Health care costs out of control

[Aruman]

Unbelievable...

Saw a report by Dan Rather tonight.

Gist of it is this:

A man had a bad fall. Broken Ribs, fractured skull, punctured lung. He went to a non-profit hospital and had to stay for 18 days. No surgery was required. He was uninsured since he was self employed and couldn't afford the exorbitant health insurance fees.

He gets discharged and later gets a bill for $247k for his treatment.

Finding this cost hard to believe he investigated the pricing and found out that someone who was insured would have been charged about $50k for the same treatment he received.

Something seriously needs to be done to get health care costs and practices under control. This example shows just how ridiculous our health care system is.

[Raistin]

Well if you look at it the correct way. The man should have never fallen in the first place.If he didnt fall, he wouldnt have all thoese bills. But you know what, knowing that people are being charged normal prices for the best health care in the world. He should count his blessings his cost wasnt 250k, and stop being such a pussy over $247k .

Just think of all the tax cuts this man has gotten. Over the past 6 years, he prolly has gotten back/saved over 2k in taxes,he should be able to pay it off in no time. People always make excuses for not making money. Bush is the only one tring to give them any by giving tax breaks and the hell with whatever else needs to be done/said.He was prolly a muslim loving lib who voted for Kerry anyways.

[Marbus]

The healthcare industry needs the threat of socialized medicine again... it's AMAZING how much money they found and how many costs they found to cut back in 1993 then they thought that if they didn't get it under control the Government was going to do something...

Now they KNOW that won't happen so just like the Oil Companies they care gouging the public as hard as they can with the assumption that it won't last forever and someone will eventually get things under control. Of course if we continue to vote for republicans who's pockets are lined by the pharma, oil and health care giants, it never will be.

Marb

[Boogahz]

When the original story showed the difference in cost with and without insurance, did they factor in how much the insurance was billed for? I don't believe that there was 197k unbilled at all. One thing about having insurance is that they will set "acceptable" rates for services rendered. If the hospital charges a person 50k for a test, the insurance company may say that it should only cost 29k. That can also factor into the totals seen by people with and without insurance.

[Marbus]

That could be the case...

However, when I use to work at a Hospital I know they use to bill insured and uninsured differently. Because the insurance company would neg. a cheaper price, they would charge the person with no insurance or one that didn't neg as much more to make up the difference.

Marb

[Boogahz]

I know that happens as well, but a $197,000 difference seems a bit extreme.

[Nick]

Thank god we have the NHS over here. Paying a quarter of a mil for a few broken limbs is fucking absurd.

As is saying:

Well if you look at it the correct way. The man should have never fallen in the first place

[Chidoro]

I know that happens as well, but a $197,000 difference seems a bit extreme.

It could be extreme but not necessarily out of the question. Contracts are drawn up not only between the hospital and the insurance co. but also for just about all of the hospital materials and their suppliers. The difference between list charges and costs billed can be quite large depending on the account in question.

It's also quite possible this particular hospital is mismanaged financially. Maybe it's a teaching hospital so their room prices may be higher in general due to using more cutting edge technology. Maybe it's located in an area that receives a lot of uninsured patients where the hospital essentially has to eat the costs.

I can say that having worked on and negotiated the financial contracts from, both, a hospital's perspective negotiating with a provider as well as a medical device supplier with a hospital, you can be assured that the price difference can be staggering.

[kyoukan]

This isn't abnormal for uninsured patients in any country.

In Canada some hospitals/doctors will comply if you request to be billed the same amount they would bill the provincial health care provider, but I do not believe there is any law that compels them to.

The sad part is, the hospital will get their money up to any assets that belong to the guy including his house and cars, for care that cost the hospital less than 5 percent of the actual bill.

[Siji]

Am I the only one who finds it odd that he HAD to stay in the hospital for 18 days even though NO surgery was required? Put the braces on and send his ass home to watch Barney Miller and drink some PBR..

[Kargyle]

He had a skull fracture and a punctured lung. They aren't so keen to discharge after those types of injuries until they are pretty sure you are stable and well on the road to recovery. I didn't see the story, but does it say no surgery was required?

[Tuddi2]

But you know what, knowing that people are being charged normal prices for the best health care in the world.

tsk tsk

[Zaelath]

This isn't abnormal for uninsured patients in any country.

We're a bit socialist when it comes to health care... yes, there's long waiting lists for "elective" surgery (eg, you need an appendectomy, but it's not going to burst in the next 48 hours; elective) but you're not getting a bill either.

In fact sometimes you're better off, like insurance companies commonly only pay out on one baby at a time, if you have twins you can end up with the full bill for the second child.

That said, I'm glad my father has insurance... I don't think any public hospitals do stents, and without one he would have basically been an invalid for years until he died, while they worked out if he was going to die before or after he was well enough to operate on, after they decided he was an emergency.