Posted on 12/28/2011 2:46:28 AM PST by markomalley
Bill Dunphy thought his colonoscopy would be free.
His insurance company told him it would be covered 100 percent, with no copayment from him and no charge against his deductible. The nation's 1-year-old health law requires most insurance plans to cover all costs for preventive care including colon cancer screening. So Dunphy had the procedure in April.
Then the bill arrived: $1,100.
Dunphy, a 61-year-old Phoenix small business owner, angrily paid it out of his own pocket because of what some prevention advocates call a loophole. His doctor removed two noncancerous polyps during the colonoscopy. So while Dunphy was sedated, his preventive screening turned into a diagnostic procedure. That allowed his insurance company to bill him.
(Excerpt) Read more at old.news.yahoo.com ...
he should have sent the bill to Pelosi........
LOL - because surely Pelosi would be happy to practice some of that “sharing the wealth” thing with the peons.
Not that anyone in FR would give a flying monkey...but the VEBA (UAW retiree health care) does this, too, in spades. It’s what Obama care will do.
Some of the little gifts hidden in that “book” no one bothered to read.
The point is that nothing is free. Sure, something might be covered at 100%, but that doesn't mean it's free. It just means that premiums rise (or taxes go up in the case of government provided healthcare).
If the government mandated that some procedure was to be truly "free" (as in the provider may not bill an insurance company or the government), that procedure would no longer be offered by virtually any provider.
This will be fixed in 2014 when the full Obama-care goes into effect and outlaws his 'high deductible' plan and his insurance premiums triple to $1200. He is one of the Americans that Obama and Democrats called free riders.
On the bright side he will pay nothing for Breast Cancer Xrays that women need that he is forced to pay for in his premiums as well as women's reproductive health related tests.
The exact same thing happened to me a couple of months ago.
I pay over $450 a month in insurance, and thank God, I am healthy—never using it. I was talked into the “free” screening. A “benign tiny polyp was removed” (their words) when I was “out” (wow, that was good stuff...)and my part of the procedure went from my $30 copay to over $1,000. Alas.
It makes no sense at all that a colonoscopy is “preventive care.” A colonoscopy doesn’t prevent anything, except a good night’s sleep and a pleasant day afterward: it is solely a diagnostic procedure. Either the view shows nothing, or it shows something that requires medical action, such as polyps or a tumor.
Typical AP. Excoriate an insurance industry for charging $1,000. Say nothing about Obama upping the country’s deficit by 4 trillion (or about $11k for every man, woman, and child).
Removing polyps, on the other hand, is “preventive” in the true sense, because the polyps do not go on to become cancerous tumors. All my close family members over age 40 have had polyps removed (except my brother, who won’t get a colonoscopy). None of us has yet developed colon cancer, and my mother is in her 70s and my aunt in her 80s.
I'm cool with calling colonoscopies in asymptomatic patients "preventative". But if they find something and remove it, that's something else.
That's fine, but it's still inaccurate. A colonoscopy is looking for something wrong. That's diagnosis, by definition, even if it diagnoses nothing wrong at the present time.
A high-fiber diet is "preventative" for colon cancer, to some extent. Quitting smoking and getting more exercise are "preventative," reducing the risk of many types of cancer. Colonoscopies, x-rays, and other "Is there a cancer?" procedures are diagnostic.
and probably won't be covered for women over 70 because after all, isn't it just time to take a pain pill?
Most of us KNEW we were being sold a bill of goods. Some are late to the party, but at least they’re getting it now.
The entire article keeps complaining that something that is supposed to be “free” is not being paid for by the insurance companies. How these “journalists” sleep at night baffles me. Hint: if your complaint is that another party is not funding the services you consume, then you are admitting the service is not free and you admitting that your desire is for Atlas to carry your weight.
Lemme see if I understand this right: A colonoscopy is “free” only for those who didn’t need one in the first place? Or in other words, it’s preventive of nothing?
Don’t blame obamacare. This has been part of my preventative care package long before obamacare.
forunately for me, the myriad of gubmint entities has priced me out of all ‘health’ coverage for several yrs now...i aint got a plan to lose...
Thanks sickoflibs.
apparently, there is a fentanyl shortage...one of the two drugs usually used in scopes...and I was on the short end of the stick so to speak with the inferior drug....
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