Quote:
Originally Posted by Barry-xlovecam
Her insurance lapsed and she got the "retail customer's bill".
The article didn't say she had paid the bill yet.
Settle it, or get sued. $28K would probably settle it.
Predatory pricing for the uninsured -- when the uninsured don't pay the ridiculous prices they are charged for the services it gets factored into the insured price charged.
In the end even if the hospital gets governmental payment the insured or the taxpayer picks up the tab.
The whole health delivery system is fucked up in the USA. |
You've got that 100% backwards.
Having a horrible car accident in 2002 taught me how it works. I broke my neck and both arms in the accident.
To make a long story short, I ended up with several hundred thousand dollars in hospital bills. No insurance.
After getting out of the hospital and going home I got a call from the COMPANY that owned that hospital (and dozens of others).
A few phone calls from them later and I was talking to a "manager".
He told me that what they were going to do was charge me the REAL price instead of what they show publicly for insurance.
My total bill was something like $15,000 or so. I paid it off in payments over the year.
I asked him how that worked.
He told me that the "business" worked like that. They have outrageous prices set up. The insurance company uses those prices to "adjust" their premiums. And then end up with the "negotiated" price that I was ended up paying. (there is no "negotiation", the insurance company simply pays the hospital the REAL prices)
So on paper everything looks outrageously expensive.
It's a total and complete scam.
Which is why "ObamaCare" is so disappointing because it simply is a deal that makes the insurance companies even more money.
Anyway, all the hype and bullshit that people feed you with statistics are all based on FALSE numbers.
That's right. That little paper dixie cup that you drank water from to take those two tylenols? It doesn't REALLY cost $50 and the tylenols didn't really cost $10 each.
It's flat out made up with the insurance company. And in the end, the insurance company doesn't actually pay that to the hospital either.
It's just a way to raise premiums.
I always wondered about that. And then it happened to me, and I saw it work and got the lowdown straight from the horses mouth. No theorizing, no reading about it...I was told straight up from the source.