Posted on 02/25/2025 3:49:09 AM PST by davikkm
The cost of health care is NOT included in the calculation of inflation that drives economic policy.
Along with the cost of government (this has to include debt taken on by the government, since it has to be paid back), and the cost of college education, these 3 things account for more inflation the traditional “market baskets of good and services”.
My God. That has to be wildly illegal... right?? I mean... that's shocking!
Hospitals are legally required to treat anyone who shows up in the emergency room, whether they have money, insurance or nothing. The cost of their care is paid through the premiums paid by those who have insurance. You’re paying for yourself, your family, and at least one other uninsured family. Medical tourism is when foreigners fly (or walk) into the US with cancer, show up in Dana Farber, get their chemo, pay nothing, and fly back to Mexico or Canada.
Hi troll.
I am amazined tge insurance companies’internal controls didn’t catch that.
Homeowner insurance is another scam that could stand open investigation. And auto insurance is too, esecially since you are gererally forced to have it to be able to operate an auto.
Did they just figure this out???????
We did the Medicare and BCBS route and BCBS would not reimburse for anything Medicare denied.
We spent far more on BCBS premiums than they ever paid out.
And Medicare SUCKS. I *HATE* it because the coverage is so bad but you have no choice. You
re forced onto it when you turn 65.
The major construction projects here are Health Care facilities. You’d think the different corporations would create more competitive pricing. Medical Monopoly? Some one should write a law!
Yep, the government is paying 50% of medical bills now at an average reimbursement rate of 15%-20% on the dollar. So if a Dr. or hospital has a procedure that costs them $100., they have to charge $600....a bit inflationary don’t you think? (Yeah, correct...private pay people get stuck with the $600. bill unless you really negotiate hard for govt. or ins. co. rates).
The only real fix is to get government 100% out of providing healthcare coverage and revert to “fee for service”/”cash up front”...then reintroduce true large group health insurance run by actual actuaries....(like the 1950’s/1960’s/1970’s).
The profit margins for hospitals and “big pharma” are a lot lower than some other industries (6.97% for hospitals, 8.9% for reg. pharmaceutical...minus 13% for “Biotech” pharma). Much higher profit for Warren Buffett’s railroads...running at a pretty incredible 23% profit margin.
https://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/margin.html
No, it’s been a scam for YEARS but for most people the warnings here at FR fell on deaf ears, even some FReepers.
It’s a pathetic situation of ITYS.
Worse, I have zero confidence that RFK Jr has the will to do anything about it (Evidence: He’s still married to you know who).
Do you have to pay a premium? I'm 59 and I don't know anything about it.
Or University Hospitals.
UH bought Lake County Hospitals System where I live.
LHS had recently built a new hospital called Tri-Point, which had earned a really bad reputation for poor emergency room care, to the point of it being called Die-Point.
Smaller hospitals are being gobbled up by the big players all over.
But it isn’t all bad.
Large systems can give small struggling hospitals an infusion much needed of cash and better doctors.
[[ tens of millions of American families now live in great fear of illness and disease]]
Fake story... everyone knows that oblamacare solved everyone’s medical expense problems! /s
Yes, and every year that there is a cost of liv8ng increase, Medicare raises the price so that the cost of living increase becomes practically null,and void. But by golly congress-critters get their massiv3 cost of living increase each year despite working only around 80 days a year, and their cola is huge- they got theirs for those years that seniors were denied colas during oblamammama’s term
I have some intrusive diagnostic tests scheduled for Friday. It's impossible for me to find out what my out-of-pocket costs will be. The hospital is telling me that they will max out my deductible and I will also have a 20% copay on some remaining balance, so they want me to pay $1,800 up front. The insurance company won't tell what the negotiated rate is, despite a pre-auth request from the hospital, so I can't find out. In any other business, people would be jailed for fraud for doing this.
About a year ago I got the same demand from another medical group for another test. When I told them I would cancel rather than pay up front, they caved.
I could literally fly to Europe and get the same tests done and it would cost less. We are simply being robbed blind.
Maybe. I worked for a medical equipment company once.
I actually was a conference call with a big hospital group where they said part of their business strategy was to buy smaller hospitals and shut them down to force patients to go to their bigger hospitals where they could charge more. They explicitly stated this would cause difficulties for people needing constant care like cancer patients who would have to travel and be away from their families.
They didn't care: it was like patients were farm animals.
The health care/insurance industry is a mess, but so is this story. The first sign is the author cites the CFPB as a reliable source. The 2nd is they miss the 2 biggest causes of the problems with our current system, the first being 20-30 million illegals who have no insurance and get free health care paid for by the insured and the 2nd is Obamacare essentially outlawed high deductible plans that facilitate at least some price discovery.
I have a colleague who recently did a trans-sphenoidal pituitary resection for a pituitary tumor. This requires going though the base of the skull through the nares/nose and dissecting out the pituitary at the base of the brain. His professional fee for this? $800.00. Truth. The surgery itself was probably billed for over $40-50,000, but this is what he was paid - IF Medicare actually reimbursed him. On the other hand, there are plenty of administrators in hospitals making well into 8 figures, more making 7 figures, and plenty making 6 figures. They generally inhibit good care, not facilitate it.
All Obamacare did was make it much, much worse - with few exceptions.
“Some pigs are more equal than others”.
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