Health insurance ?

[treetx]

I had good insurance till obama mandated it. Then it almost doubled, for less coverage too. I dropped it and paid the fine for a couple years, took a risk and got lucky. Nothing i do is safe from my work to after work activities.

Luckily i have it now thru Ashly. Insurance is a joke, as is the system.

Everyone loves the smooth talking Ex-president but Trump is bad. Lol!! What a joke. I prefer an absolute ass and global train wreck to the smooth talking a$$ f#cking we got from Obama.

The just go without and negotiate it down technique only works if you don't have assets. That is why I can't go that route anyhoo....

 

[No_Bivy]

It's all part of the ruse to scare everybody into paying the outrageous policy rates. All those insurance company executives gotta pay for their yachts and mansions somehow. If you think you're protecting yourself against a possible $300K hospital bill by paying $10K per year then you pay it. But if you find out that the $300K hospital bill can be settled for $20K then how much value is it to pay the $10K in annual premiums?

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what if it is not settled for peanuts....
there is more to the story here.

no way a hospital can afford to function at those fees.....heart surgery for 10K? no way

 

[Tree09]

What does that strategy do to your credit score?

 

[SkwerI]

.

what if it is not settled for peanuts....
there is more to the story here.

no way a hospital can afford to function at those fees.....heart surgery for 10K? no way

Never had heart surgery. Last surgery I had was a bicep tendon repair several years back.

What does that strategy do to your credit score?

Nothing. Paying your bills never hurts your credit score. My FICO has been between 750-820 for the last decade or more. It tends to drop a little when I get a bit over extended but comes back up as my balances drop.

 

[No_Bivy]

Never had heart surgery. Last surgery I had was a bicep tendon repair several years back.


Nothing. Paying your bills never hurts your credit score. My FICO has been between 750-820 for the last decade or more. It tends to drop a little when I get a bit over extended but comes back up as my balances drop.

how much was the bicep surgery?

 

[SkwerI]

Don't recall exactly. I want to guess $2700. I remember I had to pay three separate entities, all in advance. The doctor, the anesthesiologist and the surgery center that provided the operating room.

 

[treesmith]

.

what if it is not settled for peanuts....
there is more to the story here.

no way a hospital can afford to function at those fees.....heart surgery for 10K? no way

I wouldn't know, as I am not a hospital accountant, but if they "can't" function at those costs, how do they justify it? I know it happened (my mother had a heart attack and a stint...not heart surgery). And Carl cited his example...$116k nettled for $4600-ish. And I know my example of our miscarry...$6000+, settled for instant payment of $925 (Medicaid rate). So you're telling me hospitals sell their services for pennies on the dollar to Medicaid patients and insurance companies, hoping to make up the difference....WHERE?

 

[No_Bivy]

dude....,I don't know......BUT. If MEK has a family and something to lose then I wouldn't roll without health insurance.

every one is free to choose, you and Brian are clear about your choice.

there are plenty of folks that don't like paying for insurance.....myself included. It is important to recognize those "nettled" deals will likely be made up elsewhere. Medicaid are fixed rates so it aint coming from there.

 

[treesmith]

I'm not trying to be argumentative about it...I'm honestly curious as to how it's a justifiable practice. I have heard quite a few similar stories over the years, but don't know enough details to cite them.

 

[Tree09]

So are you saying that when you get out of the hospital, and they send you a bill, you call them and say I'm only gonna pay 10 percent of it? And then they say cool? And that doesn't hurt your credit score?

 

[No_Bivy]

thats my point.....I think these stories are NOT the norm. There are some docs that have upfront cash prices.......this would not include emergent care though.....

a difficult system to navigate. But IMO, if you have a family then buy something.....catastrophic a least.

here is a personal example....had a little bleed from the rectal area....not 50 so colonoscopy is not covered. BUTT, no pun intended, have to rule out the big scary of cancer( a real possibility)( friend died from it last year, at 41 YO).

so , my doc goes "peer to peer" with insurance company to cover it. Basically he argued the fact that positive rectal bleed is indicative of cancer.....the rule out is a colonoscopy......seems simple? They covered it. Now, lets say it was cancer?......do you think I could negotiate a cash price for treatment? I doubt that.....

The older you get the bigger the risks become, so keep that in mind.

 

[SkwerI]

My only experience with a hospital in the last decade was an ER visit when I cut my hand with a chainsaw. They offered to give me a 50% discount if I paid on the spot before leaving the premises. I did and it was still expensive. But a lot less than paying for insurance and then having to pay the full rate because I hadn't met my deductible yet. Health insurance is a scam and I have no answer for people with families because there is no good option when you have dependents.

When I had a colonoscopy last year my doc referred me to a place that takes self pay clients. Cost me $950 I think. Again, cheaper than insurance plus deductible.

 

[Merle Nelson]

We pay $2k a month for wife and 2 kids. They just denied me treatment for hep c! I freaking hate insurance. I wanna drop it now that it's not mandatory but the wife won't let me.

Paul I can understand their $ motivation to deny you. I have heard that that 'cure' for hep c is expensive.

I knew a nurse that went from being an RN to working in a big insurance companies claims dept. The insurance companies spend about 33 percent of their gross income just in supporting the denial of claims process.

If you contest their initial denial your odds of approval automatically jump up. (Squeaky Wheel) If you have a doctor fighting for you and proof of this or that it radically jumps beyond that.

I wonder if there is someone near you who can be hired to fight patient rights on your behalf?

 

[FireFighterZero]

Bloody insurance is so expensive for most because it is so affordable for the few. Make something either cheap or mandatory and watch the prices climb.

 

[treesmith]

Alabama started in 2013 requiring liability auto insurance. If you had a wreck prior to that, you'd be in trouble for not having it, but no law was enforced requiring you to have it. Of course, the insurance companies were behind the push for making it mandatory. In my opinion, a far better solution would be to drop "liability" insurance from vehicles entirely, and place it where it belongs...on the DRIVER. For example, my wife and I should be able to walk into our insurance office, lay our driver licenses on the agent's desk, and say "WE" need liability insurance on US. And I have a 2015 F250 and a 2015 Honda Accord, for which I'd like to purchase optional collision insurance for. Problem solved. Wouldn't matter which of my vehicles I was driving, or if I were driving my cousin's neighbor's father's truck, I would have liability insurance. But no....the companies saw past that. They know that many people have multiple vehicles, and they can only drive one at at time, so they want to charge for ALL of them, thereby netting a much larger profit at a much lower risk.

I look at health insurance the same way. They saw the only way to get ahead was to "require" those who don't use doctors to carry the insurance anyway, thereby offsetting the cost of those who worship doctors. I know folks who have it who run to the doctor every month or so. If I had it, I'd still avoid doctors like the plague. Therefore, I would be all profit and no loss to them...which is why I opt to not have it. At some point in the future I may decide it's worth it to me to get it, but that point has not arrived yet.

 

[No_Bivy]

hep C can be around 80K.......its the drugs that are super expensive, but they work. Its an american problem though.....other countries like Australia are treating everyone who has it. The plan is to eliminate it potentially.

 

[lumberjack]

just curious...how long was treatment? night in hospital? follow up?

4600 seems super cheap and to good to be true.... did you mean 46000?( was this a WC claim?)

just an ER visit can hit 5k real quick. A friend broke his back a few years ago kayaking.....over 100 k too. 12 k for helicopter evac. he paid 20%

Levi is our 15 year old (14 at the time). ~$4600.

6 hours in the ER, 4 days in a room, 14 vials of CroFab; followup was 3 days after discharge and another two weeks later. He was at soccer practice a week after his discharge.


I forget what mom's helicopter flight cost back in February of last year, but it was relatively cheap. ~130 mile flight, I left the local hospital shortly before the helicopter got there and was there to watch the helicopter land.


I remember an ambulance ride home was going to be $3800ish cash, but it didn't come to that.

 

[brendonv]

I knew rates would increase and benefits decrease when O opened his piehole with his "plan". It was idiocy from the get-go. How can you force a company to insure those with known risks, and expect them to keep low rates? It would be economically impossible.

I have no health insurance. I consider it a scam. Not to say it doesn't work, mind you, but it is a scam. I know of TWO incidents personally, where medical costs were over $100k, yet settlements were agreed upon for around 10%. If you can settle with an insurance company for 10% of the bill, why can't you do that for an individual? I know if I'm getting storm trees off of two houses, one with insurance, and one self-pay, if I give a break, it AIN'T gonna be to the company.

Another example...we lost a baby back in 2007. I carried my wife to the hospital and she spent one night there. Discharged the next day (Sunday). Business office was closed. I called Monday to discuss paying the bill. The lady said it wasn't even in the system yet, call back tomorrow. Called back Tuesday, preliminary billing was there, but not final. She said if I'd pay in full right then, she'd let me have the Medicaid rate. Credit card payment over the phone for $925. She said to disregard any bill that may come in the mail. A week later, we got a bill for over $6000. Now, if they can provide such care for Medicaid patients for $925, (roughly 15% of total), and they can provide care for insurance customers at roughly 10% of total.....why the heck can't they provide the same care for folks who pay their own way? Barring cancer/organ transplant/bypass surgery/etc....(read "common medical issues")....most folks could manage 10%-15% of their bill, many paying via credit card on the spot.

Ya its lame.

They expected the healthy people to pay for the sick people. The healthy people said screw this (me included), dropped out, hence the disaster (among other things).

Its disgusting, and i get to hear the stories from the hospital from Ashly. Really gets ya fired up

 

[mek]

If I was single my decision would be easy. I've got four kids range from 9yrs down 6 weeks of age so insurance is a little more important. Ill see what happens. Thanks for the responses

 

[kevin bingham]

by undoing the mandate, shots going to get even more expensive. People think they are healthy until they are not and then the rest of us have to pay for them. never heard of anyone ever staying healthy. maybe for a few years you can get lucky. its funny my neighbor sells life insurance so finally I was like frig it ill get some so you stop asking me about it everyday. did the whole application wrote a check and then I get a letter saying they will give me life insurance but won't cover accidental death due to my listed occupation. lol. I definitely am not worried about non accidental death. at least my neighbor will stfu about it from now on.

 

[SkwerI]

So you say by undoing the mandate shots will get more expensive. As opposed to what? All health care costs have been skyrocketing for many years, which is what Obamacare was supposed to remedy. Except it didn't. It only accelerated the rate of price increases (except for the people who can't pay anyway) and took away options many of us had before the law passed.

It would be nice if insurance companies could once again offer a major medical coverage policy without having to include all the basic crap and extras that drive up the cost. I don't need a policy that includes sex change operations or abortion coverage or annual PAP smears. Eliminating Obamacare will allow insurance companies to once again offer basic major medical policies at lower cost than what we have to pay now.

 

[No_Bivy]

there are major medical policies Brian. High deductible and only covers big bad stuff....those are cheap if your young. I doubt your getting policy with pap smears.......but maybe

 

[No_Bivy]

Levi is our 15 year old (14 at the time). ~$4600.

6 hours in the ER, 4 days in a room, 14 vials of CroFab; followup was 3 days after discharge and another two weeks later. He was at soccer practice a week after his discharge.


I forget what mom's helicopter flight cost back in February of last year, but it was relatively cheap. ~130 mile flight, I left the local hospital shortly before the helicopter got there and was there to watch the helicopter land.


I remember an ambulance ride home was going to be $3800ish cash, but it didn't come to that.

I cat believe they settled for 4600! crazy....somebody made an error
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...medicine/?utm_term=.9729b0e1c26c........found this

 

[SkwerI]

No, you cannot buy a major medical policy any more. At least not here. You can only buy health insurance policies that meet all of the Obamacare requirements. Which is exactly why most people in this country are in favor of repealing Obamacare. The ones in favor of keeping it haven't thought it all the way through yet.

 

[treesmith]

I cat believe they settled for 4600! crazy....somebody made an error

Call it error if you will, but I know my mother's bill was settled for less than 10%. (And I've heard other similar stories, though I can't testify to their validity)

I found this.......http://truecostofhealthcare.org/hospitalization/.....which reflects similar figures.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...medicine/?utm_term=.9729b0e1c26c........found this

In that pie graph, it shows a 70.1% slice....."HOSPITAL MARKUP, LATER DISCOUNTED FOR INSURERS".....

Now I wonder how far that would fly in the private sector. I go price a job at $19,275, then add that if they have insurance, it will magically drop to less than $2k. No insurance? YIPPEE for me! You get to pay the full price, SUCKA! Somehow that is reminiscent of price-gouging....