Trump Takes On Surprise Medical Bills, Holds Insurance Companies, Hospitals Accountable

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
My one son has special medical needs. Healthcare billing is insane. Much of it involves trying to game the insurance companies. They charge $2000 for a procedure, because they know the insurance will only pay a certain fraction of that (let's say 25% for example's sake) and they end up getting $500 for it. The consumers are basically collateral damage, getting caught paying deductibles and coinsurance on wildly-inflated costs that the healthcare company knows they won't actually collect.

That fact that Trump is even willing to try to clear this up is awesome. If the Democrats could pull their heads out of Vladimir Putin's ass for maybe 5 minutes, perhaps one of them could have thought of this first.

I wish countries like Mexico or China could outsource their doctors and staff plus the pills to the USA along with what they are paid there in order to give the corporations in this country a taste of their own medicine.


The problem is they do not want to take a paycut thanks globalism.
They want first world pricing while other corporations want third world wages.
The math does not work.

originally posted by: sunkuong
a reply to: Vroomfondel

I am thankfully not a citizen of his presidency. Merely an outside observer. His lies and promises are bleedingly obvious.
In response to the actual Op, i do not take from the source, nor have i found any others, that suggest any detail or substance to Trump or his administration having put forward any plan or actions that will benefit consumers or enforce greater medical billing transparency.

At this stage its barely a talking point

The lobbyists in this country own both teams.
Nothing ever changes unless there is something in it for the corporate lobbyists but they play it off as left and right to keep people divided.

a reply to: infolurker

I got a bill for an MRI once that was $21,000 and talked them down to $2,800 thinking I got a good deal because of the huge sticker price they first sent me. This bill wiped out my savings as a result. Medical is such a rip off.

originally posted by: Sookiechacha
a reply to: Ksihkehe

There ought to be a law! LOL
Trump made all kinds of promises about great and affordable health care while attacking the, albeit imperfect, Affordable Care Act that the Democrats worked together to pass.

Trump owns the looming health care crisis. Standing up and claiming the Republicans are the party of health care back fired on him, because the Republicans, who have plenty of complaints, had no plan to fix health care.

Trump claims he has a plan, the best plan for health care, who knew how complicated health care is? Trump says he's figured it all out, now, and only he could do it, of course, but he won't tell us about his great, fabulous plan until after he's reelected.

Trump has an idea! What if I, the President of the United States, declare that Congress will write a law, that he abrained up, forcing doctors and hospitals to prelist their prices, listing every swab and bandage. Even if he succeeds and Congress is able to pass such a law, it still doesn't put control in the patients' wallets.

Trump is real good at knocking stuff down, breaking things. Not so good at fixing things and working within the governing and legislative system and with existing laws, that have already been written.

He’s also about to win a second term as President. By a landslide.

originally posted by: PaladinRoden
a reply to: infolurker

I got a bill for an MRI once that was $21,000 and talked them down to $2,800 thinking I got a good deal because of the huge sticker price they first sent me. This bill wiped out my savings as a result. Medical is such a rip off.

You so got ripped off.

You could walk into this place and pay $650 cash, probably $65 or $130 bucks with 90% or 80% insurance coverage.

www.covenanthealth.com...

Going forward, look for the imaging centers (like Open MRI) in your area. They are a fraction of the price.

In some areas even cheaper. This one is $391.00 cash for MRI with contrast.

www.mdsave.com...

a reply to: infolurker

Ironically I did have insurance and it paid for the test, however I got a bill "for what the insurance didn't cover" and at the time it was called "Forward billing". What this means is that the insurance company gives them money for the test in what they think is a fair price and then the company takes that money and then turns around and sends a bill to the customer for what the "insurance didn't cover".

I suspect it's just the same old story. Put a nice spin on it to get people to take the bait and hide some nasty surprises in the actual language. Like the "Affordable Care Act". Who could be against affordable care? Right?