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Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

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Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#141

Post by kibwen »

chaosbutters wrote: post #61
cletus wrote: post #34

In Australia the Leftist government of Gough Whitlam introduced health-coverage-for-all in 1975 with a scheme called Medibank. In 1984 after a couple of governments, Bob Hawke's Leftist government created the Medicare scheme (Medibank became a government provider of private health insurance), which exists to this day. The most interesting stat I ever heard about Medicare was this: prior to Medicare the number one cau…

doesn't matter who is president in 2020, if the senate isn't blue. And right now, it doesn't look like the senate will even hit 50/50.

Fortunately (ironically, sardonically), thanks to the precedents being set by the sitting president, future presidents will be free to declare healthcare a national emergency and divert funds away from, say, the defense department in order to pay for it. A slim majority in the senate and a minority in the house won't be near enough to stop them. The current senate dissolves the checks and balances at their own institutional peril (and no, this isn't a situation anyone ought to be celebrating, except for the authoritarians).

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#142

Post by morningmoon »

smallgovt wrote: post #72

I’m confused. If you have medical insurance, shouldn’t you only pay up to your deductible? Is this saying people’s life assets don’t cover the deductible? Or, people are uninsured?

They were insured, and insurance covered treatment, but they lacked savings to begin with, so they drained assets to make up for lost income. Most Americans don’t save and only have “savings” in their house, which is usually mortgaged.

From the article: Since she's unable to work, the family lost her nursing salary.

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#143

Post by astrodust »

qudat wrote: post #36
crimsonalucard wrote: post #6

This makes me so angry at doctors.

I'd look towards regulations. It costs 2.6 billion dollars to get one single drug through the FDA: https://www.policymed.com/2014/12/a-tough-road-cost-to-devel...

I'm sure the drug companies prefer the barrier to entry to be really high so that it discourages others from even trying.

Sure, they hate paying that much to get a drug approved, but they'd hate having to compete even more.

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#144

Post by smallgovt »

dylanpyle wrote: post #124
smallgovt wrote: post #72

I’m confused. If you have medical insurance, shouldn’t you only pay up to your deductible? Is this saying people’s life assets don’t cover the deductible? Or, people are uninsured?

There's a huge spectrum of what's covered under US insurance plans. Mine, for example, is a "good" plan for the size of company we are, but if I was rushed to a hospital that wasn't in-network in an emergency, or a hospital visit was later deemed "unnecessary" by the insurance company, I could be subject to huge bills.

I see. Are doctors unable to tell you which treatments are defined as “necessary” ahead of time? Or, do you have to do this research yourself?

Also, do ‘good’ insurance plans typically deem any signicantly life saving treatment as necessary?

Sorry, I’ve always been healthy so have never taken the time to understand this but my parents are getting old.

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#145

Post by mbostleman »

Joe-Z wrote: post #120
mbostleman wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what is the solution? More than 42% went all in with the constraint being their personal assets. If that constraint was lifted, then what would the next constraint be? Obviously the additional assets would come from other people, and probably not voluntarily (which is a different issue), but what would be the limiting factor then? Also, I assume the new pool of assets would be available not just to the 42% that we…

>What do the rules look like for this in other nations? In Austria we pay a "Sozialversicherungsbeitrag"/social security with each month's pay. Your employer also chips in part of it. I don't even know how much it is percent-wise. It is really not that hard. You just go the doctor / hospital when you NEED it. Because that's the important thing: health care is a need, nobody likes being sick or injured and having a sy…

Ok, but how does this relate to the problem in this post. If I get cancer in Austria, do I spend all my money first and when that's gone, how much more is spent? Or do I only spend some of my money first (or maybe none), but still, how much gets spent on me - what constrains it?

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#146

Post by metalliqaz »

mbostleman wrote: post #70
porphyrogene wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The publication is NPR so that it is US news goes somewhat without saying. However, this is something that Americans need to understand is exceptional for a nation of its resources.

So what is the solution? More than 42% went all in with the constraint being their personal assets. If that constraint was lifted, then what would the next constraint be? Obviously the additional assets would come from other people, and probably not voluntarily (which is a different issue), but what would be the limiting factor then? Also, I assume the new pool of assets would be available not just to the 42% that we…

Death, the next constraint would be death. If the patient doesn't get better, they don't just keep piling up bills forever, eventually the Cancer kills them.

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#147

Post by [deleted] »

JamesBarney wrote: post #65
cletus wrote: post #34

In Australia the Leftist government of Gough Whitlam introduced health-coverage-for-all in 1975 with a scheme called Medibank. In 1984 after a couple of governments, Bob Hawke's Leftist government created the Medicare scheme (Medibank became a government provider of private health insurance), which exists to this day. The most interesting stat I ever heard about Medicare was this: prior to Medicare the number one cau…

I'm all for universal coverage too. But reducing the profits of pharmaceutical companies well reduce the money they have for r&d dramatically. This will slow down the speed of pharmaceutical development. So I think it needs to be paired with reforms to the FDA to reduce the go to market costs for drugs.

[deleted]

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#148

Post by lotsofpulp »

shereadsthenews wrote: post #128
lotsofpulp wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's crazy how difficult these little things are. During birth, should one stand outside their wife's delivery room and ask each provider to wait outside while you look up if they are in network or not on your insurance company's app? At least we have apps to do that nowadays.

Yes, you should. When my wife gave birth the first time there was an endless parade of idiots who uselessly entered the room for a moment and then left and later sent a huge bill. We also got a bill from the anesthesiologist who was not present because my wife didn't want it and for the supposed attending obstetrician who, although they were paged, never showed up. We had to go through disputes of all those things an…

I would definitely recommend actually doing that, but I kind of meant "should we do that" in a sense of "should we be behaving like this in a civilized society"?

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#149

Post by Miner49er »

BucketSort wrote: post #33

At what point do we become so outraged that people are being killed for profit that we actually change things? Our culture is so obscene. We need to change our attitude on egregious wealth from admiration to disgust. When you see a mansion, you should see the trampling of lives for exorbitant luxury; when you see a million dollar car, you should see children going hungry; but what you really see is something you can…

Very unfortunate this is being downvoted. It's simply true. Lots of resources and time are wasted on pointless things. If we organised our society better we could end so much suffering and have more time for the things that really matter in life.

Re: Cancer Complications: Confusing Bills, Maddening Errors And Endless Phone Calls

#150

Post by maxxxxx »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #42
deisner wrote: post #23

"But none of these is her most gnawing, ever present concern. That would be the convoluted medical bills that fill multiple binders, depleted savings accounts that destroy early retirement plans and so, so many phone calls with insurers and medical providers." Is it like this in other OECD countries? I ask because I'm told that we in America have "the best health care system in the world."

No, my family in Canada and UK don't deal with any of this. In the US, it's not even worth your time figuring out how much your treatment will cost, other than whether or not the provider is in network or not. Assume it's the out of pocket maximum for your insurance, because when you go to a provider, you sign a blank check that says you will be responsible for whatever chargers they make up during the course of your…

" whatever charges they make up during the course of your treatment"

That's the worst. Pricing is totally arbitrary. You may spend 5000 or 100000 for the same thing and there is no way to know upfront.

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