Why medical bills are killing us.

3am scholar

3am scholar

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http://healthland.time.com/2013/02/20/bitter-pill-why-medical-bills-are-killing-us/

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/thu-february-21-2013-steven-brill


Recchi’s bill and six others examined line by line for this article offer a closeup window into what happens when powerless buyers — whether they are people like Recchi or big health-insurance companies — meet sellers in what is the ultimate seller’s market.
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After about three hours of tests and some brief encounters with a doctor, she was told she had indigestion and sent home. That was the good news. The bad news was the bill: $995 for the ambulance ride, $3,000 for the doctors and $17,000 for the hospital — in sum, $21,000 for a false alarm.
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This would mean that Sean Recchi’s dose of Rituxan cost the Biogen Idec–Genentech partnership as little as $300 to make, test, package and ship to MD Anderson for $3,000 to $3,500, whereupon the hospital sold it to Recchi for $13,702.
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Cliffs:

-Buyers have no knowledge of the products they are buying, one sided information leads to higher costs.

-The healthcare system massively out-lobbies the military industrial complex and energy companies.

-Drugs and procedures cost many times what they would on the open market.

-The profits are are made by upper management, the doctors and nurses are not seeing the massive profits.

-This includes "not for profit" hospitals.

-medicare actually pays hospitals at the cost it takes the hospital to do the procedure, those not on medicare pay rediculous mark ups, however hospitals still make a profit off of medicare patients.

-60% of the personal bankruptcy filings each year are related to medical bills.

-Overall, ambulance revenues were more than $12 billion last year, or about 10% higher than Hollywood’s box-office take.

-Obamacare barely scratches the surface of the real corruption.
 
It really is nuts. I called the doctor yesterday about the pricing of a potential procedure I need done since I dont have insurance. They couldn't give me a price since it "depends on the coding [billing info] the doctor puts in" I then asked for a ballpark figure and they again couldn't give them that for the same problem with coding/billing. Seriously not even an idea? They wanted me to come in pay "about $300" to see the doctor and then they could get a better idea of what it would cost. So if I decide its too much they still got me for $300.

No other type of service/industry do you have a situation where you just have to agree to enter a into a service contract without any type of price quotes present.

Its a scam and the sooner it gets worked out, and the people who **** over a majority of the population get what they deserve, the better. **** them all.
 
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 Good thing I have insurance. I still try to never go to the hospital, only for checkups. Still just for that, I'm still paying mad $$$$. 
 
WATER said:
 Still just for that, I'm still paying mad $$$$. 
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Dont look at it as a bill, look at it as an investment in your health.

F The Lobbyists,Pharmaceutical Companies,and the Politicians
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I remember when i got my bill for cutting my head open, they charged $50 for a single pack of Tylenol... I got the bill and was just :smh: Thank god I had insurance


The biggest scam is when doctors tell you to come back for a check up 2 weeks later... just happened to me at my foot doctor... Payed my $20 copay, went in to see her and not even 5 minutes later I was done...
 
ii FLaSh ii said:
I remember when i got my bill for cutting my head open, they charged $50 for a single pack of Tylenol... I got the bill and was just
mean.gif
Thank god I had insurance


The biggest scam is when doctors tell you to come back for a check up 2 weeks later... just happened to me at my foot doctor... Payed my $20 copay, went in to see her and not even 5 minutes later I was done...
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This is how it is whenever I go to the cardiologist. One appointment is an actual checkup, then another is just where the doctor asks questions about if anything has changed since the last visit. 
 
I been telling ya'll don't trust em. Yea, they do some good.  But more times then non they've got profit in mind.  But it's the dentist that really get our ***. 
 
Yea hospitals tax hard..and it's def upper management...and since the gov has cut some of their profits they're putting all the work on understaffed nurses
 
Went to the hospital a couple years back after an accident I had. I was still paying those bills up to this past summer :smh:. No healthcare FTL. Take care of yourselves brethrens.
 
I had a hospital require me to stay overnight for no reason when i had asked to leave, then hit me with a 2k bill for my stay :smh:
 
It is disgusting/interesting to hear how they make profits. They overcharge for everything. When I didn't have insurance a couple years back and I snapped wrist snowboarding, they charged me almost 2k to simply put a cast on it. I remember seeing the bill and my pops was pissed because they charged something like $16 for a small ice pack to put on my wrist in the waiting room :smh:
Now I pay for my health insurance, learned the hard way
 
Running hospitals like a business instead of for helping people is disgusting...

Even if I pay without insurance in Belgium I'll still pay less than a 10th of what you would without insurance in America.

I had a kneecap stabilisation surgery, morphine IV, 2 day stay in the hospital and paid like $300. The hospital has always given me a rough idea of what I'll be paying and what I can do to reduce the costs as much as possible. They really push you to get a 4-people room to pay much less for hospital stay etc.
 
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That's why I will never go to the doctor or hospital unless i'm in danger of dying. I don't have insurance and had to get a physical for my college. I had to pay like $80-100 just for the doctor's visit. The damn laboratory charged me around $700 for the freaking blood test >: >:. I asked my doctor why i'm being charged so much for the test and he said I should be happy at that price since it could've cost more. I wanted to punch him in the face. I didn't pay my bill until the bill collectors started to go after me.
 
Someone has to pay for the care of the indigent. And I bet a lot of you were in favor of Obama care. Enjoy!

:lol:
 
So how much is a regular doctor's visit over there? I pay $25 for a check-up etc. If I'm just renewing prescriptions it's usually free as it only takes 1 minute.
 
Colombia said:
So how much is a regular doctor's visit over there? I pay $25 for a check-up etc. If I'm just renewing prescriptions it's usually free as it only takes 1 minute.
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It depends on what you get done and how long you take. There are different levels of service for billing visits.
 
In terms of follow-up appointments, they are actually very important in management. Even if its only 5 minutes and a few questions, different answers can change the course of your treatment.

I'm a md student from Cali going to school in Asia. I've also had my share of medical issues. The medical care system here in my developing nation is much more simpler and way more affordable then the insurance based system back home. Procedures are marked up x3782672 on the basis that you have insurance, and when you don't you're screwed. And public health care is a joke. A specialist referral with mediCal took 4 months to arrive, smh
 
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