With gunfire in the city somewhere every night... (Pittsburgh: crime, purchase)

[Bong477]

Any person that comes in to a UPMC hospital under emergency circumstances unable to pay will get treated the same as anyone else while an inpatient. An administrative person like a social worker will help them apply for medical assistance type programs if they qualify. If they don't, they will get a bill which usually never gets paid and the hospital eats it, making up for it by the profit they make on other services. Either way, the costs are shifted to other people in the form of tax dollars or higher healthcare costs. Trauma is generally (directly) a money loser for hospitals, although the indirect benefits (prestige, advertising, recruiting doctors, etc) can offset that significantly.

As pointed out, the people that get screwed are those who don't have insurance but have some means. They will get the hospital bills and instead of just ignoring them with minimal consequences, will end up having some combination of their savings destroyed, their credit ruined, or declaring bankruptcy. Part of this indeed has to due with the artificial markup on bills that is typically 1.5-4x what the insurance will reimburse at their contracted rate. There is a desperate need for better transparency in medical billing...

Also agree that gunshot wounds (especially in Pittsburgh) is barely a drop in the bucket in terms of uninsured healthcare costs, but how to pay for healthcare of people who either can't or won't pay is an important issue.

[Benzman66]

Originally Posted by ML North

And again, we only know about the instances that are reported. I think it's likely that many incidents fly under the radar, so it'd be very difficult to get the "true value" of how many people are shot each day in the City.

That's pretty much true. As most of you know, I have pretty close ties with the police/fire/EMS fields & have a scanner with me 24/7 whether at home or in the car. While it is hard to believe there is a shooting every day, I think he might be close. You always hear fire dispatch saying "we have a report of shots fired in the ??? area" to warn the firefighters as well as the police dispatchers sending the patrol cars. The past few months have been unreal.

Now when it comes to actual people getting shot, hmmm, I am going to say it varies. Some days you might have one, some days two or three, and if you are lucky, a day may pass without anything. Unless the person dies or it is picked up by one of the news channels, it sometimes gets hushed.

The sad thing is I have heard the local media is now trying to low key the shootings and other violent crime as the politicians feel negative publicity will hurt the city and county in its efforts to grow.

Seriously, get a scanner. You'll never hear a dull moment!

[gg]

I should have put down knife wounds as well. Just every morning I wake up and hear about someone in the really poor neighborhoods getting shot, stabbed or some such thing and I was wondering who pays for it all.

I am one of those people that have means and don't have insurance, so I am the one that get screwed if anyone in my home has to go to a doctor for anything. Bills are obviously very high and I just figure it was cost shifted to someone like me because of all the violence in some of these communities that are in the news every day. I believe it is everyday, but I don't feel like looking it up. Also, there are many visits to the ER that are probably lies, like "I was running down the street with a knife and fell on it", stuff. That may not even get reported to media or police? Don't know though.

Thanks for the replies.

[Benzman66]

Actually two SWAT situations within an hour of each other as we speak, one person shot already.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

I am one of those people that have means and don't have insurance, so I am the one that get screwed if anyone in my home has to go to a doctor for anything.

If you have the means, there's no reason for you to not have insurance.

I know families that live very modestly just so they can pay for private insurance.

It's all about having priorities. You are chosing to be screwed by making other things in your life more important than health insurance.

You are whining and baming others for your problems! Doesn't that sound familiar? That's what you accuse the impoverished of doing!

[SammyKhalifa]

Originally Posted by Hopes

If you have the means, there's no reason for you to not have insurance.

I know families that live very modestly just so they can pay for private insurance.

It's all about having priorities. You are chosing to be screwed by making other things in your life more important than health insurance.

You are whining and baming others for your problems! Doesn't that sound familiar? That's what you accuse the impoverished of doing!

I see your point. What I DON'T see is why the cost of a company's service differs depending on whether the customer has insurance or not. I have insurance myself, but that doesn't seem fair. The price should be the price.

[Lobick]

Originally Posted by SammyKhalifa

I see your point. What I DON'T see is why the cost of a company's service differs depending on whether the customer has insurance or not. I have insurance myself, but that doesn't seem fair. The price should be the price.

I would imagine it's the difference between wholesale and retail pricing. An insurance company is buying the services in bulk.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by SammyKhalifa

I see your point. What I DON'T see is why the cost of a company's service differs depending on whether the customer has insurance or not. I have insurance myself, but that doesn't seem fair. The price should be the price.

It's not like that.

Insurance companies negotiate contracts with hospitals for lower rates.

The hospitals give a discount to all uninsured patients to help offset the difference of the higher price.

Maybe curtis doesn't realize he's getting a discount, not sure how he wouldn't know.

I suspect he's just ranting because the uninsured push up hospital costs overall.

Ironic, considering he's among the uninsured himself.

[SuburbanPioneer]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I suspect he's just ranting because the uninsured push up hospital costs overall.

Ironic, considering he's among the uninsured himself.

Except that he actually pays his bills. Not sure how that pushes up hospital costs. Care to elaborate?

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by SuburbanPioneer

Except that he actually pays his bills. Not sure how that pushes up hospital costs. Care to elaborate?

I highly doubt curtis could pay a 200k-500k hospital bill. Even a 50k hospital bill would be paid via making monthly payments, unless he has extraordinary means, which further validates the craziness of his not having health insurance. LOL Inability to pay hospital bills for major illnesses (like cancer, heart attacks, accidents) and paying monthly payments BOTH push up healthcare costs.