Do you have health insurance?

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MsBehavn_sl

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(directed at topic) Nope. #FML

:/

Paying off an ER bill(dehydrated, working too much and not enough eating/drinking water(which is all I drink anymore... except when I drink liquor)) that was thankfully reduced, to about 10% of the original bill, sucked. :/

In all honesty; I believe that the prices of healthcare or so damned high because of govt provided healthcare(medicaid/medicare). I know SOME people need that shit, but in all honesty it allows the insurance companies to charge a ridiculous amount for the services they render. :/ When you tell the doctor or ER you have no insurance, the price "magically" drops a metric fuckton.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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Insurance is a factor. Any insurance, not just medicaid/medicare. It provides an insulating layer between the consumer and the provider so that the consumer cannot not make rational decisions because the true cost is not attached to said decision. Go to the doctor's office, only costs you your copay, so why not? Copay is worth making sure it's not something that might get worse later.

My insurance is pinnacle of examples of this. All my premiums are paid for and the max out of pocket per year is $400 for a family. $200 if you're single. And you can pay that out of pocket with a pretax FSA. My employer is self insured, so I'm not sure how much this is actually costing them, but from a personal standpoint, it sure is awesome basically paying nothing for my wife's pregnancy and birth. Decisions where I should be weighing the cost vs benefit, nope!

That said, it's a lot more than just insurance. Everyone should really read that Time article. It's a lot better written than usual Time drek.
 
C

cassiopeia_sl

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I'm young(ish) and a freelancer, so right now i pay out of pocket... no insurance. Although, i have paid $150 a month previously and felt i was getting ripped off.
 
Kuriin

Kuriin

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You say now that; wait until you get into an emergency and have to pay 10k or more and wish you had that insurance. =P
 
Aychamo BanBan

Aychamo BanBan

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MsBehavn_sl said:
(directed at topic) Nope. #FML

:/

Paying off an ER bill(dehydrated, working too much and not enough eating/drinking water(which is all I drink anymore... except when I drink liquor)) that was thankfully reduced, to about 10% of the original bill, sucked. :/

In all honesty; I believe that the prices of healthcare or so damned high because of govt provided healthcare(medicaid/medicare). I know SOME people need that shit, but in all honesty it allows the insurance companies to charge a ridiculous amount for the services they render. :/ When you tell the doctor or ER you have no insurance, the price "magically" drops a metric fuckton.
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One of the reasons the price is so high is because of all the fucking retards who spend all their money on iPhones, drugs, and 28" wheels but don't have insurance, who come to the emergency room of a hospital to get medical care, but then don't pay their bill (remember a lot of these people get hospitalized,,, to the tune of at a minimum $4000/day in the hospital.) The government has dictated that hospitals must provide medical care to anyone who is medically unstable, so these fucking assholes who don't want to pay for health insurance get it for free. So, people with real insurance, etc, all end up paying for it in the long run because the hospital has to make money, etc, to pay it's docs. (When you think about it, it's fucking disgusting. I'm paying a retarded amount of taxes, then I pay for health insurance, etc, but then these fucking retards get all their shit for free, which actually makes my insurance cost even more...)
 
Big Phoenix

Big Phoenix

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Always loved the mentality that spending 30-40k on a car you dont need is a ok and encouraged but the thought of spending 30-40k on major/life saving surgey is fucking bullshit and should be outlawed. Or cellphones, people love spending money hand over first on the latest cellphone and accessories for them but the thought of spending money on a doctors visit? bullshit lol
 
Swagdaddy

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yeah i recently had to have this talk with my wife when she maxed out our dental plan within like 3 months of the year covered.

she was like "this plan sucks, its so expensive and maxes out so quick" and i was like "you realize the insurance companies have to make money right?"

I pay like 26 bucks a month for 1200$ a year of coverage with copays, i feel spoiled rotten and she had the nerve to complain.

I really don't think a lot of people realize insurance companies are businesses, and yes i also get pissed about people not paying for ER visits after i recently had to take my infant child (covered by insurance) there and had to wait behind 17 people.

The few i socialized with sounded very much like poor folk fishing for pain medication scripts with no intent on ever paying their bill, so they were basically making my family wait on legit care so they can crapshoot for free vicodin.
 
Aychamo BanBan

Aychamo BanBan

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Big Phoenix_sl said:
Always loved the mentality that spending 30-40k on a car you dont need is a ok and encouraged but the thought of spending 30-40k on major/life saving surgey is fucking bullshit and should be outlawed. Or cellphones, people love spending money hand over first on the latest cellphone and accessories for them but the thought of spending money on a doctors visit? bullshit lol
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You. They'll sit there with their iPhone but want a RX for ibuprofen (which is basically free OTC) because they want *you* (taxpayer) to pay for it, not them.
 
Aychamo BanBan

Aychamo BanBan

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Swagdaddy_sl said:
The few i socialized with sounded very much like poor folk fishing for pain medication scripts with no intent on ever paying their bill, so they were basically making my family wait on legit care so they can crapshoot for free vicodin.
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Yup. And it's only going to get worse. Our new American socialized health care system is moving towards a patient based satisfaction reimbursement system, so you'll be penalized if patients are unhappy. So you're going to have a bunch of completely uneducated free loading people "judging" the health care they receive (for free.) What do you think will happen when someone complains of pain, and you know ibuprofen is just fine for them, but they want Lortab & Soma (lol) and your clinic or ER is going to be penalized if this patient rates you poorly? It's completely fucked. And what do they do with the pain meds that your tax dollars have paid for (you paid for the hospital visit and the pain meds)? It's sold on the street. This is literally their job.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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You should ask your accounting department what percentage of their billings goes to patients without insurance.
 
TheBeagle

TheBeagle

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Went in for an emergency appendectomy last night. I have no health insurance. They did tell me I wpuld get an 87% discount though, hopefully wont be that bad
 
Joeboo

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We should take wagers on this one, assuming you are in the US, I'm going to guess a full bill of about 20 grand, so if you truly get 87% off, you should be looking at a bill of about $2600
 
agripa

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joeboo_sl said:
We should take wagers on this one, assuming you are in the US, I'm going to guess a full bill of about 20 grand, so if you truly get 87% off, you should be looking at a bill of about $2600
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50-100k so 7-15k in fees
 
Cutlery

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joeboo_sl said:
We should take wagers on this one, assuming you are in the US, I'm going to guess a full bill of about 20 grand, so if you truly get 87% off, you should be looking at a bill of about $2600
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Yeah, mine was in that ballpark. I had to stay an extra night though, since I was admitted so late in the day.

I had health insurance though, and my bill was $1000 (major surgery deductible).
 
TheBeagle

TheBeagle

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They have a website with prices for common procedures, prices don't include radiologists fees (i had a CT), anesthesiologist fee, and specialist fee.

acute pancreatitis $3000-$7300 2-7 days
c-section delivery - $2500-$3100 2-3 days
UTI - $2400-$5000 2-6 days

I'm guess my stay will be three or four days, I still can't pee on my own and can't eat solid foods yet. So I'm guessing after CT fees and anesthesiologist fee somewhere around $5k-$7k. That's still way less than I would have paid in keeping health insurance for the last 15 years. I've been lucky to have been healthy as a horse my entire adult life, but this experience has been a wake up call to finally start paying attention to it. I would like to wait till next year when the federal exchange gets rolled out, I'm sure it will be a much better plan than what for-profit insurance companies are currently offering now.
 
Cutlery

Cutlery

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You had a c-section too? Good thing, you don't wanna deliver that appendix naturally, fucks up your lady parts.
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

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Are you estimating that the WHOLE bill will be 5-7k, or just your part after the (hopefully) 87% discount? I could easily see that as being your part, but that would be incredibly low for the bill as a whole. There's no chance that you can have an operation and a 4 day hospital stay for under 10 grand, realistically you're probably more like 3-5x that.
 
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