Hoooooly crap!!!!

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TerryMiller

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It's funny--if you have insurance, they'll write off almost all of that, but if you don't have insurance, they'll stick you with every last penny of it. So the people who can least afford to pay it are the ones they expect to pay the full freight? In what universe did this make any sense?

Not necessarily true. When the wife and I retired, she was only 62 and not eligible for Medicare, so for three years, she was self-pay. In almost all occasions, doctors and one hospital discounted the bill by 50%. Labs tended to discount 40%. Granted, she never had a really serious illness or injury, but once she told folks that she was self-pay, they deducted pretty well.

On one occasion, she was needing to get a mammogram. She told the clinic that she was self-pay when she set the appointment. Prior to the appointment, she got a call from the clinic. They told her that a coffee company called Human Bean did a fundraiser every year and used that money to help those without insurance to pay for mammograms. They paid every bit of that. Also, some hospitals take donations from individuals and companies to help people who are in need. When our youngest had a heart attack when he was in his early 30's, we told him we'd help pay his bills, but we wanted an itemized statement so we knew everything that was used in his treatment. He asked for the itemized statement. Shortly thereafter, they notified him that he owed nothing as it was paid for from that fund of donated money.
 

dennishoddy

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My wife retired early. Her company supplied insurance went to COBRA that cost us $650 a month. That expired a month ago.
We are pretty much self pay for her now because the only insurance she can get is $1000 a month with a 10K deductible.
We have negotiated rated with our dentist and optical care givers. No Dr visits yet so that is to be determined.
We knew this was coming, so established an account through our financial folks to pay for medical expenses for her. We have two years before Medicare for her.
 

Tanis143

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It's funny--if you have insurance, they'll write off almost all of that, but if you don't have insurance, they'll stick you with every last penny of it. So the people who can least afford to pay it are the ones they expect to pay the full freight? In what universe did this make any sense?

The universe where medical is treated as free enterprise without any of the checks and balances that free enterprise has.
 

inactive

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My son was 8 weeks premature. He had a NICU stay at Norman Regional for 21 days. The bill - before insurance adjustments and everything - was a quarter of a million.

We had a $250 co-pay. The more amazing part is that when it was due, they discounted even our co-pay like 40% (I don't exactly remember but it was something like that) because they were running a collections campaign and gave everyone a discount who paid the balance in full. So of the $250k, we paid $150 bucks.

Y'all paid the rest though :D, because my wife was working for OU at the time and their health plans were self-insurance (administered by BCBS, but it all came out of a state treasury account).
 
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Aries

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My son was 8 weeks premature. He had a NICU stay at Norman Regional for 21 days. The bill - before insurance adjustments and everything - was a quarter of a million.

We had a $250 co-pay. The more amazing part is that when it was due, they discounted even our co-pay like 40% (I don't exactly remember but it was something like that) because they were running a collections campaign and gave everyone a discount who paid the balance in full. So of the $250k, we paid $50 bucks.

Y'all paid the rest though :D, because my wife was working for OU at the time and their health plans were self-insurance (administered by BCBS, but it all came out of a state treasury account).
You're welcome. You owe me a lunch.
:pms2:
 

Annie

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I don't even wanna talk about how screwed up the medical billing system is. I hope I am lucky like LoneWolf'49 and just die in my sleep. Quietly. Before I have to have an extended hospital stay.

Glad you are doing better Old Man!
 

Aries

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I don't even wanna talk about how screwed up the medical billing system is. I hope I am lucky like LoneWolf'49 and just die in my sleep. Quietly. Before I have to have an extended hospital stay.

Glad you are doing better Old Man!
I want to go quietly in my sleep, like my grandpa did. Not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car.
 

Dale00

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It is borderline insane that a patient has no idea what a procedure is going to cost before they decide to have it done.
Zero transparency means there is no way to shop around...no way for free market competition to keep prices in check.
 

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