[shedav]

VPcats your exactly right on that the uninsured is paying the difference. Which I feel is wrong because they are the least to be able to pay most times. I worked for a medical insurance company as a review nurse. We were contracted with the local hospitals now for an example...A person comes in for a vaginal delivery and has our insurance..the insurance pays the hospital 350.00. The contracted amount is so low because they are looking at higher numbers if more people join the plan. Now if someone comes off the street with no insurance and has a vaginal delivery..their cost? 3000-4000(that is with an epidural). It is crazy. My company would pay for a cbc about 10.00 someone off the street would pay 40 or more. Seems unfair doesnt it???

[vpcats]

Originally Posted by shedav

VPcats your exactly right on that the uninsured is paying the difference. Which I feel is wrong because they are the least to be able to pay most times. I worked for a medical insurance company as a review nurse. We were contracted with the local hospitals now for an example...A person comes in for a vaginal delivery and has our insurance..the insurance pays the hospital 350.00. The contracted amount is so low because they are looking at higher numbers if more people join the plan. Now if someone comes off the street with no insurance and has a vaginal delivery..their cost? 3000-4000(that is with an epidural). It is crazy. My company would pay for a cbc about 10.00 someone off the street would pay 40 or more. Seems unfair doesnt it???

It is not fair at all.
My son is youngish and healthy and he has no health insurance coverage. About 3 weeks ago he went to a meeting and had a horrible schedule, including spending a lot of time on and off planes and in airports over a weekend. He started feeling funny, had never felt like that. He asked if there was a first aid station at the airport. The airline desk person called paramedics who took him to the closest ER (in Chicago).
They did CBC, drug testing, cardiac lab testing, EKG, CXR, CT Scan, looking for pulmonary embolism and then discharged him at 1:30 AM in the middle of Chicago. Back to the airport until the next day that he could catch a flight. Do you know how much the bills are already and not all have come yet. We're looking at $2500 so far. The ER doctor that saw him charged the highest level of ER visit (I know the codes)- $619.00

Now he finally realized that it's important to have insurance but now, even if everything was "normal", there may not be a plan that will accept him. If there is, it is with ridiculously high deductibles and other out-of-pocket amounts before insurance pays any part, in addition to the high monthly premiums and the "exclusions" and the non-covered services. It's almost not worth having to pay for individual health insurance. It can really dilute your earnings. Problem is you never know when you need the catastropic coverage (like with homeowner's insurance).
He doesn't want HMO plans because he wants the flexibility for when he's out of town. But nowadays, you can't have your cake and eat it too.
He may just have no choice at all and have to take his chances.
I don't think this is fair at all, but I said that already.

[shedav]

Yep hmo's are a little restrictive but they are great for low out of pocket expenses. Your right some health coverage charge an astronomical monthly fee then huge deductions per year. The company I worked for was an HMO and frankly, I liked it. Mostly everyone in our area was PAR and took it and you did not even have to have a referral to go to a specialist. The specialist just had to be contracted. My husband had a heartattack several years ago and I had several children on this plan and I never had to pay one dime out of pocket for anything. Little co-pays to go to the doctor of 10 dollars. I was happy with the plan. It is getting so bad now that many insurance companies you have to go to their in network facilities and still have to pay all this out of pocket with deductibles and such. If I gotta pay for it all then I feel you should be able to go anywhere you want to but then again if you do you have to pay even more. Sorry about your son...medical bills can really hurt someone without insurance should something serious happen.

[dreamofmonterey]

Originally Posted by Prichard

That's socialized medicine. Hospitals can charge whatever they want to. It's a business, not a charity. If you don't like it, then don't go to the hospital.

I'll never understand why people expect businesses not to make money just because they need their services. This is the same thing as Hillary Clinton crying about oil companies making too much money because they have a little over a 10% profit margin.

Also, this is just another law where lawyers can get rich by suing hospitals. How about a Doctor's Bill of Rights prohibiting malpractice claims against doctors?

are you now going to start quoting "Wall Street"- greed is good. Hopefully your relatives wwill never need chemo at 80k a treatment.