51–60 of 283 posts
When I lived in Italy, I once went with private care for a thing I wanted taken care of same day. I called, and they told me all the prices. I think I paid something like 120 euros out of pocket for a chest X-ray and consultation with an ENT specialist. The US health care system is so screwed up.
The US healthcare system is just a completely broken mess. When things go smooth, you are lucky! However, when you have a major procedure, life event or sickness things can get messy quick. We had a child 10 months ago, billing was screwed up by the hospital, then by insurance and we are still in process of getting it resolved. I have now spent at least 8 hours on the phone. I had a surgery, called insurance and veri…
It is not a 'broken mess'. It is an 'engineered mess'. The difference is in intent.
There is no other industry like it except, perhaps, the mafia.
In other countries you can see prices before making a decision. Funny that this a (sticker) shocker to us still today.
That's what this article is about. The prices must be revealed now: > As of Jan. 1, hospitals must publicly reveal the negotiated rates reached with insurers for services, a landmark shift in the sector notoriously opaque when it comes to pricing. The data offer a peek behind the curtain, exposing prices long kept a secret.
I called the Xray department. Apparently, they don't set appointments as Xrays are a walk-in procedure.
After almost two hours on hold and being handed around, I found someone who was able to tell me that the Xray billing department could provide me the information, provided that I was able to get an exact list of the Xrays that my doctor required. They could see my doctor's referral on their screen, but apparently, I still needed to reach out to my doctor and get the information from him, if I was to provide it to the billing department.
I messaged my doctor four days ago. He hasn't replied. Given that he squeezed me into his schedule at the last minute, and he usually replies to my messages after 10 pm, or during the weekend, it's clear that he's overworked, and I don't want to be an additional burden on him.
The last two weeks have been agony, and I haven't even been able to start to pursuing a diagnosis. This current week has also involved a lot of rage.
I've come to the conclusion that the system is so egregiously predatory that everyone involved - even those who are working within the system to ostensibly help me (such as my doctor) are ultimately culpable, since they are propping up the system.
When I lived in Italy, I once went with private care for a thing I wanted taken care of same day. I called, and they told me all the prices. I think I paid something like 120 euros out of pocket for a chest X-ray and consultation with an ENT specialist. The US health care system is so screwed up.
I can't wait to return there and be a medical tourist again! The facilities and level of care was superior to my local dive of a hospital that is chronically understaffed.
The hospital president make $980k while currently the nurses are on strike.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is not a 'broken mess'. It is an 'engineered mess'. The difference is in intent.
Framing it this way is probably inaccurate, and if inaccurate, unhelpful. From decades of observing the system, it seems extremely unlikely to me that it was deliberately engineered to be this way. Rather, different parts of it grew and changed organically and the parts and changes that benefitted moneyed interests in power stayed, while those that did not were discarded. It does not take a deliberate will behind som…
For example insurance pays for procedures not the process of doctors filling out insurance forms. That’s by design and ends up having horrifying implications for the healthcare system as doctors often spend more time dealing with insurance than the patient actually needing treatment.
I was once told by a pharmacy tech that they couldn't tell me the price of a vaccine until after I got it.
The US healthcare system is just a completely broken mess. When things go smooth, you are lucky! However, when you have a major procedure, life event or sickness things can get messy quick. We had a child 10 months ago, billing was screwed up by the hospital, then by insurance and we are still in process of getting it resolved. I have now spent at least 8 hours on the phone. I had a surgery, called insurance and veri…
I have good insurance through a major company. My SO tripped, and hit their head on a curb on a busy road. I wasn't there, but by happenstance an EMT was there, witnessed the event, and came to offer aid. The EMT was concerned enough my SO ended up going to the hospital. Several scans, and a few hours later, my SO was discharged. I then got to spend something like 30 hours on the phone over the course of a couple of…
Medical transcribing has a high error rate.
The US healthcare system is just a completely broken mess. When things go smooth, you are lucky! However, when you have a major procedure, life event or sickness things can get messy quick. We had a child 10 months ago, billing was screwed up by the hospital, then by insurance and we are still in process of getting it resolved. I have now spent at least 8 hours on the phone. I had a surgery, called insurance and veri…
I just got a $3k bill in the mail for my 6 month old son’s delivery. This is about 4 months after they incorrectly billed us for part of it. I have the money, but am thinking of fighting it even though it’s such a small sum. Either their accounting is incompetent or fraudulent, but either way, I’m annoyed enough to push back. I suspect they are trying to fleece as many people as possible to make up for the 2020 budge…
There were literally made up charges they admitted to billing everybody for, but can waive if somebody's insurance doesn't cover it.
No idea how they get away with this stuff. Every hospital in America must have some very good lawyers on staff.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have good insurance through a major company. My SO tripped, and hit their head on a curb on a busy road. I wasn't there, but by happenstance an EMT was there, witnessed the event, and came to offer aid. The EMT was concerned enough my SO ended up going to the hospital. Several scans, and a few hours later, my SO was discharged. I then got to spend something like 30 hours on the phone over the course of a couple of…
Always ask for the billing and procedure codes, also known as DGN, ICD10, and CPT/HPCPS Medical transcribing has a high error rate.
In this case, though, the error was a transcription error in the birthdate. That caused a mess.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
They bill based on the procedures done and might not have that information until after the fact. I'm not saying it's a good way to do things. Opening a price list, it looks like one hospital charges ~$5000 for a knee replacement without major complications, and then the matching price for one with complications is $30000. So how do they quote that when the complications can be unpredictable? Which of course just says…
There are many industries that have this issue and deal with it in different ways. I used to do consulting and fixed price estimates were common. Even when requirements were unclear. The way I mitigated this was with multiple clients. Hospitals have lots of customers. They don’t have to perfectly estimate everything, they just have to be good on average. Here’s a podcast from Econtalk with Dr Kieth Smith from Surgery…
Not sure why describing what they do is being treated as a defense of it.