Effin Healthcare

[clif]

good stuff rotary#$543$5657%^7&%^&$#%

ha. paying for stuff. not a chance.

[bcombs]

Is there any other industry where you have to ask for an itemized invoice to make sure the company isn't ripping you off? And you have to ask for said invoice because the default is to rip you off? Maybe used car sales. Fuck, even the dope guy is willing to tell you the price in advance, plus he'll probably front you.

[dollyjn]

I use itemized receipts regularly for most everything (even food). The tax man requires it.

[Rotarypwr345704]

Bcombs, The answer is Yes and No.

In sooo many cases there are outrageous bills because the wrong code was used, which is hard to understand how that would happen if you haven't had to attempt to code anything before. Usually, the claim is denied because the code that was used doesn't meet "medical necessity" for that particular individual. So the insurance company denies the claim even if the procedure has already been performed, thus leaving the patient with the whole bill. But the beautiful thing is, it can be appealed and it's not that big of a deal to do.

And yes, some if not most, hospitals do add "services" that were never performed. But from a business standpoint, can you blame them? As a business, you can charge whatever you want and if people keep paying without question, then who is really to blame? From an ethical standpoint I personally believe that is wrong, but again why charge $5 for something when i know someone will pay $20?

[dustonian]

Because it's fraud and hopefully soon to be explicitly illegal. If this is regularly happening then it is a major source of suffering and expanding the problem exponentially. People who do this need to be dragged into the street, beaten severely, then thrown into jail for at least a decade. I generally work with a bunch of smart, well-intentioned idealists at UK and to hear about this kind of bullshit perpetrated by unscrupulous paper-pushing scumbags is truly sickening.

[Rotarypwr345704]

Couldn't agree with you more. All doctors and nurses I've worked with have legitimately cared about the well-being of the patients first and foremost. I work for a private practice and he has absolutely no idea what he gets paid for anything that he does. And he set it up that way from day one. But there is one hospital in town here that has laid off some 400 jobs all while the CEO's salary went from 1.1 million a year to 1.6 million a year. Oh, did I mention that the BOD who could actually step in and not allow this to happen also happened to get raises somewhere in the ballpark of $300,000 year/per person? You wanna lower healthcare cost get rid of the Suits and Lawyers.

[Crankmas]

+1 and congress

[NEOD]

Health Care is a service...not an entitled right...

[mike_a_lafontaine]

No it is not, because all physicians educated in this country take the Hippocratic oath, which if it means anything to them, they are swearing to treat any and all patients to the best of their ability regardless of compensation. Thus it becomes their duty to provide care, making it an entitled right to anyone who seeks their assistance.

[pigsteak]

No it is not, because all physicians educated in this country take the Hippocratic oath, which if it means anything to them, they are swearing to treat any and all patients to the best of their ability regardless of compensation. Thus it becomes their duty to provide care, making it an entitled right to anyone who seeks their assistance.