31–40 of 294 posts
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…
For those unfamiliar with the weirdness of the US insurance system: Nobody pays the prices on these bills. This is a pre-insurance bill with inflated values: > Why am I sharing one of her (pre-insurance) bills? Insurance companies have negotiated maximum allowed prices for every line item on this bill. Different insurance companies will have different negotiated rates. The insurance companies will pay either the mini…
Madness.
https://hscrc.maryland.gov/Documents/Hospitals/ReportsFinanc...
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.
There are many problems with our Canadian system, it's certainly not perfect. And single payer is not the only way to approach this problem. But I'm overall happy with its compromises in our system. Like any economic resource, it's rationed. But it's rationed, generally, on the basis of need. And that "from each according to their abilities to each according to their needs" philosophy may be the ideological curse on…
This is a feature, as far as major companies and lobbying organizations are concerned. It's a major reason behind the resistance to universal healthcare because the duress of losing health insurance is the only way some companies keep their employees.
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…
> If you have a percentage copay, say 10%, they will tell you to pay $25k because it's 10%, but they might only pay $75k. In this example you clearly paid 25% but they tell you it's only 10%. I think this is coinsurance, not copay. Copay is the $50 (or whatever) flat fee you pay every time you see a specialist. Coinsurance is a percentage of costs that you share with the insurance company, up to some maximum out of p…
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…
> 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.
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...…
5k on sildenafil citrate? That's better known as Viagra.
Sildenafil citrate is also a treatment for other problems - see e.g. [0]. That's very different to the usual problems that are treated with the codename "viagra". [0] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070727182359.h...
For those unfamiliar with the weirdness of the US insurance system: Nobody pays the prices on these bills. This is a pre-insurance bill with inflated values: > Why am I sharing one of her (pre-insurance) bills? Insurance companies have negotiated maximum allowed prices for every line item on this bill. Different insurance companies will have different negotiated rates. The insurance companies will pay either the mini…
Being asked to pay for medical bills you cannot afford is incredibly common in America, to the point that it’s the main reason people declare bankruptcy.