Quote:
Originally Posted by Nikki_Licks
Recently my wife had a Stent placement. The total of that procedure was 32,000 and some change. When we got the bill, the insurance company was given a $26,000 discount as being an insurance provider and had to pay the remaining balance. WTF!
If we did not have insurance, we would have had to pay the full bill....crooks everywhere!
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Here's my experience that was the complete opposite...and showed me that the insurance companies and the doctors and hospitals are ALL crooks.
I had my neck broken in an auto accident in 2002. Ended up in the hospital for a month and almost died, etc., etc.
The bill came out to around $150,000.00 I had no health insurance at the time. My car insurance paid 20 grand of my medical expenses.
But I couldn't pay the rest. I simply didn't have $130,000.00 to pay the hospital (and that didn't count the money owed to the surgeon who actually saved my life).
So I told them I needed to set up some kind of payment plan. They told me that to do that, I would have to first be turned over to collections.
So they did that. At that time I was still in a hard neck brace and full arm casts (both arms were shattered to pieces).
I began making minuscule monthly payments to the collection agency.
Finally, after about a year...the company that owned the hospital (and several other hospitals) called me and said they wanted to settle the whole thing.
I was kinda shocked because I was prepared to pay the whole bill over time.
Well, they explained to me that there were TWO billing systems. One for insurance and one for no insurance.
So instead of my bill being $150 grand...it was dropped down to 30 grand and I paid it.
In other words...knowing that you have insurance they basically told me that they artificially inflate the prices on you. All the while holding hands with the insurance companies. So the medical industry gets paid handsomely, the insurance companies are able to justify their high premiums...and we all get screwed.
That is the real reason that medical costs have skyrocketed.
And I'd bet my ass that the real people behind a "National Health Care" plan will be...The insurance companies. They will simply keep medical costs sky high, the govt. will require everyone to have insurance (just like they forced us to with car insurance), and then that insurance will be paid by the govt. in tax money.
I will guarantee you that despite the commercials and the b.s. that we are fed about medical and insurance lobbyists being against it...they are FOR it. Neither the media or the general public is ever aware of the true money deals that go down in Washington.
Just like the "federal bailout", it's gonna be another MASSIVE money grab and power consolidation.
If the federal govt. was being serious about medical costs...they would at the very least investigate WHY it costs so much to go to the damn doctor. And no, I'm not talking about high end surgery and "medical research" bullshit that they try to feed you. I'm talking about having the flu and going in to see your doctor.
Or breaking your arm. Or having a minor surgery. The costs are WAY overinflated.
Why doesn't the govt. just stop that instead of making a big money pile for the medical industry and the insurance companies at taxpayer expense?
They keep saying that medical costs are part of the bad economy on the t.v. ads. So why not do something about stopping doctors and hospitals from gouging the fuck out of the consumer?
Nah. Let's just set up a new bureaucracy that puts the medical industry and the big insurance companies on the federal tit and let them feed.