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Used to be if you didn't have medical insurance and a medical emergency struck the cost of being uninsured would bankrupt you.
You're going to start hearing of a new phenomenon real soon: even if you DO have medical insurance the cost of co-pays, deductibles, premiums, fees, etc. will also drive you to bankruptcy.
Case in point: my elderly mother was hospitalized for seven days. Cost $210/day co-pay. Total rounded: $1500. Ambulance transport (3 trips when all is over) $250 co-pays x3: $750. Rehabilitation $50/day up to a total of 100 days: 30 days estimate stay at facility: $1500. Various fees: $250. Total: (approx.) $4000.
Fortunately we have the funds to pay. But there many families out there living on the edge with part-time jobs that provide scant medical insurance for which the copays and deductibles are even higher. How do they meet an obligation that wipes out in one occurrence what little savings they've been able to put away. Even gap insurance won't completely cover the c's and d's.
Medical costs will bankrupt this country eventually as the population ages, more and more seniors drop into Medicaid territory and copays and deductibles rise higher and higher. Won't look pretty in 20-30 years.
This isn't a new phenomenon. I had no assets when I was diagnosed with cancer at 23, but if I had, I would have likely filed for bankruptcy. And I had pretty good insurance! Instead, my credit is going to take years to fix. The copays and medications alone in 6 months were close to my yearly take-home - and that's not even counting increased transportation, laundry, cleaning, and food costs.
The root cause of our health care crisis is the cost of health care. Your examples prove that. Until medical costs are reduced, they will continue to cause bankruptcies and foreclosures.
The medical profession is extremely slow in consolidating. Seems like every doctor wants to run his/her own shop, which is not cost effective.
I've had catastrophic coverage (10K individual deductible) for years and the biggest issue I have had is the medical industry where it seems that any patient with insurance is put on a fast track to push up billings. More doctors are called, more tests are ordered, longer hospital stays are recommended.
Knowing I am on the hook for the first 10K I have had to fight against procedures just running up the bills. Most of the time when questioned they cannot justify extra physician visits and tests and it can be work to get discharged. I have been billed for tests that no one can explain and supplies that were not used.
Many people new to this regime will be surprised and unhappy.
Used to be if you didn't have medical insurance and a medical emergency struck the cost of being uninsured would bankrupt you.
You're going to start hearing of a new phenomenon real soon: even if you DO have medical insurance the cost of co-pays, deductibles, premiums, fees, etc. will also drive you to bankruptcy.
Case in point: my elderly mother was hospitalized for seven days. Cost $210/day co-pay. Total rounded: $1500. Ambulance transport (3 trips when all is over) $250 co-pays x3: $750. Rehabilitation $50/day up to a total of 100 days: 30 days estimate stay at facility: $1500. Various fees: $250. Total: (approx.) $4000.
Fortunately we have the funds to pay. But there many families out there living on the edge with part-time jobs that provide scant medical insurance for which the copays and deductibles are even higher. How do they meet an obligation that wipes out in one occurrence what little savings they've been able to put away. Even gap insurance won't completely cover the c's and d's.
Medical costs will bankrupt this country eventually as the population ages, more and more seniors drop into Medicaid territory and copays and deductibles rise higher and higher. Won't look pretty in 20-30 years.
Did you expect your mom to be treated for free? Those people providing the service deserve to be compensated for their work.
The big fallacy of Obama Care is that once you have medical insurance, you have medical care. That is not true.
Insurance companies have all sorts of excuses as to why a procedure won't be covered. They have high deductibles and co-pays. So, all the insurance gets you is a big bill every month that uses up money that might be used to actually get medical care.
Also, if a portion of the population doesn't have medical insurance because they don't have any money top pay for it, it solves nothing to pass a law that says they must buy medical insurance.
Used to be if you didn't have medical insurance and a medical emergency struck the cost of being uninsured would bankrupt you.
You're going to start hearing of a new phenomenon real soon: even if you DO have medical insurance the cost of co-pays, deductibles, premiums, fees, etc. will also drive you to bankruptcy.
Case in point: my elderly mother was hospitalized for seven days. Cost $210/day co-pay. Total rounded: $1500. Ambulance transport (3 trips when all is over) $250 co-pays x3: $750. Rehabilitation $50/day up to a total of 100 days: 30 days estimate stay at facility: $1500. Various fees: $250. Total: (approx.) $4000.
Fortunately we have the funds to pay. But there many families out there living on the edge with part-time jobs that provide scant medical insurance for which the copays and deductibles are even higher. How do they meet an obligation that wipes out in one occurrence what little savings they've been able to put away. Even gap insurance won't completely cover the c's and d's.
Medical costs will bankrupt this country eventually as the population ages, more and more seniors drop into Medicaid territory and copays and deductibles rise higher and higher. Won't look pretty in 20-30 years.
Hopefully your mother is better.
At the same time...the hospital is charging your mother less out of pocket than it would cost to spend a night at most 3 star hotels in Miami in two weeks ($187 for the average 3 star hotel in Miami on 2/26/14 on Expedia).
$4000 (the total out-of-pocket cost for an entire MONTH of medical care, probably a stroke given the 30 day rehabilitation stay) is less than many family vacations.
At the same time...the hospital is charging your mother less out of pocket than it would cost to spend a night at most 3 star hotels in Miami in two weeks ($187 for the average 3 star hotel in Miami on 2/26/14 on Expedia).
$4000 (the total out-of-pocket cost for an entire MONTH of medical care, probably a stroke given the 30 day rehabilitation stay) is less than many family vacations.
Do you expect this to be free?
With the ACA we of course expect more people to have insurance, even if they have high deductibles that they maybe cannot afford. But when someone is in the hospital and discharged with huge bills, the hospital can still of course go after your non-payment as at any other time. But as your insurance will still be paying the major bulk of the hospital bill, the hospitals should end up way ahead in this new game. After all before ACA they would get next to or nothing. They will have less incentive to chase you all the way to the poor house.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Spaten_Drinker
Did you expect your mom to be treated for free?
When people are talking about the high cost of medical services, why do people, like you and pokeable, believe that they expect to be treated for free vs. being treated for a reasonable amount?
Quote:
Those people providing the service deserve to be over-compensated for their work.
Fixed it for you.
The US ranks 2nd, worldwide, in cost of medical care. Okay, that's fine because you're getting quality care for your dollars, right? Wrong! The US ranks near the bottom, the 46th spot, worldwide, for quality of health care.
When people are talking about the high cost of medical services, why do people, like you and pokeable, believe that they expect to be treated for free vs. being treated for a reasonable amount?
Fixed it for you.
The US ranks 2nd, worldwide, in cost of medical care. Okay, that's fine because you're getting quality care for your dollars, right? Wrong! The US ranks near the bottom, the 46th spot, worldwide, for quality of health care.
You really don't know anything about medicine, do you? You can just parrot repackaged talking points without any understanding of how these statistics are obtained.
The medical system is to blame for society's lifestyle choices?
We (America) lead the world in high risk pregnancies, obesity (and associated diabetes, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular risk), and dangerous lifestyles (drug use, alcohol use, firearms). Don't you think this may impact lifespan, infant mortality statistics, and explain in part for the astronomical utilization of medical care in this country?
IV drug users are a horrific drain on the medical system. And of course, 99 of 100 are uninsured. They present with cellulitis, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, and it is damn near impossible to start an IV because they have popped all veins (IV probably costs around 30 dollars to start + the time for a nurse). So...a physician or nurse anesthetist has to start a central line (300-1000 dollars for a kit + time/reimbursement for a physician), and THEN the IVDA gets to be on vancomycin or imipinum/cilastin at the cost of $500/day for 6 weeks. And if it's endocarditis, the joy of a trans-esophageal echo ($1000 + equipment costs + cardiology interpretation), and if you're REALLY lucky, use of an OR, use of a biologic valve replacement, and the time/cost for an anesthesiologist and cardiovascular surgeon. And MORE monitoring, Echos, cardiac medication, etc. etc. For someone who is actively trying to kill him/herself.
This is just one case that I've seen. This is why the US sucks in WHO statistics. Don't get me started on diabetics, or why US infant mortality looks so sh*tty because of how the US classifies premature infants that 70-80% of the time are saved in our world-class but insanely expensive NICUs (and where many "higher ranked" countries let these kiddos die without a chance to save them)
However, the reason why many foreign dignitaries/CEOs/etc travel to the US for medical care, and why American-trained physicians are paid mega-dollars to establish medical systems in countries with money (primarily the Middle East): we excel at medical care. The vast majority of equipment/medical breakthrough come directly from, or in collaboration with the US.
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