Posted on 04/29/2025 4:51:25 AM PDT by Red Badger
I went to a hospital due to a serious illness 6 months ago. The bill was $7,500 plus the dr fee of $1,500. Medicare knocked that down to $1k each and I paid 20%.
The EMTALA should allow for two (and not unlimited) unpaid care episodes per facility for any 12-month periods per patient.
Dear Patient:
You have two unpaid care episodes outstanding.
So you can continue to get service under the EMTALA, you must pay for one of them.
Episode 07/13/2024 $600
Episode 09/07/2024 $900
Those amounts are the amounts outstanding and take into account any past payments and our patient financial assistance program help.
As things stand, you will be turned down for EMTALA service until 07/14/2025 unless you pay in the ambulance by bank card or at the ER payment desk first.
The insurance companies. They never pay the bill handed to them. So the doctors have to increase the bill to get the money they want. Not to mention hiring people who have mastered the various insurance companies’ insanity to try to maximize what they get there. It’s all a ridiculous high low game they play with each other that would go away if the insurance companies didn’t go out of their way to keep the game going.
“I know plenty of people who get to choose the hospital even in the ambulance. But I live in the free state of Alabama.”
I seem to have made a mistake. I’ve used up my high-speed data for April so I can’t investigate further at present.
This makes sense. Gov’mt buys votes from those who cannot hold a job with a company that helps out on insurance. It is YOUR tax dollars that fund this — so politicos can stay employed — and, ironically, covered by health insurance that you cannot touch with any amount of money.
So, yeah, this makes sense. There is nothing wrong with US health care — except we let politicos get their grubby little fingers into it.
Wut? You’ve never heard that anything gov’mt touches gets F@#$#$ up?
lol Self-pay all the way!
Wait until he figures out this also is a thing with auto insurance, homeowners insurance, pet insurance...
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The problem stems from the way health and auto insurance is typically sold - with fixed dollar premiums.
It incentivizes the insurance company to fight for every dollar, which can head directly to its bottom line.
Insureds as a group should if practical bear all of the financial risk, so insurance companies don’t profit from jerking insureds and providers around.
Insurance should have an issue fee [~$100], a potentially refundable issue margin reserve charge [~$100], a monthly profit allocation [~$20], and an offer premium.
As the months go by, a $520/month health insurance offer premium would typically be adjusted by a higher-than-expected payout charge, or a lower-than-expected payout credit.
For January, you might pay $740.
For February, you might pay $540.
For March, you might pay $540.
For April, you might pay $532.
For May, you might pay $545.
....
For December, you might pay $557.
For healthcare insurance, when healthcare claims have almost all been settled, in say May of the following year, you might get a refund of the remaining issue margin reserve charge in the amount of perhaps $56.
For auto insurance, the refund of the remaining issue margin reserve charge might take years to arrive.
During the time period when we were not insured a doctors office visit was $50 in cash. My Mom went to the same doctor and on Medicare the visit was $124 but she only paid $10.
Insurance keeps the cost up.
The biggest problem for health insurance is that it’s not really insurance. Insurance is for catastrophic recovery, and as long as catastrophes don’t happen too much that model of setting aside money works. People want health insurance to be a constant cost reducer, and that model just doesn’t work. Especially when healthy people who never got to a doctor opt not to sign up. You can’t have people bringing cups of water to a pool and taking buckets out. So the “insurance” companies have to avoid letting those buckets leave as much as possible. So for that they make up a bunch of ridiculous rules, so they can not pay things that are “coded wrong”, and just flat out don’t pay doctors what they ask for.
April Healthcare sells cpap supplies and my Medicare and supplement pays for it...cost of a plastic mask?..$650!....total scam
I don't know how you come up with that. The state government forced the $600.00 amount by the new law. If the healthcare provider recoups the rest of the true cost they have to get it spread around from all other customers and their insurance providers.
There is no way that you can call that $600.00, the true price for the service.
This is the Socialist-communist government idea of taking “from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
Wait a minute...isn't Obamacare forced on everyone who doesn't buy their own plan or get it from an employer? So who gets a discount?
I’d say Medicare started all of this...govt guaranteeing Healthcare for a certain segment and thus the real costs are paid by everybody else...
My healthy dtr pays for her healthy husband and baby..$1000 a month.
When I first got out of school,I had nothing and no health insurance yet...got an infecion...the total bill for an exam lab tests and a prescription was $8..
Yes, and it is all because of our Socialist/communist government practicing social engineering.
Our dermatologist just bills us twice and Medicare pays it. The government doesn’t care since there is no way to report the fraud.
It is even worse than that! If you are 65 or over, you MUST have Medicare. You can opt out of Part B, that will save you around $160, coming out of your pocket or your SSA retirement.
You MUST keep Part A, if you don’t you will NOT get any SSA retirement $$$.
That makes sure that people 65 and over, have to have Medicare as 1st billing, so that you CANNOT get the cash discount.
All this is doesn’t count if you are rich and can afford not having Medicare Part A and B, and SSA retirement money?
Then you can get the FULL cash discount.
I’ve been saying for years. Insurance is a scam.
Had a friend who was in his 20’s and twisted his ankle playing beach volleyball, he went to an urgent care facility for an x-ray and and splints. He had just left his job and had no insurance and they charged him less than $200. So he was curious whether he should get insurance so he asked how much it would be to get insurance and they told him his deductible would have been 400 dollars. He was incredulous, “So I pay more if I have insurance?”. Insurance companies and medical facilities get together and inflate the price of services to make it look like they are saving you money. But with people who have no insurance they charge market prices.
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