo premium and has a $700 max out of pocket. Yes, 2 zeros. I was totally shocked but I reviewed all his paperwork and it’s true. Meanwhile I’m paying $1,200/mo for a young and healthy family of 3 with a $7,000 max out of pocket.

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#83

Post by wilde » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:01 PM UTC

enriquec wrote: post #68

rakmos wrote: post #52

This hits home for me.. my son (now 4 years old) was born very premature at 29 weeks and some change. He spent 7 weeks and 4 days in the NICU. The total hospital bill that was charged to insurance (before settling it between themselves) was roughly 960_000$. If you include the additional services and whatnot in the few months following being discharged from the hospital he was a million dollar baby. Complete insanity…

By what metric have things gotten better since the ACA?

Medical bankruptcies.

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2020/04/30/affordable-care-ac...

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#84

Post by adrianN » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:01 PM UTC

marcinzm wrote: post #69

_huayra_ wrote: post #2

I don't understand how people can be so anti-universal healthcare in the US. When you have an $8k deductible, your insurance is basically a gift to the CEO's yacht fund.

I've heard a lot of negative stories about the British health system including people waiting 6+ months to see doctors (while in pain or having other symptoms that lower quality of life significantly). If you think an American universal health system will be somehow better than that then I suspect you're a lot more optimistic about the US government than most people. edit: I do love echo chambers, someone asks a ques…

Shouldn't the point of comparison be the current state of US healthcare, were many people don't get to see a doctor at all because they're uninsured and poor? (Or at least that's the impression I get as an outsider from discussions on the Internet about the topic)

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#85

Post by xyzzyz » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:01 PM UTC

jtbayly wrote: post #31

jzwinck wrote: post #3

A quarter million US dollars. Of course the hospital never expects to receive this amount of money. Either they will negotiate it down for uninsured patients, or they will accept a lesser amount from the insurance company. Insurance companies like this over representation of costs because: 1. If you have a percentage copay (edit: "coinsurance"), say 10%, they will tell you to pay $25k because it's 10%, but they might…

I'm seriously doubting claim #1. Can you back it up?

It doesn’t actually happen. When you get a bill, you can see clearly how much hospital charged, how much insurance negotiated down, and how much is your share. If insurance sent you this, but then secretly conspired with hospital to pay even less than what they told you they pay, that would be criminal fraud. Suffice to say, this almost never happens.

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#86

Post by wil421 » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:01 PM UTC

rakmos wrote: post #52

This hits home for me.. my son (now 4 years old) was born very premature at 29 weeks and some change. He spent 7 weeks and 4 days in the NICU. The total hospital bill that was charged to insurance (before settling it between themselves) was roughly 960_000$. If you include the additional services and whatnot in the few months following being discharged from the hospital he was a million dollar baby. Complete insanity…

The billing system is a complete farce. Here’s a large made up number for the total bill, ok here’s another large number because we like your insurance, and finally here’s what your insurance actually paid.

My wife had complications the first time and the total bill was like $35k, insurance paid $9k, and our cost was $0. We actually got our $250 admission back.

Nobody pays the made of number from the first bill not even the uninsured.

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#87

Post by chmod775 » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:02 PM UTC

So I'm having a look at that cost breakdown...

How does a pharmacy charge someone more than $5000 for things such as sodium chloride? Actually pretty much everything on that list is complete bullshit.

This is fraud and taking advantage of people in distress. These criminals should be behind bars.

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#88

Post by yunohn » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:02 PM UTC

rakmos wrote: post #52

This hits home for me.. my son (now 4 years old) was born very premature at 29 weeks and some change. He spent 7 weeks and 4 days in the NICU. The total hospital bill that was charged to insurance (before settling it between themselves) was roughly 960_000$. If you include the additional services and whatnot in the few months following being discharged from the hospital he was a million dollar baby. Complete insanity…

> he was a million dollar baby

Imagine the life you could setup for a child, with a million dollars to start off with. Instead, it just lines the pockets of the corrupt healthcare industry.

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#89

Post by marcinzm » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:02 PM UTC

qmmmur wrote: post #81

marcinzm wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've heard a lot of negative stories about the British health system including people waiting 6+ months to see doctors (while in pain or having other symptoms that lower quality of life significantly). If you think an American universal health system will be somehow better than that then I suspect you're a lot more optimistic about the US government than most people. edit: I do love echo chambers, someone asks a ques…

Because it's been decimated by the Tories for ten years now.

And the US elected Trump, why do you think the same thing wouldn't happen in the US within a decade?

Re: The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

#90

Post by weavie » Thu, Jul 29, 2021, 1:02 PM UTC

rakmos wrote: post #52

This hits home for me.. my son (now 4 years old) was born very premature at 29 weeks and some change. He spent 7 weeks and 4 days in the NICU. The total hospital bill that was charged to insurance (before settling it between themselves) was roughly 960_000$. If you include the additional services and whatnot in the few months following being discharged from the hospital he was a million dollar baby. Complete insanity…

Wow. My daughter was born at 25 weeks and spend 4 months and 1 day in NICU, just over 10 years ago. This was in the UK. If my memory serves me correctly (which it may not, my brain was pretty fried throughout that time), we were told that the total cost to the NHS was roughly 150,000 GBP.