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As it stands right now, his bill will be paid by all of us.
The hospital will write it off and absorbing the costs will cause everyone's costs to go up.
And, then there's all of the fraud and abuse of insurance by medical providers. Examples such as doing the same tests over and over so they can bill for them. Doctors who do unneccesary procedures and tests on people who have good insurance. All of these cause the cost of health insurance to continue to rise which means more and more businesses are cutting back on insurance for their employees.
Day before yesterday I ran into someone who I once worked with. I ran into them at Job Service. They were looking for a job.
The company fired 50 employees just before their 6 month anniversary right before Christmas... right before their health insurance benefits would have begun.
No,... we don't need health care reform....
Our health care system and health insurance is working just fine.
And you folks DO realize that the doctors have an ownership interest in the testing facilities and labs that they send you to, don't you? You might never have been sent for, say, a bone density test until the doctor and his partners bought a facility that provides that test.
And you folks DO realize that the doctors have an ownership interest in the testing facilities and labs that they send you to, don't you? You might never have been sent for, say, a bone density test until the doctor and his partners bought a facility that provides that test.
I think there are laws against that actually. There are ways to get around it, but they walk a fine line with regard to how they refer if they have a business interest in the referring partner.
Described as a shack, heated by a woodstove that burned the house down. No money, no job.
I couldn't get renter's insurance once because at the time my credit wasn't good, even though I had a job and could have paid the premiums. I was the closest house in town to the fire department. The gas furnace (not a woodstove) burned the house down. I lost everything I owned.
Doubt very much the person in question was just making a "bad decision". C'mon, now!
I also lost a house due to it burning to the ground. I owned nothing at the time and became homeless for about 4-5 months.
But my hardship though would not mean that I should/would support a national home ownership insurance program.. I made poor choices, I paid the price, that is the american way..
Described as a shack, heated by a woodstove that burned the house down. No money, no job.
I couldn't get renter's insurance once because at the time my credit wasn't good, even though I had a job and could have paid the premiums. I was the closest house in town to the fire department. The gas furnace (not a woodstove) burned the house down. I lost everything I owned.
Doubt very much the person in question was just making a "bad decision". C'mon, now!
Insurance companies don't pay what the are billed either. They pay what they have contracted with the provider to pay regardless of what the amount the bill is for.
Insurance companies pay a percentile of the UCR rate, a rate dictated by the federal government. They pay this regardless as if they have a contract or not. Hospitals can request the difference without a contract but out of the hundreds of thousands of claims I've seen paid, I've only had ONE provider who ever got paid what they billed, and thats only because there was no other provider in the area where service was needed.
Hospitals know that you take what the insurance companies pay, or they wont pay in the future and send their patience elsewhere..
Don't forget that a majority of Americans already have health insurance:
-State, city, and federal workers and their dependents.
-Union members (including those workers above) and their dependents.
-Most full-time permanent-hired workers with companies that may have unions or not, and their dependents.
-Most retired workers and their dependents.
In other words, most working or retired Americans and their dependents(as explained above) already have health insurance. What Obamacare will do is to screw-up the heathcare insurances those peoples above already have, mostly those that are in the private sector, and those who aren't union members. The unions continue working with Congress to avoid Obamacare to screw-up their member's healthcare they now receive. The rest of you will be screwed, regardless of how you fell about it, and we all will pay for it one way or another, or our kids and grandkids will. And yes, I am an union member
That's the bottom line, simplified for you to understand.
We're all paying for those who have employer provided insurance. We pay higher costs for the goods and services those businesses produce. And their premiums go in part to pay for the lobbying that has resulted in the insurance bill that is being passed off as a health care bill.
Reminds me of people who receive a pre-approval letter to buy a car with financing. They go to the car dealership and all they are concerned about is..
"Can I get this car, under $X a month so I can get it financed".
Those of us who pay cash though go in and worry about the total charge..
I never once heard someone who paid cash for their car a "shoplifter" like the OP called us who paid cash for medical, especially considering often times its those with insurance jacking up the costs for those of us paying cash.. Maybe they should stop stealing from us and start paying their own way and then they'd care about what medical care costs..
I actually went out and got insurance. Just in case. Didn't lose anything though. The premiums and deductaible that I would've paid the 3 years prior were more expensive than paying in cash. In my sitiuation.
I also eat a super healthy diet and am at very low risk of getting any type of disease or sick. I haven't even missed a day of work since 1990. And that was only one day.
wish I could only purchase catastrophic insurance. I'd take my chances on cancer and stuff. but the govt wont let me do that so. They know better than me so I must pay for stuff I dont want to.
I wonder if people realize that government is also a third party, just like insurance companies, and therefore the government drives costs up. Never down. it is an economic possibility for government to make health care cheaper. It is economically impossible for government to make anything cheaper. It cant be done. it's like saying the law of gravity can be defied.
But politicians always think they can do things cheaper than us. And they are always wrong.
Insurance companies pay a percentile of the UCR rate, a rate dictated by the federal government. They pay this regardless as if they have a contract or not. Hospitals can request the difference without a contract but out of the hundreds of thousands of claims I've seen paid, I've only had ONE provider who ever got paid what they billed, and thats only because there was no other provider in the area where service was needed.
Hospitals know that you take what the insurance companies pay, or they wont pay in the future and send their patience elsewhere..
Whatever..... The point is insurance companies don't pay full price either. Apparently no one does. Apparently medical bills are a farce.
Vanderbilt Hospital said in a news article that they lost over 234 million dollars because of people that didn't have medical insurance. I'm now looking for the article which I cann't seem to find.
And it sounds funny to say that $234 million is not a lot of money, but it's not really a lot in a hospital business compared to what they take in.
Are the owners of this hospital living in a shack with a woodstove?
Whatever..... The point is insurance companies don't pay full price either. Apparently no one does. Apparently medical bills are a farce.
Not a farce. Negotiable.
I rarely pay full price for anything except at a retail outlet. But when I'm elsewhere, like a garage, I always negotiate the price.
Don't you??
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