Posted on 02/15/2012 3:18:25 PM PST by qaz123
Ahhh, yep! All kinds of savings with your cancer prevention visits, as long as you haven’t been diagnosed with it. But once you’ve had cancer already, you’re SOL.
“Funny how people are so damn willing to have their medical conditions taken care of immediately then piss and moan when they get the bills........”
Well, I think you completely missed the point. He was told ahead of time what the costs would be. They didn’t tell him “oh, but if we find polyps, the cost will be XXX dollars instead”. So, they are pretty much in breach of a verbal contract.
It’s as if you went to your mechanic for a tuneup and agreed upon a price of 50 bucks, but after you left, the mechanic noticed that your transmission was bad, replaced it without your permission, and then billed you for services and charges you never agreed to.
RomneyCare - soon appearing in a town near you (name slightly altered to ObamaCare).
You make numerous good points. I’ve always felt that it is somehow unfair that an alcoholic 400 pound diabetic/gout patient who smokes pays as much as I do for insurance, much like I would not be happy about paying as much for auto insurance as a sports star driving a Ferrari who has five DUI’s and speeding tickets in several states, or a 20-year old stunt sky diver/skateboarder. But unlike driving habits, there are things that you CAN’T control in health, such as your age, genetic makeup, and luck, good or bad. If insurance could be “normalized” for these factors like life insurance is for someone in their 20s, it would help.
Although there have been interesting medical breakthroughs in the last 20 years, almost all of them are fabulously expensive, and they definitely demonstrate “diminishing returns” and unlike virtually every other technological breakthrough, there is no “economy of scale”. I’ve seen close relations spend 80% of all the money spent on their lifetime medical care during the last month(s) of their lives. This, I don’t know how to solve; it’s above my pay grade.
“Ahhh, yep! All kinds of savings with your cancer prevention visits, as long as you haven’t been diagnosed with it. But once you’ve had cancer already, you’re SOL.”
And that’s just the beginning of your problems, assuming that you recover. Try to get a job as a cancer survivor...and THEN try to get insurance as a cancer survivor. I’ve been very fortunate and healthy, but in addition to the above problems, I’ve been told that survivors have a hard time making or keeping friends. because apparently it’s a “bad investment”.
“It’s as if you went to your mechanic for a tuneup and agreed upon a price of 50 bucks, but after you left, the mechanic noticed that your transmission was bad, replaced it without your permission, and then billed you for services and charges you never agreed to.”
You just don’t get it. Mechanics have their businesses and work scrutinized by other mechanics, the BBB, lawyers, consumer advocates, city and state attorneys general, and so on. The medical profession is answerable only to itself (any state “regulators” are usually in on the game). I pointed out to a co-worker who worked for a health insurance company that medicine was the only kind of business in the US operating with no guarantee or warranty whatsoever, expressed or implied. She said, “well, that’s why they call it “medical practice”. I wonder when a pharmaceutical company will develop the guts to sell a prescription medicine with a “works or your money back” statement.
“People want the latest treatment; it would be like complaining because your new car with ABS, traction control, side/rear air bags, GPS/NAV, bluetooth, surround sound CD/XM satellite and Onstar costs more than your 20-year-old car did, even counting inflation.”
If you really want to use that analogy, with what I now pay for medical care, I should live to be 150, look like I’m 30 for 120 of those years, be able to lift 500 pounds, run a marathon out of sheer boredom, and eat one or two peanuts a day to maintain my weight, energy, and health.
Well, I’ve been pretty blessed, managed to get both after dealing with it and still managed to keep it inspite of other problems due to it.
Huh? What don’t I get? I used the mechanic example to highlight to another poster that this is an example of consumer fraud, and not just some guy whining about having to pay his medical bills. I wasn’t making any comparison as to the oversight of the two industries.
“Huh? What don’t I get? I used the mechanic example to highlight to another poster that this is an example of consumer fraud, and not just some guy whining about having to pay his medical bills. I wasn’t making any comparison as to the oversight of the two industries.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcasm
Your statement was completely reasonable in my opinion, and I agree with you.
There you have it, you cite Canada as a source of superior healthcare.........guess we now know where you REALLY stand on socialized medicine......
There you have it, you cite Canada as a source of superior healthcare.........guess we now know where you REALLY stand on socialized medicine......
The only statistic you failed to mention is the number of Canadians coming to the U.S. for the medical care they can't get in Canada...........or at least not in the next few months or so.
So how exactly is my manufacturing company that provides insurance coverage to our employees and retirees a contributor to the problem as you state?
I now understand your point. Are we now assuming the patient in question would have refused to have the problem polyps removed if he was told about the cost to him or is this just a case of a guy who is pissed off at not being informed of the potential cost to him?
Either way, the polyps needed to be removed and your transmission needed to be replaced............
And here's another thing about this story, there is no mention of what the extent of his Hospital, Surgical, Medical and Drug (HSMD) coverage is. According to him he was stuck with a surgery bill but yet he doesn't reveal whether or not he has coverage sufficient enough to cover the surgery.
I can't believe we all got sucked up into arguing about what was right or not right based on the limited information this article gave us............
His diagnostic procedure became surgery. Had he read what he was given and signed he would have known he authorized the removal of the polyps which is a surgery.
The alternative was to have the procedure and not authorize removal of the polyps. That would have been dumb because he would want them excised and have to go through all he horrendous prep again
He was not screwed, he was perhaps saved from colon cancer
I don’t know if he would have had the procedure in that case or not. Most likely, he would have had the procedure done, since that’s what most of us would do in that situation, I think.
Still, that doesn’t excuse the insurance company for pulling a bait & switch on him. The fact that this was a possible life-threatening condition just makes it even more disgusting, since they can be seen as taking advantage of someone who was backed into a corner.
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