I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
nakedcapitalism.com
I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
1–10 of 143 posts
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#2Dude should have called 911 when he was at 12 hours of insulin left and let the hospital and the insurance company fight it out.
That's seriously f'ed up.
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#3> The price of my prescription without insurance was $339 per vial of insulin
In most countries insulin price is around $30. I remember it was cheap in US too.
Seems like another problem created by US kleptocracy. Make something prohibitively expensive, and "solve" problem by providing handouts to cover costs.
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#4Aside from someone being denied life-saving medication, the most awful thing for me in these stories is the relentless Kafkaesque quality. We never get any answers to our basic sense-making questions about the bureaucratic process:
- What did the insurer expect to happen, in order for this person to keep getting their medicine?
- Why did those things not happen?
- Whose job was it to make sure those things happened?
- Did that person know it was their job?
- ...etc.
I get that it was about prior authorization, but whose job was it to make sure the prior authorization happened? Why didn't that person do it in a timely fashion? Why isn't there an understanding within the insurer's system that Type 1 Diabetes is a life-long condition and not something that will just go away when the insulin runs out?
Was there a "happy path" here or does a scenario like this invariably degenerate into a scramble involving dozens of calls and day-destroying last-minute errands?
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#5Dude should have called 911 when he was at 12 hours of insulin left and let the hospital and the insurance company fight it out. That's seriously f'ed up.
Have you ever gotten an ER bill for something you didn't absolutely have to get an ER bill for, in retrospect? It's a few thousand dollars worth of regret.
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#6> The price of my prescription without insurance was $339 per vial of insulin In most countries insulin price is around $30. I remember it was cheap in US too. Seems like another problem created by US kleptocracy. Make something prohibitively expensive, and "solve" problem by providing handouts to cover costs.
For reference, in Sweden we have a ceiling for hospital + medicin costs per year at less than half of the cost of that one insulin vial.
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#7Dude should have called 911 when he was at 12 hours of insulin left and let the hospital and the insurance company fight it out. That's seriously f'ed up.
Have you ever gotten an ER bill for something you didn't absolutely have to get an ER bill for, in retrospect? It's a few thousand dollars worth of regret.
Yeah, that's what the mandatory price lists in hospitals are designed to do. Instead of going to the hospital to get treated for cancer and get stunned by the huge bill after you now conclude that you can't afford lifesaving treatment and stay home.
If you don't believe that's the purpose of the new regulation you are insufficiently cynical. Where's the revolution?
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you ever gotten an ER bill for something you didn't absolutely have to get an ER bill for, in retrospect? It's a few thousand dollars worth of regret.
Yeah, that's what the mandatory price lists in hospitals are designed to do. Instead of going to the hospital to get treated for cancer and get stunned by the huge bill after you now conclude that you can't afford lifesaving treatment and stay home. If you don't believe that's the purpose of the new regulation you are insufficiently cynical. Where's the revolution?
Or you start cooking meth.
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that's what the mandatory price lists in hospitals are designed to do. Instead of going to the hospital to get treated for cancer and get stunned by the huge bill after you now conclude that you can't afford lifesaving treatment and stay home. If you don't believe that's the purpose of the new regulation you are insufficiently cynical. Where's the revolution?
Or you start cooking meth.
I hear that hijinks ensue when you do that.
Re: I write about America’s health care system, and I got caught up in it
#10> Some suggested I go to Walmart for $25 insulin, an older type I have no idea how to safely use.
I'm sorry but this erodes my sympathy significantly. Learn about the options that exist if your first choice treatment isnt available. Learn about mitigation when no treatment is available. This is your life, act like its your responsibility already.