So a man posts his hospital bill online of $11,119.53 (with insurance). How do you feel about this?

Please give this a look and come back to me.
Source

Now, I'm not sure if I'm feeling sympathy or anger about the man's outrageous bill of $11,119.53.

What interests me more is that an Australian citizen who received the same treatment was not even given a bill.

Am I feeling angry? Am I feeling remorse for the man with the bill? Or am I simply jealous of other countries' health care? I'm really not sure.

Maybe I'm scared.

Scared that I may become the next victim of America's presitigous health care system.

This is why health insurance in the US is a scam. First I can not afford the most basic coverage, then if I had even a decent plan I would still have to pay out of pocket for pretty much everything. Hopefully with the ACA becoming in law more Americans will realize this and protest. The health insurance industry in the US as it is today needs to be dissolved. We deserve first world health care that will not bankrupt the working class!

I refuse to pay for a service that will not cover the majority of medical costs I may encounter.

reply to post by CleanCare


Without knowing the specifics of his policy, it's hard to say.

I do know that with most Obamacare policies, the bills are going to look like this as the deductibles are in the $10 to $12,000 range meaning you have to pay that out of pocket before coverage kicks in.

Also understand that most places grossly overcharge because they are expecting either an insurance company or the government to pay. They don't expect anyone to actually pay for things out of pocket. If they did, prices would be much lower. Basically, insurers (including government) and providers haggle, and providers price things into the insurers pockets. These costs are a consequence of the average man on the street becoming disconnected from the expecting to directly pay for these services and handing that responsibility over to others, others with deeper pockets.

What do you think will happen?

reply to post by CleanCare

Am I feeling angry? Am I feeling remorse for the man with the bill? Or am I simply jealous of other countries' health care? I'm really not sure.

Maybe I'm scared.

Scared that I may become the next victim of America's presitigous health care system.

Probably a little of all of them. Something wrong with a country that spends over $600 billion a year on the military industrial complex but has it's citizens literally dying due to lack of medical care.

If you're an American and not rich you have every reason to be scared. I've been around a long time and let me say this country is more screwed up than ever before.

reply to post by CleanCare


This is crazy. What is the recourse in a situation like this? Are there lawyers that defend against insane medical bills? The greed has gotten completely out of control.

reply to post by CleanCare


Next time your doctor tells you almost off-handedly that you need a CT or MRI scan, ask him/her if they know how much it costs. I guarantee you they won't have a clue.

These things are all cash cows for the hospitals and they more often than not find nothing. Just an excuse to never touch anyone anymore and do a real hands-on examination; when's the last time someone even so much as took a stethoscope to you? All sorts of information can be gotten by listening both chest and abdomen, front and back, but hardly anyone bothers even though its free and only takes a few moments. Add in some palpation and you can find tumors, abdominal aneurysms, life-threatening situations. Most GPs don't even bother with breast exams on women; it's easier to send you for cancer-inducing radiation mammograms.

Want to know if you're getting a good physical exam or a slap dash one? After say age 40, they should always listen to your carotid arteries; this means putting the stethoscope up along your neck on both sides. Most don't bother. Not bothering equals lousy doctor.

To avoid the huge hospital bills, the best thing a person can do is learn a little bit of personal care medicine; know what the difference is between a real emergency and a self-limiting stomach bug. Too many people show up at EDs with simple colds or sore throats, or injuries caused by getting drunk. Hard to feel sorry for them when they get the bill but the rest of us pay for it.

reply to post by signalfire


We have a good GP. The kicker is that his medical group is not dealing with Obamacare. So if we lose our plan next year, we lose our GP or we find another way to deal.

reply to post by Bassago


You said it!!

I see this Health Care fraud as a redistribution of wealth! Imagine all the folks whom own a little bit of property and a modest home that are struggling just to make ends meet!

ONE semi major health issue and BOOM!! Huge hospital bill and a lien being put against you by the hospital because you owe them money!

People will be losing everything!

Am I the only one that sees this as a good thing, as proof the system is working?

The system was NEVER designed to be a health plan, it was always insurance. Insurance companies have to make money, they have to - capitalism. That is a good thing. So, they found a way to make money:

Ask the government to mandate their product. Concoct a fable about dying children who have no coverage and how each and every poor child - who already is covered by various programs, will now have coverage for their cancer ridden body. Trot out old people, who already have coverage, to thank the lord of government that they now have FREE, FREE meds. Then call every person who hates the idea a commie, a pinko, a terrorist, unamerican, a liar a scumbag .

Make sure that some 90 percent of the population has a deductible that is higher then their yearly expenses - higher is this is key. Does anyone really think the insurance companies do not have the "average" household insurance claim expense at their finger tips? Then, restrict the care the other 10 percent may get. Do you see the equation yet?

If 90 percent of the population NEVER gets past the deductible, then the insurance company expenses are largely internal on them. Fight the 10 percent who do move into the deductible range on their coverage so that their expense is limited and.... written off. Then there this age old tidbit. Some 90 percent of one's average medical insurance expenditure is used in the last month of life. In that last month, usually old age, the GOVERNMENT PAYS VIA MEDICARE!!!!!! And......... the government, via the law, can seize the assets of the dead guy to recoup the expenses.

This is f*%^ing GENIUS. This is so great I can't believe folks can't see it, then again they were educated by the same people who brought them this wonderment of money fun.

reply to post by CleanCare


all i can say about this , is thank god that i live in England and that we have a national health service .

the American health system is nothing less than barbaric .

i seem to remember reading about the man that campaigned for a national blood bank to be set up in America and that he bled to death on the steps of a hospital because he was black and the hospital did not treat blacks . i do not know just how true this story is but i am sure some of you out there will be able to confirm or refute it .

My father has great insurance (not as great as it was in the past) and i have none. at one time a few years ago He and i had a very similar CT scans done of our head. His procedures full charge was around $8000. His insurance receives a network discount of around 60% and his co-pay is $50. Final price of around $4800 paid from the insurance. a few months later need almost the same exam was not looking forward to more medical debt. So i go in tell them i have no insurance and will pay cash and would most likely need a payment plan. I run numbers and back to me with a total charge of $300. (THREE HUNDRED NO TYPO) I was happy of course but since then i always call and ask how much cash payments are and compare them to the wife's "OK" insurance. all just a game

reply to post by turboneon


I think you are missing the point. Part of property taxes, and part of health insurance premiums (along with the sometimes elevated costs of services with insurance) goes to cover the uninsured who receive reduced fee or no fee services.

In most cases, insurance pays out MUCH less than what the cost of the service actually is. Pennies on the dollar many times.

reply to post by crankyoldman


That is part of the illusion. Insurance company make the deductibles sound like its hurting them in the long run.

The system is broken, it takes thousands of dollars a year from people that cant even afford it to begin with.

Turns it into a vast profit on the insurers end. Not to mention the mandatory health insurance is a push to fund more quack pill pushing doctors.

Who in turn are making the pharmaceutical company's profit margin all that much bigger.

Taxes were not enough, now they force you to spend more of your money in other ways.

Greed is destroying this country. You set the cost of healthcare too high.

Had to make the doctors profit after all that schooling right?

This is outrageous. I'm so sick of people saying the AHCA is the solution to everything. It's not. For me, 11,000 might as well be the 55,000. I can't afford either.

I'm just lucky that I have a great employer that provides top insurance for myself and family. If I didn't have that, I'd be screwed.

Am I feeling angry? Am I feeling remorse for the man with the bill? Or am I simply jealous of other countries' health care? I'm really not sure.

reply to post by CleanCare


Be jealous of another countries health care.

Insurance companies in the U.S. decide on what procedures they'll cover. It's why healthcare shouldn't be managed by insurance companies for profit. We're the only industrialized nation that just doesn't get it when it comes to providing a basic right to health care for their citizens. We have more people complaining about the cost of healthcare than the trillions we spend on our military, black projects, corporate welfare, foreign aid, welfare abuse and pork barrel projects.

Those prices are BS!


I had private work done in the UK paid out of my own pocket Anaesthesia was £400 and private room as about £800. Med equipment was around £300, and IV was bout £80 I wont go into detail but is was retinue work and I would have had the same in stay and very similar pain med. and antibiotics after.

And a CT scan costing $7,000 WTF? WTF? I CT scan costs £800 (About $1200) last time I checked.

Sorry that guys bill should be at least half of what it it most likley a quater!

reply to post by usernameconspiracy


Or they just charge as high as they can to get the most money perhaps?

jrod
This is why health insurance in the US is a scam. First I can not afford the most basic coverage, then if I had even a decent plan I would still have to pay out of pocket for pretty much everything. Hopefully with the ACA becoming in law more Americans will realize this and protest. The health insurance industry in the US as it is today needs to be dissolved. We deserve first world health care that will not bankrupt the working class!

I refuse to pay for a service that will not cover the majority of medical costs I may encounter.

And this is exactly why those of us who pushed for health care reform wanted Medicare-for-all and/or a not-for-profit "single payer" system. What we got instead were some modest improvements with respect to things like pre-existing conditions and lifetime limits on benefits, but it's still essentially a cash cow for the for-profit private healthcare industry.

While I do believe that ObamaCare is a step in the right direction, it falls far short of the ultimate goal which is to totally change the way we do healthcare in America.

When Americans wake up to the fact that we are not the best at everything, hopefully we'll take note of the obvious, which is the fact that many nations do healthcare better than us and model ours after theirs. Most of which are set up as not-for-profit, single payer systems. At least with respect to basic and preventative healthcare.

Have patience, despite the well known fact that we're No. 1 over here, we sometimes move kinda slow when it comes to change. Especially when you're talking about taking the almighty profit out of something. Corporate lobbying in the halls of Congress is a powerful force to have to overcome, but we will.

If we could just agree to outlaw the paid lobbying of congressional members, we could fix a lot of things real fast.

The problem with health care costs is not the health insurance premiums, but the huge billings that the insurance companies are getting from the hospitals for health care costs.

Look at what this guy is billed!!!

$7,500 for 2 hours in the recovery room is outrageous.

$4,500 for anesthesia

almost $7,000 for a Cat Scan

This is where the problem lies.

I remember a story that came out a while back comparing procedure costs at different hospitals.

I found it here:

Hospital costs can vary more than $200,000 for same procedure, government report reveals

The new report looks at price information for 100 of the most frequently billed hospital discharges for Medicare patients at 3,000 health care facilities around the country. The costs in the report involve care for patients with common ailments like pneumonia, chest pain, diabetes or urinary tract infections.

What the report found was widespread variation in prices.

For example, the average inpatient hospital charges for a patient getting a joint replacement may range from $5,300 at a hospital in Ada, Okla. to $223,000 at a hospital in Monterey Park, Calif.

I think it's time that we do a little "hospital shopping" before we get sick.

reply to post by usernameconspiracy


No, what he is pointing out is more like the actual cost.

If there were no middle men, no insurance or government, and everyone were expected to pay out of pocket, this is what things would be closer to costing because they would have to price things to our ability to pay rather than the insurance company or the government who have deeper pockets.

Instead, we expect to not ever have to pay for something that is a service provided by skilled individuals, it's not even like it's a good.