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He had to wait his turn to be seen or something like that. Couldn't just go to any cancer center like we can
For stage 4 cancers, you have to look at overall statistics for all patients, and not single cases, as it's impossible to say whether or not a single patient would have survived with earlier treatment. I have some personal skin in this game, as I had a very rare(less than 100 per year in the US) stage 2 cancer that was fairly aggressive. I had to wait an extra month for radiation treatment while my doctors and the insurance company argued over whether proton therapy was appropriate.Medicare routinely approves proton therapy, while private insurers insist it's experimental and not medically necessary.
My hub beat stage 4 tonsil cancer that was HPV positive. Friends of ours in Canada, the husband had the same cancer but he died. No thank you to UHC
Who knows what all was going on with this anecdote? Anecdotes don't mean much when comparing healthcare systems. There are numerous orgs that track performance of healthcare by each country and Canada consistently beats the US. And not just Canada, but many countries with UHC beat the US.
During a family members 3 month stint in three different hospitals..I had to hire a forensic accountant. With 100's of pages of Billings. Labs,specialist,testings. It was a hot mess. Never mind that insurance capped based on these figures and our family was already in grief from this family loss. Took over two months to clear up the Billings. The coding...the excessive billing for the same procedure by three different entities. Short story: over 25 per cent of the bill was duplicated line items. 20 per cent was accounting transposing.. and we finally had to take the billing to court. The insurance company just paid til it capped. We had to hold them accountable. I continue to stress to folks to check those bills...each line. Verify. Confirm and sometimes question that line item. To this day I still get ired that a doctor charged our insurance $200 to consult with another doctor for 4 minute phone call to ask if a certain med would be okay to prescribe. It wasn't a life saving med..it was not something that the pdr didn't already note. It was just another thing the physician was seeking to charge for charge sake.
I seriously would like to hear an answer to this. How is medical care only $80 a month/no deductibles in your country? Is someone/something subsidizing it? TIA!
Because it is not "for profit" here. We do have a 12% VAT tax so maybe that plays into it. No other taxes though except for $45 property tax. After age 65, the VAT tax gets reimbursed. Also, no medical malpractice here, so that saves the doctors a lot and their medical school is not nearly so costly.
For those who can't afford the $80 charge, medical care is free.
I am so perplexed by the anti-UHC sentiment, when the whole rest of the world uses it.
During a family members 3 month stint in three different hospitals..I had to hire a forensic accountant. With 100's of pages of Billings. Labs,specialist,testings. It was a hot mess. Never mind that insurance capped based on these figures and our family was already in grief from this family loss. Took over two months to clear up the Billings. The coding...the excessive billing for the same procedure by three different entities. Short story: over 25 per cent of the bill was duplicated line items. 20 per cent was accounting transposing.. and we finally had to take the billing to court. The insurance company just paid til it capped. We had to hold them accountable. I continue to stress to folks to check those bills...each line. Verify. Confirm and sometimes question that line item. To this day I still get ired that a doctor charged our insurance $200 to consult with another doctor for 4 minute phone call to ask if a certain med would be okay to prescribe. It wasn't a life saving med..it was not something that the pdr didn't already note. It was just another thing the physician was seeking to charge for charge sake.
It's not just the insurance companies. Hospitals over bill too. Don't forget that they are for-profit businesses too. My SIL is an insurance lawyer (health insurance). I've had to have her call both insurance companies and hospitals to get things straightened out on more occasions than I can count. After my Dad died, we got a bill from the hospital that we knew was wrong. She had to get involved. They were over billing the insurance company by $30,000. The hospital insisted the bill was valid until a lawyer got involved, when suddenly they realized their "error."
Don't get me wrong, insurance companies are just as bad. She says they routinely deny claims without even looking at them because they hope people just won't pursue it.
It's not just the insurance companies. Hospitals over bill too. Don't forget that they are for-profit businesses too. My SIL is an insurance lawyer (health insurance). I've had to have her call both insurance companies and hospitals to get things straightened out on more occasions than I can count. After my Dad died, we got a bill from the hospital that we knew was wrong. She had to get involved. They were over billing the insurance company by $30,000. The hospital insisted the bill was valid until a lawyer got involved, when suddenly they realized their "error."
Don't get me wrong, insurance companies are just as bad. She says they routinely deny claims without even looking at them because they hope people just won't pursue it.
Most hospitals are non-profits. They have to cover the cost of uninsured patients, so those with the most uninsured patients tend to overkill the other (insured) patients more than hospitals that cover more insured patients to keep themselves from going under.
Most hospitals are non-profits. They have to cover the cost of uninsured patients, so those with the most uninsured patients tend to overkill the other (insured) patients more than hospitals that cover more insured patients to keep themselves from going under.
Has anyone done a cost comparison of the various specific medical surgical procedures of the different states?
If a visit to the ER in the U.S. amounts to US$5,000, then local ER in Vancouver, B.C. for foreigners and non-residents is only C$1,015 per visit.
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