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Sorry to hear about your girlfriends problems. Unfortunately, that 425 doesn't represent the true cost of service. Just as the insurance companies pay a higher rate, un-insured pay a rate below market. Thus, they equal.
I wish you luck in finding employment where health insurance is offered. In the future, it would have been much much cheaper to make an appointment at a doctors office and pay cash.
I seriously doubt that she could have gotten all of the "services" that were provided at a doctor's office (if she could have even gotten an appointment) for $425.
Typical doctor's appt these days costs around $260... without anything added on.
And if the story is true, and I'm not saying it isn't, its the perfect example of why we need a healthcare system.
I am paying for your girlfriends health bill. I have to pay higher taxes, so that she can get a lower bill. The hospital simply writes off the loss, then charge me a higher rate when I go to the hospital.
So yeah, I'm pissed about it. I am tired of paying for everyone elses insurance. If I'm paying for by God everyone should be paying for it. I'd rather have a health system with a government option that covers you and your girlfriend, and taxes you higher because of it, then my being back door taxed into paying for it.
I seriously doubt that she could have gotten all of the "services" that were provided at a doctor's office (if she could have even gotten an appointment) for $425.
Typical doctor's appt these days costs around $260... without anything added on.
425 is not the REAL price. That is what should be the basis of this conversation. The true cost for all of those tests and time/material expended in the ER was much much higher.
I have a high deductible HSA. This means that I am responsible for all bills up to my 1500 dollar limit and there is no co-pay system.
I have seen my doctor several times this last year with labs, tests, and others. I get the bill in the mail.
My doctor, for a routine visit is $159.00 before a reduction my insurer gets me of 30.00. Meaning, I pay 139.99 out of my HSA savings.
The doctor could have refered her for any tests she needed done.
Granted, she only paid 425 or what ever it was, but that is not the true cost of the visit. If she would have went to a primary care physician, the true cost is less than an ER.
A CT scan done to search for appendicitis would have picked up a ruptured ovarian cyst, unless the radiologist reading the study is a total idiot.
Also, when you say you have 2 morphine drips, that signifies 2 separate IV lines, not one line. And the OP did use the term "drip", not intermittent injections.
I'm not trying to make a big deal about it. I'm just saying #1) that having both a CT and a sono performed is not unusual, and #2) while the claim of getting 2 morphine drips technically is probably a "lie" - it easily could have been 2 IV/IM injections and the OP simply misspoke(typed). Since I have no way of knowing all the details I'll just drop it.
(by the way, you'd be amazed how much morphine/demerol/dilaudid some folks can soak up and not even blink)
And if the story is true, and I'm not saying it isn't, its the perfect example of why we need a healthcare system.
I am paying for your girlfriends health bill. I have to pay higher taxes, so that she can get a lower bill. The hospital simply writes off the loss, then charge me a higher rate when I go to the hospital.
So yeah, I'm pissed about it. I am tired of paying for everyone elses insurance. If I'm paying for by God everyone should be paying for it. I'd rather have a health system with a government option that covers you and your girlfriend, and taxes you higher because of it, then my being back door taxed into paying for it.
Healthcare reform isn't going to fix that. Government can NOT legislate costs to go away in the private sector. As long as people continue to recieve benefits they can not afford, somebody has to pay for it.
Healthcare reform is simply reducing the premiums of private insurance by government covering the cost of people who can't afford the care and then taxing you more. You will see your premiums go down a little, poor people treated, and think everybody won. Until tax time.
425 is not the REAL price. That is what should be the basis of this conversation. The true cost for all of those tests and time/material expended in the ER was much much higher.
I have a high deductible HSA. This means that I am responsible for all bills up to my 1500 dollar limit and there is no co-pay system.
I have seen my doctor several times this last year with labs, tests, and others. I get the bill in the mail.
My doctor, for a routine visit is $159.00 before a reduction my insurer gets me of 30.00. Meaning, I pay 139.99 out of my HSA savings.
The doctor could have refered her for any tests she needed done.
Granted, she only paid 425 or what ever it was, but that is not the true cost of the visit. If she would have went to a primary care physician, the true cost is less than an ER.
I understand that 425 was not the REAL cost.
And, most likely what you're paying is the negotiated prices agreed upon by your carrier as part of your coverage even though you're paying your deductible out-of-pocket.
My last doctors visits were more like 260 (which I had to pay, as well.)
That was just for a typical doctors "exam" which did not include any tests or drugs ... or, any treatments that she required.
Anyway you slice it, $425 was a great deal for what she received.
BTW - If I were in her situation, I would have gone to the ER where they would have the equipment and everything needed for treatment.
It sounds as though she was in serious pain.
So what you're saying is, she doesn't qualify for employer-provided insurance because she's a part-time worker, and she's gone to a number of insurance companies to inquire about her purchasing her own insurance, and each and every one of them told her "No"?
Can you please tell us who those insurance companies are? They're going on my shiite list. That's no way for companies to treat a relatively healthy person willing to take responsibility for her own life and health.
Someone working part-time retail can't afford private insurance unless someone else is supporting her.
This is the lie and fallacy of the Left....that if you're sick, you can't get medical treatment.
Right wing spinning and twisting of the truth. We all know that walking into an emergency room will get you emergency treatment. Lord knows you right wingers constantly whine about people who don't have insurance and can't get private care using the emergency room for minor emergencies that would be better treated in a doctor' office. What the left says is that people without insurance can't get regular preventive care or treatment for chronic conditions, partly because doctors won't take new patients who are uninsured.
There really is more to medical care than what you can get in an emergency room.
You paid a flat rate of $425 because the hospital is able to recoup what they lost on you with those exorbitant bills they send the insurance companies of those patients who do have insurance.
There is no free ride, someone has to pay your bill. In your girlfriend's case, it's the insurance companies of strangers, who, in turn, will see their premiums continue to go up.
Really are you sure about that.
The Dr's and nurses are on salary not hourly and arent paid based on what or how may surgries they do in the ER. So the hospital already knows their costs how which they have paid them 10 times over in the prices they charge.
The hositpal actually pushs this plan of 425 its cash in there hand, no real followup, paper work and waiting for the insurance company to pay them 6 months later. If she had to stay over night that would be a different story and actually be admitted.
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