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The cost of two weeks in an pediatric/infant ICU

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

#161

Post by runjake »

CountDrewku wrote: post #127
inglor wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Israel we have public healthcare. I was born at week 32 and spent about 6 weeks in the NICU - everything was free. It's not always great and I do pay for private insurance in case I need something urgent - but everything emergency is absolutely covered. I believe it's this state in most developed places that are not the US?

Everything was not free, you just didn't pay directly for it while you were at the hospital. I don't understand why the word free always gets thrown around for country's with socialized medicine. You are paying for it.

You don’t need to explain this. Everyone knows how “socialized medicine” works.

What they are saying is that it was zero out-of-pocket as opposed to a quarter of a million dollar bill.

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

#162

Post by Symbiote »

CountDrewku wrote: post #127
inglor wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Israel we have public healthcare. I was born at week 32 and spent about 6 weeks in the NICU - everything was free. It's not always great and I do pay for private insurance in case I need something urgent - but everything emergency is absolutely covered. I believe it's this state in most developed places that are not the US?

Everything was not free, you just didn't pay directly for it while you were at the hospital. I don't understand why the word free always gets thrown around for country's with socialized medicine. You are paying for it.

Most roads in the USA are also "free", as are the police, etc. Healthcare elsewhere may be similar.

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

#163

Post by Jcowell »

cascom wrote: post #102
AlexandrB wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if any other market operated like this. You walk into BestBuy and the price of a TV is $50,000. But if you take it to the cashier you will be charged some lesser amount based on what your credit card company negotiated with BestBuy. Madness.

There is another market, it’s called higher education. The vast majority of college students are not paying “sticker price” for their education

Yes but at least higher education’s “negotiating” (which really isn’t negotiations since the avenues to get the cost down is far easier with Scholarships and FAFSA) is more upfront and better known.

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

#164

Post by cloudfifty »

marcinzm wrote: post #104
adrianN wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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)

The question was why people don't like universal health care and not an objective measurement of its value to society as a while. Around 10% of the US population is uninsured so 90% does have insurance. So 90% of the population isn't comparing it to a system with no-insurance.

But it is ethical to keep the lines shorter by excluding the poor?

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

#165

Post by mrits »

skeletal88 wrote: post #109
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…

The obligatory comment about how crazy this is on many levels. 1. You are being charged prices that you are not expected to pay, but need to negotiate on 2. When you go to a doctor to have a procedure or have an emergency then you don't know what you are paying. In normal countries there is A price list, which is THE price list for all hospitals that are part of the national health care system. If they want to have a…

Before you get too upset you should realize that OP was incorrect.

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

#166

Post by wonderwonder »

I hate how they bleed you via a thousand cuts. My kid saw a urologist at Nemours. Total appointment was maybe an hour and a half. He was experiencing pain while urinating. Turns out he just needed to stop holding his bladder and just go to the bathroom when he felt he needed to go. They took a urine sample, and an ultrasound. Over a year and a half later and I am still getting bills for it. Each bill is between $35 and $100 dollars. I have gotten ~20 of them. Every couple weeks to couple months another one or two come in.

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

#167

Post by Cthulhu_ »

londons_explore wrote: post #28
axiosgunnar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you have a percentage copay, say 10%, they will tell you to pay $25k because it's 10% [of $250k], but they might only pay $75k [after negotiating the $250k down to $75k]. That's fraud.

If you have enough $$$'s, you can probably argue that in court and win... But you'd just win a refund of some of the copay.

Nope, it's fraud and the insurance company will / should be destroyed. But they will probably settle out of court for the damage + a little extra to not be stuck in court for a decade.

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

#168

Post by gwbas1c »

In 2011 I had major surgery. The hospital first billed the insurance company for $100,000. The insurance company then paid $20,000.

Of course, the insurance rate was negotiated in advance. There was no reason to bill for 5x the negotiated rate.

IMO: We need to start fining hospitals for billing errors like this.

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

#169

Post by marcinzm »

creativenolo wrote: post #139
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…

Why do American people think it's the 'government' that will be providing the healthcare? To me, the NHS in the UK is run by the NHS (chiefs, trusts, executives, etc). It's funded and meddled with by the government. But it outlives each successive government. You'll hear far more positive stories than negative ones if you ask any one in the UK. My kid spent a week in infant ICU. Cost to me zero. Total cost of pregnan…

>You'll hear far more positive stories than negative ones if you ask any one in the UK.

The same applies in the US in terms of health coverage. The outliers are more vocal and more screwed but not a majority by far.

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

#170

Post by Cthulhu_ »

CountDrewku wrote: post #127
inglor wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Israel we have public healthcare. I was born at week 32 and spent about 6 weeks in the NICU - everything was free. It's not always great and I do pay for private insurance in case I need something urgent - but everything emergency is absolutely covered. I believe it's this state in most developed places that are not the US?

Everything was not free, you just didn't pay directly for it while you were at the hospital. I don't understand why the word free always gets thrown around for country's with socialized medicine. You are paying for it.

True, but that said, rates in US hospitals are massively over-inflated. They get away with it, insurance companies are not pressuring enough to lower cost (they're probably in on it), and there is no real competition.
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