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I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

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Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#41

Post by whodidntante »

We spend $14K per person, or $4.5T on healthcare in the US. The typical cost for healthcare in comparable countries is 1/2 of that per person.

There is $2.25T per year of savings to be had. We can eliminate our national debt in 15 years, and with that also eliminate the $1T going to $1.5T of interest payments we pay each year on the debt, so a total savings down the road of about $3.5T per year.

To put that in perspective, our entire national budget was a bit less than $4T pr year pre pandemic.

There is absolutely nothing else that comes close to the potential savings on healthcare. All of the schemes I have seen whether they are tax increases or cutbacks in other programs, even the extreme ones, *might* save $2T over 10 years.

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#42

Post by [deleted] »

a_bonobo wrote: post #9

What I find interesting is how in OP's original tweet, more than half of the comments blame him for the cost. Shouldn't have gone to that hospital! (it was the closest one). Should've drunken more water! etc. pp. Like the proverbial crabs in a bucket, only pulling each other down. https://x.com/JeromeAdamsMD/status/1761375417351430595

[deleted]

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#43

Post by hnburnsy »

briHass wrote: post #37

I'm generally a fan of HDHPs, but I echo some of the same complaints made in the article. For example, just a few months ago, my toddler was complaining about horrible pain in his stomach. Now, being 5, it's awfully hard to determine exactly how much he's hurting, and of course, the strong recommendation from every nurse, doctor, and UC clinic we talked to was to bring him to the ER. A UC clinic or PCP won't take the…

Yeah avoid the HDHP if you have children or know you comsume a large amount of healthcare services. Otherwise, HDHP, the associated HSA account, and typically an employer contribition create a triple tax free investment that can't be beat.

Sucks though we have to guess how much health care we might use in the coming year.

On a postivie note if you hit your family max for the year, try and stuff in as much medical care you can.

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#44

Post by avs733 »

elevatedastalt wrote: post #7

$10000 looks like he got off easy given he visited an ER. Some unfortunate ones have to pay close to that amount just for the privilege of sitting in an ER, without getting any meaningful treatment.

My wife had to go to the ER 24 yrs after delivering our second kid because of a medical error during post partum care at the same hospital. She sat in the ER from 9pm until 6am 72 hrs after giving birth and was offered the womens bathroom to pump in. She never saw a doctor or got past triage despite the delivery unit telling her to go to the ER immediately. We got a 4.5k bill, insurance paid most of it, but we’ve refused to pay the deductible on principal.

After to many of these we just have a family policy that we are the final arbiters of a reasonable and fair medical bill given the error rates in billing. We have a high enough credit score that collections doesn’t scare us.

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#45

Post by beachy »

dools wrote: post #17
didacticBuffalo wrote: post #6

I have MS and receive an Ocrevus infusion every six months. It's a labyrinth of a process. UHC (insurer) sub-contracts(?) to CVS Caremark to provide specialty drugs. CVS insists on calling me to confirm they can ship it to my house. F no! I'm not running an IV for myself. Sort it out with the hospital. Last go around, the hospital coded the drug as coming from their supply instead of CVS so I got a surprise bill for…

Greetings from Australia. My brother has MS and gets a monthly infusion of Tysabri. All he does is show his Medicare card and it doesn't cost him anything.

My brother lives over the ditch in Australia. He developed very serious metastasised melanoma.

He was prescribed a very new drug which has worked brilliantly and saved his life.

The first time he left the pharmacy with his monthly prescription, the pharmacist told him to take care, because the pills he'd given him cost more than $20k. For a months supply. The cost to him - absolutely nothing.

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#46

Post by ip26 »

mmastrac wrote: post #25

The incentives in US health care are so upside-down that Americans pay significantly more for the same results as many of the other western nations. While the public systems of the UK and former colonies aren't perfect, they are still significantly cheaper to run for approximately the same outcomes. Ditto for other European countries. I don't understand why this hasn't become a boil-over issue for Americans yet.

Perhaps because it doesn’t impact you until it does, and we can’t seem to agree on what exactly is causing these outcomes. It’s a legitimately tangled problem, and I do believe how to unwind it is not well understood by anyone. (Ignoring single payer, which is more of a sidestep than a true fix)

Many people are also insulated by expensive insurance plans. HDHP are a long term play to generally make the public more familiar with the problem, as they will no longer be fully isolated from the prices.

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#47

Post by jrs235 »

metalcrow wrote: post #35
deathanatos wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the problems here is that the patient can believe they're at an in-network provider — and be correct about that — and still get hit with "out of network" charges. One of the linked articles[1] explains it slightly better: > Surprise medical bills happen when a doctor or other provider who isn’t in a patient’s insurance network is unexpectedly involved in a patient’s care. Patients may go to a hospital that acc…

Can you simply just not pay? What are the legal consequences in that case? Effectively some random 3rd party is requesting you pay them for something you didn't ask for or contract them to do.

They'll likely send it to collections (and hurt your credit score).

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#48

Post by maxerickson »

mmastrac wrote: post #25

The incentives in US health care are so upside-down that Americans pay significantly more for the same results as many of the other western nations. While the public systems of the UK and former colonies aren't perfect, they are still significantly cheaper to run for approximately the same outcomes. Ditto for other European countries. I don't understand why this hasn't become a boil-over issue for Americans yet.

A lot of people that vote have employer provided coverage (that appears affordable to them) or Medicare.

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#49

Post by jrs235 »

maztaim wrote: post #33

It is important to plan your emergency visits as early in the year as possible. That way if you hit your maximum deductibles and maximum out of pocket limits you get free-ish healthcare the rest of the year. Had a bad appendectomy happen in November. The limits reset Jan 1st. Out another $5000 for the second attempt at removal after a surgery to stare at my appendix before deciding a week of hospital stay with IV ant…

Government should regulate it to a rolling 12 month max...

Re: I'm a Former Surgeon General and I Couldn't Believe My $10k Medical Bill

#50

Post by operationlllll »

WBrentWilliams wrote: post #32
didacticBuffalo wrote: post #6

I have MS and receive an Ocrevus infusion every six months. It's a labyrinth of a process. UHC (insurer) sub-contracts(?) to CVS Caremark to provide specialty drugs. CVS insists on calling me to confirm they can ship it to my house. F no! I'm not running an IV for myself. Sort it out with the hospital. Last go around, the hospital coded the drug as coming from their supply instead of CVS so I got a surprise bill for…

My sympathies and commiseration. I am on a different infused medication and survived a couple of years of CVS Caremark acting as a Pharmacy Benefits Manager for "specialty drugs" before my insurance and the hospital system I work with negotiated a different delivery and fee structure. Not before, of course, my own higher-than-expected bill. I am on an HDHP and arrange my finances and budget with the expectation that…

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