captainbananas posted:

even for people lucky enough to work for organizations that offer affordable insurance plans, the difference in employer-negotiated rates for those plans is also eye-opening. I was working for a 10k+ person joint, but we opted for my wife's insurance for both of us because she was working for the largest employer in one of the largest counties in the US and they threw their weight around with insurance companies. We saved a couple grand a year on co-pays and witholdings.

just fuckin nationalize it already

Buck Turgidson posted:

ok here's a fun exercise. open your search engine of choice and look up "usa average cost covid-19 hospital stay"

god bless america. i don't know how you stay sane to be honest.

Dreylad posted:

roomforthetuna posted:

79 C-section deliveries seems like a lot to have in one day.

roomforthetuna posted:

79 C-section deliveries seems like a lot to have in one day.

Pittsburgh Fentanyl Cloud posted:

There's no CPT codes on that for some reason but they're usually billed by time

roomforthetuna posted:

That seems reasonable, though $39 per minute still seems like a lot, and delivering a bill that describes that as "quantity: 79" should be a crime. It can almost only be intentional obfuscation to make people compliant. If the bill had one unclear thing you might question it, but if literally the entire thing is completely inscrutable where do you even start?

roomforthetuna posted:

but if literally the entire thing is completely inscrutable where do you even start?

skooma512 posted:

The only thing worse than getting a bill, is not getting a bill. Who knows if it's just sitting around on file waiting to go to collections?

William Gibson, All Tomorrow's Parties posted:

RYDELL'S father, dying of cancer, had told Rydell a story. He claimed to have gotten it from a book of famous last words, or if not famous then at least memorable.

This man was being executed in England, back in the old days, when execution was made as deliberately hard a thing as possible, and after being burned with hot irons, broken on the wheel, and various other horrific punishments, the man was shown the block, the headsman's ax. And having been closed-mouthed and stolid throughout his various tortures, he had looked at the ax and the block and the burly headsman and made no reply at all.

But then another torturer arrived, carrying an assortment of terrible-looking tools, and the man was informed that he was to be disemboweled prior to his beheading.

The man sighed. “More trouble,” he said.

Pittsburgh Fentanyl Cloud posted:

I have a pretty good plan, we have no kids, and I'm paying $172.80 every two weeks for premiums.

My wife takes a medication that's $28K every two months, I figure if they ever stop covering that we're hosed lol

Griz posted:

urgent care is for when you're uninsured and need antibiotics for an infected cut, or you think you have pneumonia or strep throat or something and it's not getting better on its own.

Kreeblah posted:

I took a look at their API on my insurance company's web site for responding to their inquiry. Responding with a “no” to other insurance is recorded as a “yes” if you later request the data back, and it’s not clear whether responding with a “no” to their request about Medicare eligibility is properly recorded. It seems to be in some places, but not others.

It's literally impossible for me to submit a response in a way which will cause them to pay out a claim. And good loving luck to me in getting anybody to understand what the gently caress I'm talking about.

Pittsburgh Fentanyl Cloud posted:

lol that's so they can deny and send you a letter asking you to verify that you have no other insurance. My insurerr five years ago did that to me even though I verified that I had no other insurance in response to a previous request. And I worked for them.

You can verify and ask them to resubmit the claim but every layer of inconvenience makes it more likely you say 'gently caress it' and give up.

net work error posted:

Health insurance companies loving suck

Cow Bell posted:

a year or two ago i was working at a grocery store and my garbage rear end health plan was something ridiculous like 10% of my weekly check in a premium and also had a massive deductible. i don't know if that insurance ever paid for a single thing.

then my teeth exploded and i had to get two pulled and a root canal and a bridge put in and it cost 4,000 dollars and dental doesn't come with health care. i put it on credit

lobster shirt posted:

two weeks ago we found out that my wife had miscarried, and she was far enough along that they had to do a d&c to get the remains of the baby out of her. we're obviously very sad, we had named the kid and everything. we are also stressed out waiting on the various bills we're going to get for this procedure, and also lol at mental healthcare, my wife's employee assistance plan will pay for i think 6 therapy sessions and then after that she's on her own.

country fuckin sucks.

Skyl3lazer posted:

Oh and here's the biologic I couldn't possibly pay for

Marx Headroom posted:

I'm speechless. What kind of business model turns a profit covering $23,200 of a $23,230 bill on a regular basis for one person?

Marx Headroom posted:

I'm speechless. What kind of business model turns a profit covering $23,200 of a $23,230 bill on a regular basis for one person?

Harik posted:

just the usual fuckery for me, my insurance denied a claim so they're coming to me directly lmao

gently caress off and talk to my insurance you were pre-approved submit the right loving billing code.

if i'm really bored and feeling like my blood pressure is extra low sometime i'll deal with it.

quote:

Last summer, Ms. Lane started receiving debt collection notices. The letters, sent by the health plan Cigna, said she owed the insurer over $257,000 for the bills it accidentally covered for Alexandra’s care after Ms. Lane switched health insurers.

Ms. Lane was flummoxed: It was Cigna that had received the initial bill for care and had paid Mount Sinai West. Now, Cigna was seeking the money it had overpaid the hospital by turning to the patient.

…

Americans are familiar with medical debt: About 18 percent of them have an outstanding bill from a hospital, doctor or other type of provider in the health system. But most do not expect to get collection notices for bills that were already paid by their health plan.

…

Ms. Lane received the first collection notice about 18 months after her daughter’s death. Her family had switched health plans in the middle of Alexandra’s hospital stay because of a change in employment.

The day Ms. Lane went into labor with Alexandra was supposed to be her last day at the first job, before starting a new position a few weeks later.

“I was terrified of getting hit with a massive bill, so even while I was in labor I was updating my insurance with Mount Sinai,” Ms. Lane recalled.

The hospital appeared to have both insurance plans on file — Cigna for 2018 coverage, and UnitedHealthcare for 2019. But Cigna accidentally covered the entire bill, overpaying $257,000 for the baby’s care in January that should have been paid by UnitedHealthcare.
A Mount Sinai representative told the Lanes that UnitedHealthcare did in fact pay the bill — meaning the bill was paid twice — but that did not resolve what appears to be a wider issue that Mount Sinai has with Cigna.

When Ms. Lane received the first collection notice, she contacted the hospital. A patient services representative apologized and, over email, wrote that “Cigna is going to receive back” the overpayment. The third-party contractor that sent the letter, on Cigna’s behalf, also told her the matter would be settled within days.

…

The notices that the Lanes received both informed them of the debt and asked them to “pay in full” within 30 days, using a slip at the bottom of the letter meant to be sent back with payment.

HMS declined to comment for this article, citing its patient privacy practices. The Lanes have requested that Mount Sinai and Cigna provide statements on letterhead that the family does not owe this debt. No such letter has yet been provided, although Mount Sinai says it will issue one in coming weeks.

skooma512 posted:

https://mattstoller.substack.com/p/the-villains-behind-our-medical-supply

"The Corrupt System Behind Covid Medical Shortages
Why are we still facing shortages of masks and medicine a year and a half after the start of the pandemic? Because a buying cartel controls medical supplies, and has for 25 years."