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She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

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Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#111

Post by r00fus »

boringg wrote: post #43
rwmj wrote: post #4

I really don't understand why the US doesn't have a grown up healthcare system. Do you just not see how much better healthcare is in the rest of the developed world?

Clarification. US health is great if you are employed, have a good income or are retired and on medicare. If you don't fall into those categories it is pretty tough

It's not. Name another industry/market where you can't know the price of what you're buying (even an estimate) before you buy it.

Every other developed country has a better system than ours. Every one.

And for those who say "oh, well wait times are so much higher" - well you can get supplemental insurance in many of those countries as well - so the baseline isn't abysmal, but wealthy can get even better.

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#112

Post by r00fus »

HDThoreaun wrote: post #11
rwmj wrote: post #4

I really don't understand why the US doesn't have a grown up healthcare system. Do you just not see how much better healthcare is in the rest of the developed world?

US healthcare system works for people with money, and people with money make up most of the voting base.

No, it doesn't even work (the most) for them. And they don't find out until that critical time that they're not covered.

What it does is give the illusion of high-level coverage so those profitable users keep paying the dole and keep supporting the industry politically.

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#113

Post by kingsloi »

russdill wrote: post #73
yongjik wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work as a developer in Silicon Valley, and my wife also works. So we probably have a better insurance (and better income) than 95% of Americans. My wife probably burned 10+ hours of her life making phone calls that amount to "No no, I've already called the insurance company and they say the record is wrong on your side! I have to call your other office? No, I already called them! Why am I still getting a bill when…

A really great trick I learned is to use the 3 way calling feature of your phone. Call the insurance company, go through the please go away don't bother us menu system (now with voice recognition!), wait on hold for an agent, speak with the agent and tell them you are going to conference in your doctor's billing department, and call your doctor. Have them speak directly with each other. This is also usually necessary…

That's a great tip/trick! Thanks for sharing!

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#114

Post by Volundr »

meepmorp wrote: post #78
javajosh wrote: post #13

I'd like to see a new regulatory regime that allows individual health care providers like doctors, nurses, etc to start their own practices that are cash only. The sense I get is that small strappy businesses like that can't start because of the regulatory regime that's too expensive to comply with. But yeah in the end all of this machinery that gets between the patient and the provider and affects that relationship…

> I'd like to see a new regulatory regime that allows individual health care providers like doctors, nurses, etc to start their own practices that are cash only. We already have that. Medical practices aren't required to take health insurance and can charge cash for services.

Specifically, Googling "Direct Primary Care" in your area will probably find you what you are looking for. Specialists who work this way also exist, but are rarer (and significantly more expensive)

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#115

Post by peteradio »

mdorazio wrote: post #36
junofan wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not donations. It’s the fact that the largest employer in nearly every congressional district is a healthcare system. Heard this from a guy who worked on the ACA.

Even beyond employment, healthcare represents a ridiculous 18% of the US GDP these days.

I struggle how we can include that into GDP. It should be a number we are attempting to reduce not grow because its a massive tax on the citizens.

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#116

Post by HDThoreaun »

r00fus wrote: post #112
HDThoreaun wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US healthcare system works for people with money, and people with money make up most of the voting base.

No, it doesn't even work (the most) for them. And they don't find out until that critical time that they're not covered. What it does is give the illusion of high-level coverage so those profitable users keep paying the dole and keep supporting the industry politically.

Sure, let's say they believe it works for them so they don't politically support reworking it.

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#117

Post by nitwit005 »

INTPenis wrote: post #21

What baffles me are these people who constantly show up to defend the US health care system, when there is clearly a plethora of real end user testimony showing how detrimental it is to the health of most United States citizens. Maybe HN isn't the best site to discuss this on, I'm guessing most of you work for some large tech sector business that offers good insurance. But most of the world is not made up of tech wor…

There's a lot of willful denial of reality when it comes to health care, but even when that doesn't happen, a lot of discussions just end up being people explaining how things work to others.

The Veterans Health Administration is a huge sprawling thing. A lot of people aren't aware it exists.

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#118

Post by nitwit005 »

tomrod wrote: post #65
stusmall wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have great insurance through my employer. Last week my spouse was suppose to go in for a surgery that multiple doctors made it clear she needed. We were on the books for months for the surgery. Insurance denied it the day before, throwing all our plans up into the air. The surgeon suggested getting a different surgery that wouldn't fix the problem. The idea is that when it didn't work it would act as evidence to co…

Get the surgery, get notarized items from multiple docs, talk to a lawyer. Healthcare insurance doesn't get to dictate your healthcare directly. They aren't doctors, and open themselves up to liability if we don't push back.

> Healthcare insurance doesn't get to dictate your healthcare directly.

They aren't supposed to, but in reality, of course they do. They just have an on staff doctor who rubber stamps the decision.

With expensive procedures, they have a financial incentive to find a way to say no.

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#119

Post by vkou »

INTPenis wrote: post #21

What baffles me are these people who constantly show up to defend the US health care system, when there is clearly a plethora of real end user testimony showing how detrimental it is to the health of most United States citizens. Maybe HN isn't the best site to discuss this on, I'm guessing most of you work for some large tech sector business that offers good insurance. But most of the world is not made up of tech wor…

It's easy to maintain an unfair political system, as long as your base of support is better off than some underclass. It makes them feel valued and special, all while your hand's in their pocket.

Why should I care about Bob's healthcare problems, I am healthy and have a good job, I'm currently comfortable.

(Observe the recent death of Joe the Plumber, and his family's immediate followup was starting a fundraiser to pay for his accrued medical bills. All for a man who spent his rather low-profile and sad political career campaigning, among other things, against healthcare reform.)

Re: She paid husband's hospital bill. A year after his death, they wanted more money

#120

Post by prirun »

javajosh wrote: post #13

I'd like to see a new regulatory regime that allows individual health care providers like doctors, nurses, etc to start their own practices that are cash only. The sense I get is that small strappy businesses like that can't start because of the regulatory regime that's too expensive to comply with. But yeah in the end all of this machinery that gets between the patient and the provider and affects that relationship…

> I'd like to see a new regulatory regime that allows individual health care providers like doctors, nurses, etc to start their own practices that are cash only.

This is a non-starter because older people with Medicare coverage - the people who get sick more often - would have to pay their Medicare premium, supplement premium, and the cash price.

In principle, I agree with you, sort of. Going to an immediate care center in my town for example costs $100 if you pay cash, but if you have insurance, they bill $300 and the insurance pays $100-150 (the rest gets written off). My suspicion, but I don't know this for sure, is that when a hospital bills say $1000 and the insurance pays $300, the hospital gets to take the $700 difference as a loss, ie, it lowers their taxes. So in this case instead of having to pay income taxes on $300, the hospital gets a tax deduction for $400. Anyone know if that is the case?

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