Was this experience in the US?
My experience is different. We also live in area that is rated as having the highest medical fees anywhere in the country. It is commonplace for insurance companies to deny full payment to them on the grounds of excessive charges. While they can then go after the patient for the remainder, I think patients have recourse if it can be proven that the fees are excessive or the regulators can force the insurance company to pay more, if not the total. Normally, for non-elective procedures, the patient’s own physician will be involved in dealing with the insurance company and providing evidence of necessity for the procedures, as well as their costs.
The hospital was very obliging when I called and told them the payment schedule I could afford. No problems. I do not think it is legal for any medical facility to immediately go to collection when the patient is making good faith payments. However, for those who refuse to pay _anything_ before demanding a payment plan, the response may differ.
The MD’s fees were separate on the bill, listed under *clinic*. However, after the insurance paid, _both_ the remaining hospital fees and the remaining surgeon’s fees (including follow up and anesthesia)were combined into the total, so one monthly payment was, I suppose, divided between them. The physicians and their clinical practice are employees of the hospital. We were simply paying the contracted deductible.
I have never had a hospital refuse a payment schedule. Not one MD that I know even knows how their services are charged out, since they all receive a salary from their institution. All the former private practices in my area, save one, are now under the umbrella of a large hospital that purchased our local hospital and the practices some time ago. The various clinics retain their original names, but they are no longer privately held.
The one remaining private MD practice is a woman who does not get along with any of her peers and may not even have hospital privileges. This is because she will demand others cover her practice, will not reciprocate and is the only local physician to refuse a shift in the ER. Her practice is limited to women, revolves around laser diagnosis for osteoporosis and she is very hard-nosed about her fees. She is known to not pay her employees. Not all of her procedures are covered by insurance. She also no longer has enough patients to work a full 40-hour week and, AFAIK, is forced to do her own billing and cleaning.
Had I encountered the MD you describe, I would have run like hell the other way, found another doctor who practiced at a different hospital and probably filed as many complaints as possible with as many regulators as I could find.
Physicians are there when needed. Who would you turn to if they were not? Hospitals provide infrastructure, ERs, lab and pharmacy services. They even make their laundry facilities available for associated health professionals, for a fee. The ones I know have no real love for the plaintiff’s bar, either, but they are bound by oath to treat everyone in need. This includes not only MDs,but APRNs and vets, as well. In my small town, the local veterinarians can and do use the hospital labs for blood tests and can get some meds that they don’t normally stock from the hospital pharmacy.
Sorry for the length of this. I hate zer0care, too, but your rant just differed so much from my own experiences that I had to say something.
Yeah. The U.S. Idaho. The hospital is the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. We don’t have insurance. Well, I will at work on the 20th of this month, when I hit one year with the company. But they don’t pay me enough to have the wife added at $400 a month. And the procedure she needs is $200 less than the $5000 deductible anyways. Her doctor is the same one that delivered the kids 20+ years ago.
The good news is I HAVE A JOB. Especially since that last one just kinda disappeared on me.
And we were sent to collections for something else even though they set up a payment plan. Made 2 payments and then got a letter from a collection agency. We weren’t late on payments. Hell, we had only made 2. But I have 2 co-workers with similar stories. One had made 3 payments when they got their collection letter. The other told me they told him they didn’t do payment plans and sent his straight to collections.
You seem kind of interested so I’ll tell you another. I was taking Chantex earlier this year to quit smoking. I have a yearly blood test for something else. I got that and my regular doc told me I needed to see a specialist for my liver. 4800 out of pocket dollars later, you know, blood work, ultrasound, biopsy, the bastards tell me it is the Chantex. Nice. That whole no-smoking thing went right the hell out the window when they scared me into thinking I was dying from cancer.
You’ll like this. In 2006 I developed this weird pain in my upper inner thigh. Then it started growing downwards. Went to the doc and got to see the PA. Told me there was nothing wrong. Bullcrap. He said he could schedule an ultrasound if I thought I REALLY needed it. I said schedule it. The tech is going wow, oh wow. He gets done and calls a Resident. I could hear the Resident (over the phone) practically screaming “You have got to be kidding me. A 14” long blood clot???” So the tech tells me to go home and my doc and this doc would consult and get back with me.
When I got home my wife is on the porch. Get back in the car she says. You have to go to the hospital. Sure. I got the cash for that. I told her no and headed for the doc instead. He insisted. I insisted more. He told me I could do self administered heparin shots twice a day for 10 days. I asked him if I could go back to work. He said yeah, sure. And join the other 280,000 people that die of this every year. So then I headed to see the boss and told him the good news. I suggested the $1000 bonus he owed me was needed immediately cause those 20 shots were $79 each. 12 months more of rat poison therapy and I’m right as rain.
Shoot the doctors first. Then the lawyers. The politicians you ask? Oh them. We’re dragging them through the streets, behind our pickups, with log chains...