bleach168 wrote:I took a look at their website and they claim to have lost $55 million last year in unpaid medical services and they spent another $80 in community benefits projects whatever that means. So it's up to people like you to foot that bill.
I think they expect you to negotiate the bill down so they sent you a bill that's double or triple what they expect you to ultimately pay. They probably have a whole wing of administrators whose job it is to fight over hospital bills and their substantial salaries are going to be added to your bill too.
Of course they "claim" a loss, it's all part of the "game" for them. They made money hand over fist, no doubt about it.
In my life, I have never let or allowed a bill go unpaid. Big, small, worth it, a waste, whatever. I even paid every penny of the $16K for my appendectomy even thought I thought it was highly overpriced, simply because without it, I'd have died and simply because I pay my bills, period.
This bill though? Had it been a cash transaction, for the first time in my life, I'd have told them to take a flying leap and wouldn't have paid one red cent. It's insulting to me that someone had the audacity to send such an outrageous bill and it is thievery, plain and simple. I'd go so far as to say that kind of overbilling and billing for services not performed (the trauma team did exactly ZERO) is illegal, but I haven't talked to an attorney...yet (undecided at the moment).
Maybe people telling them to "shove it" due to their stealing is what caused them to "claim" they "lost" $55 million to begin with.
ayebatter wrote:With stories like this, I can't believe there's not a bunch of hospital administrators being attacked, tortured, and held for ransom.
I have no doubts that hospitals and doctors will start feeling the wrath of those they steal from soon enough.
GiantsFan14 wrote:my roommate fell off a ladder and shattered his heel a couple months ago. he doesn't have insurance and didn't think it was broken at first, but after a couple days of pestering by his mom he eventually went to a hospital to get it checked out. one doctor looked at him, he got a couple x-rays, had a cast put on and was in and out in a couple of hours. he got a bill a couple weeks ago for over $18,000. absolutely insane. our health care system is completely effed and i doubt that universal health care is going to do anything but make it worse.
I couldn't agree more. I just wish Obama had spent his time going after those responsible for the mess (the hospitals) instead of doing nothing but causing the cost of health insurance to get even higher and more unaffordable.
Sorry to hear about your friend.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
Well it wouldn't really be "free", taxes would go up to pay for it. However, I won't shoot down the idea without taking a look at all the details.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
Universal healthcare in the States probably won't be as scalable as like in say, Norway, which has a high standard of living but the wages are high enough to keep up with paying high taxes.
Anyhow, doctors can be greedy bastards. The other day, my father got a "final notice" bill from the doctor who performed the morphine drip when my mother passed away. Well, to say she performed it would be a generous statement; she just simply OK'd it. It's pocket change and it's not even $100, but the charges are completely bogus. My mother's hospital bill for a 3 week stay took close to wait for it... half a million dollars and thankfully, the insurance swallowed 90-95% of the bill... but my father refused to pay the last $400-500 to all the participating doctors. Don't blame him, Mom's gone and the hospital either overcharging or charging for work that simply wasn't done (or wasn't apparently performed).
No matter what side you lie on you have to agree that this is ridiculous. Health care should be like public education and I believe it's a basic right to be able to get an education and to be treated when needed. How that happens I don't know, and I do know that becoming a doctor is costly and hard work. Can a fair... or better yet public and free health care system happen in a capitalist society? The one we're going to get is better since nobody is excluded but it's still far from ideal or even fair.
jfg wrote:No matter what side you lie on you have to agree that this is ridiculous. Health care should be like public education and I believe it's a basic right to be able to get an education and to be treated when needed. How that happens I don't know, and I do know that becoming a doctor is costly and hard work. Can a fair... or better yet public and free health care system happen in a capitalist society? The one we're going to get is better since nobody is excluded but it's still far from ideal or even fair.
Perhaps if the government instituted price fixing. As far as I know, Japan has some measure of limiting public and private hospitals to charge only X amount for specific procedures and treatments. Again, it's a matter of scalability and that probably won't work here as well as universal healthcare. People in the States generally aren't gung ho about paying higher taxes or a fixed rate for extensive healthcare, like in most European countries.
The Artful Dodger wrote:Perhaps if the government instituted price fixing. As far as I know, Japan has some measure of limiting public and private hospitals to charge only X amount for specific procedures and treatments. Again, it's a matter of scalability and that probably won't work here as well as universal healthcare. People in the States generally aren't gung ho about paying higher taxes or a fixed rate for extensive healthcare, like in most European countries.
I'd support the government fixing the rates and putting caps on what can be charged.
Yes doctor, I am sick. Sick of those who are spineless. Sick of those who feel self-entitled. Sick of those who are hypocrites. Yes doctor, an army is forming. Yes doctor, there will be a war. Yes doctor, there will be blood.....
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