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

I just came across this tidbit today and it sure made me think back to this thread and I thought I would post the link here.

www.medicaldaily.com...

The researchers looked at some 110,000 births and Caesarean sections, finding that the lowest charge was $3,296 and the highest was $37,227 — a trend that is mirrored throughout the U.S. health care system. Even when the researchers adjusted the hospital expenses to focus on patients with similar backgrounds, ages, and time spent in the hospital, they still found that the differences in what people were paying were significant. The study states in its conclusion: “These results indicate that charges and discounted prices for two common, relatively homogeneous diagnosis groups — uncomplicated vaginal delivery and Caesarean section — vary widely between hospitals and are not well explained by observable patient or hospital characteristics.”

“Health care pricing is kind of like the Wild West,” Dr. Renee Y. Hsia, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of emergency medicine at University California San Francisco, told Kaiser Health News. “There is no real system of health care pricing. The ‘system’ is that hospitals are allowed to charge whatever they want and whatever they feel they merit.” In a study completed earlier, Hsia had reviewed the different prices for appendectomy in California. She found that they ranged from $1,500 to $182,955. “It’s not an exception, it’s the rule in the United States,” she said.

“It is absurd — and, indeed, unconscionable — that the people least capable of paying for their hospital care bear the largest, and often unaffordable, cost burdens.”

The one question this article brings to mind is this, Is there no regulations in the States?
I mean somebody should be watching this and nailing overcharging hospitals in my opinion only.

Good luck to all my friends South of the Border to us and I mean that in every sense.

Regards, Iwinder

Check out this link if you desire sticker shock!

www.liveleak.com...


My goodness it is very real and very nasty there in the States.


Regards, Iwinder

a reply to: CleanCare

It's downright wrong and unacceptable that this kind of thing happens, to hundreds of thousands of people in the US. Some of the stories are heartbreaking, particularly the 27 year old that died because his "coverage lifetime" had run out.

I found this thread doing a search. I have a young (24 years old) coworker that is currently paying huge medical bills from some ER visits and such during the time she worked a job that had no health insurance coverage. She has a condition similar to IBS or Crohn's, and has also had kidney stones. So she did the right thing - worked with the hospital to write out a payment plan to make monthly payments to pay the bills back. The hospital said okay, and she started making weekly payments of $80. A couple of months later, she started getting letters and calls from collection agencies. She was aghast, as she thought by making good faith payments that it wouldn't go to a collection agency. At least that used to be how it was. I don't know about other states, but the state I live in changed that recently. It doesn't matter now whether you've made payment arrangements and are making good faith payments. After 90 days, your bills automatically go to collection agencies regardless. The collection agencies demanded outrageous sums of money and wanted it all up front. My coworker never would have had to arrange payments with the hospital if she had all the money. The bills ran over $10,000. Not only that, but every month in which there is still money owed, your credit rating takes a hit - every month! She's still paying this back, almost done now, with a light at the end of the tunnel. But she's probably going to have a tough road trying to buy a house. She has no other debt whatsoever, no credit card debt, no car payments, just the medical bills, but her credit rating is probably in the toilet. She's only 24, and has to face this. I think it's just awful to have to start out your life with that hanging over your head. There are many like her, young and older, struggling with bankruptcy, dealing with collection agencies and the like.

a reply to: ChiefD

This is the sad reality that it now the American dream. Now we are essentially forced to pay a mortgage on our life they call health insurance, then if we have a serious health problem we are still given a bill for more than we can pay. Bad credit, now mean that you are not eligible for the upper middle class and often even middle class jobs......

Some countries have figured out that a healthy population that is not constantly worried about how they are going to pay for basic healthcare needs is a much more productive and happy population.

a reply to: jrod

why can't you treat yourself.get a basic medical education.free.

stop watching Foxnews all day.stop buying crap advertised on tv.stop stuffing your face with processed crap.

it's liquifying your brain or whats left of it.

look at me i have not been to the doctor for 2 decades and i am the most healthiest person in the family.
i don't/drink/eat mcdonald/kfc rubbish .I have saved about $560000 on insurance which i have invested in stocks.i could retire tomorrow unlike a consumer slave like you.

i read books.i watch selective tv mostly science and science fiction. i am smart.i don't believe politicians/corporate lies.

it's all your own fault.

you are probably the opposite a tv politicians gives you satisfaction as you vote for them then they kick you in the teeth overtime.
i

a reply to: championoftruth

Do not put try to put words in my mouth. I do NOT watch any mainstream media, Fox News included and do not even own a TV. I actually find your post insulting and way off the mark in your reply to me. In other words you have no idea where I come from so I do not appreciate your blind speculation. Read my posts, clearly I am able to think for myself.

I am lucky because I am in good health. The last time I saw a doctor was when I checked out of the Navy in 2009. I also refuse to buy health insurance.

This is a fundamental problem in the US. The rest of the civilized world has figured out that universal health care is in the best interests of all the citizens. A healthy population is a more productive population.

Not only is healthcare in the US hyper-inflated, we also get a lesser quality of care than our friends in Europe. The health care industry in the US is weakening this country, financially and physically.

a reply to: championoftruth
WOW! Where did all that bile come from? As far as JRod's post, it was NOT deserving of your response! Who cares if you are the "most healthiest (sic)" of your family, etc. People get sick, or injured in an accident. Some things are out of anyone's control. There are so many things wrong with your rabid post that I could hijack the thread.

I've had to have many surgeries due to an accident that almost killed me. I have been lucky in that I have never been without health insurance. The kicker is that I have to pay 20% of the costs. If the total cost is $100,000.00, I still owe $20,000.00. I think I've been on some sort of payment plan for my 2 artificial knees and an artificial hip for 16 years. Oh, and I won't even go into the Dental plans!

So long as you pay $1 per month towards the bill they cannot report you or send your account to collections.

a reply to: astayer

They sent our $238,000 to collections before my husband got out of Rehab. By the time he got to rehab our insurance ran out and had to apply to the State.

We (Americans) can learn a lot from Australia. Free healthcare and free education are just 2 examples of many, many ways they are "ahead" of us

originally posted by: nunyabizness
We (Americans) can learn a lot from Australia. Free healthcare and free education are just 2 examples of many, many ways they are "ahead" of us

Well, 'free' is something of a misnomer. You pay one way or the other, but if it is like Canada, for the most part it's buried in the general tax rate.

Update time for me, I died twice in March and I spent over 3 weeks in the hospital.
I will try a break down as my memory allows.

3 ambulance trips to the local hospital.
2 ambulance trips out of town for surgeries with a cardiac nurse on board, also same way home (250k round trip each time)

6 blood tests a day for over 21 days at 6 vials per test.
9-10 Iv's
At least 15 xrays, and 8 cardio grams, and at the minimum 35 EKG's
4 Cat scans with the hot dye injections.
Over 70 full meals in three weeks.
3 days in the ICU under 24 hour watch, the nurse was in my room at all times.
22 days in the severe cardiac section, always a nurse either in the room or seconds away.
Lots of other tests done .......probably around 30 or so but that is a guess.

Angiogram (Hot dye and a camera in your arteries and heart.
Installation of a ICD .......A defib surgically installed in your chest.
Supplying of a electronic defib box that will send my information to a out of town hospital that specializes in this area.
12 follow up visits to the ICD Clinic with two doctors and one nurse.
Since this all started ( March) after being discharged from the hospital this has since happened.

14 visits to the Emergency Department with 10 of those resulting in me being kept over night or some times mutiple nights.
I can't even tell you how many tests they ran during the above times in the ER as I lost track......It became a every 5 or six day thing.

Treated for an intestinal infection due to laying in bed for weeks on end.
Treated for a nasty bout of Shingles.
Contracted Pneumonia and could not breath......lots of drugs and tests for that.
Frozen Shoulder treatment right now, due to my ICD this is ongoing as I type this.

This part is embarrassing but I thought it would add to my post, if tonight I walk into the ER myself and wife will be addressed by first names.
And yes they expedite me to the back part of the ER ( serious stuff ).

I have not posted a lot of tests and I have forgotten some of them, when I hit the reply button they will come to mind sure as the sun rises. :-)

Personally I wish I never had the reason to post this, as I would much rather be healthy. But this is what happened and let me tell you we will take the sky high taxes in Canada which saved my life and left our home intact so when I die the wife has a place to live and enjoy.

However what I type is the truth and we are not broke or bankrupt because of my illness.
Lord help someone in the States that ever experiences my problems.
Our costs so far.......ZERO .....but yes high taxes indeed.
Regards, Iwinder

a reply to: CleanCare

This bill highlights what is wrong with health care in America and I don't think people in other countries understand fully what is going on. I remember very well the Obamacare debates on these boards and how so many posters could not understand how people like myself would be against it.

So let me explain this as clearly as I can.....

The ACA aka Ovamacare is NOT Healthcare Reform in any way. It has very little to do with health care. Forcing people to buy insurance does nothing for healthcare.

For most of my life I had no insurance. I paid out of pocket for any treatment I have needed including surgeries. The problem is... if you have insurance you get charged more money. It has always been this way. Allow me to give a recent example...

5 years ago I needed new glasses. I had no insurance. After the exam, glasses etc etc I paid 250 dollars. 6 months ago I went for new glasses again. This time I had insurance. My bill? Well over 800 dollars. The only difference is that I paid 90 dollars out of pocket, the rest was billed to the insurance company. Why? Why did it cost so much more with insurance? If you want to reform healthcare, that is where you start.

We let our own get sick and die but everyone ok to go over to Iraq and drop million dollar bombs on ISIS to save some Iraq's that could care less to defend themselves or us if we needed help.