Unreal

[Brandon]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/19/canadian-mom-jennifer-huculak-medical-bill_n_6186708.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000037

 

Insurance doesn't want to pay and hospital actually charges just under a million dollars for service.

 

American healthcare and insurance system in a nutshell.

[gotbeer]

Saw it earlier.  I don't blame the hospital, because 9 weeks in the NICU can get pretty pricey.  

 

Whether the Canadian insurance should pay, that's a whole different beast.  Guess universal healthcare has it's issues also.

[arch stanton]

Blue Cross sent the couple a letter explaining that settling claims tends to hurt their profits so they would not be paying.

[Brandon]

Saw it earlier.  I don't blame the hospital, because 9 weeks in the NICU can get pretty pricey.  

 

Whether the Canadian insurance should pay, that's a whole different beast.  Guess universal healthcare has it's issues also.

 

Yes, but no.

 

Indeed, it can get pricey. However, I'm willing to bet if the actual bill is able to be viewed we would be floored with egregious costs. I know we have had many discussions about costs and how hospitals get away with things like charging $18 for a bandage.

[TobiasFunke]

My son was in the hospital for almost 8 weeks when he was born. Total bills were close to a million dollars.

[Don]

Yes, but no.

Indeed, it can get pricey. However, I'm willing to bet if the actual bill is able to be viewed we would be floored with egregious costs. I know we have had many discussions about costs and how hospitals get away with things like charging $18 for a bandage.

No doubt on that. When I didn't have insurance, I went to a doctor my brother recommended to get a prescription written. A nurse weighed me, took my blood pressure, and sent me into the doctor's office. I explained what I needed, got the RX written, then left. In and out in under 10 minutes. Total cost? $320.

[Brandon]

Yeah, they all bill it to insurance or medical/medicare.

 

It's ****ed up.

 

I have no problem with a doctor making bank for the time he spent in med school until third parties come in and start charging a premium for their items or doctors max out every detail to get reimbursed.

 

It's asinine. 

 

Seriously, what does a guy like Tobias do? He's a Spurs supporter so we know he can't fork over a 1m bill.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

And the GOP wants to hand control of our health care system back to insurance companies.

[wopphil]

Yes, but no.

Indeed, it can get pricey. However, I'm willing to bet if the actual bill is able to be viewed we would be floored with egregious costs. I know we have had many discussions about costs and how hospitals get away with things like charging $18 for a bandage.

Yep. Some of the pricing is flat out criminal. But then again, someone has to pay for the treatment given to all of the uninsured.

[CaliAngel]

And the GOP wants to hand control of our health care system back to insurance companies.

 

Taking as much control and power AWAY from the Government is fine with me.

[Tank]

in trying to get my IV started yesterday, the nurse used three shots of lidocaine, three different IV kits, and about 6 swaps to wipe my skin. won't get the bill for a while, but all i could think was "that's probably about $150 of material right there."

[TobiasFunke]

 

Seriously, what does a guy like Tobias do? He's a Spurs supporter so we know he can't fork over a 1m bill.

Fortunately I have good health insurance so the only issue I had to deal with was the back and forth of insurance companies saying they didn't want to pay for it. It took a good 6 months for everything to be straightened out.

 

But for the person that happens to not have health insurance, they go bankrupt. I want to say I read somewhere that the leading cause of bankruptcy was medical issues related.

[TobiasFunke]

The other thing I noticed with my time in the NICU with my kid was on day one they had a type of wrist band around his wrist to verify it is him but also had a scanner on it. So every time they switched out an IV, gave new medicine, a new random thing was given to him or put on him, ANYTHING they scanned the product and then they scanned his wrist band. They charge for every little individual thing.

 

I'm not saying that's good or bad, but god damn is it thorough when it came to charging.

[Brandon]

It is. When I was in the mortgage business it was a constant issue with people's credit. It got to the point that medical collections were kind of exempt or viewed differently by underwriters.

[mtangelsfan]

And the GOP wants to hand control of our health care system back to insurance companies.

 

The GOP has no good ideas but Obamacare does nothing about the cost of medical care.  Because it is beholding to the interests of big pharm and corporate medicine.  Insurance companies are chump change compared to big pharm.

[TobiasFunke]

I heard just yesterday on NPR that one pharm company wanted to buy another for something like 50+ billion dollars. What ****ing money that is!

[Brandon]

Yeah, I started working with two compounding companies.....it's absurd.

 

We are a pill popping nation.

[Tank]

The other thing I noticed with my time in the NICU with my kid was on day one they had a type of wrist band around his wrist to verify it is him but also had a scanner on it. So every time they switched out an IV, gave new medicine, a new random thing was given to him or put on him, ANYTHING they scanned the product and then they scanned his wrist band. They charge for every little individual thing.

 

I'm not saying that's good or bad, but god damn is it thorough when it came to charging.

 

when they wheeled me into the OR yesterday, i noticed a big white board on the wall that looked like scoreboard for hospital supplies. everything was labeled and was just waiting for a count to be added.

[nate]

In what world does it cost $950k for this???  How the hell do they come up with these charges?

 

Anyway, Blue Cross is on shaky ground because there is no longer underwriting on individual plans.  I am not sure if that covers international plans like this.

[TobiasFunke]

In a world where insurance companies, medical item pricing, and hospitals do what they want because they can

[nate]

In a world where federal regulations require insurance companies to pay whatever they are charged you mean.

 

People wonder why insurance costs so much, there it is, doctors charging $950k for stuff like this.  $15k per day in the hospital.

[TobiasFunke]

I read an article about how a certain drug (can't remember what it is right now) cost something like $80 in America and if you go to another country that offers the same drug it would cost something like $11. That's ridiculous.

[gotbeer]

I read an article about how a certain drug (can't remember what it is right now) cost something like $80 in America and if you go to another country that offers the same drug it would cost something like $11. That's ridiculous.

 

I would agree.  But after watching a bit of TV, I can understand why drugs in America is $80 and in other countries $11.  Every other ad seems to be a class action lawsuit against some drugmaker.  

[Brandon]

In a world where federal regulations require insurance companies to pay whatever they are charged you mean.

 

People wonder why insurance costs so much, there it is, doctors charging $950k for stuff like this.  $15k per day in the hospital.

 

Insurance would still fight to the death that they should only have to pay $20 a day and refuse paying.

[mtangelsfan]

That is a very large over generalization Brandon.  I have had Blue Cross/Blue Shield for over eight years and they have been great.