Medical costs!

[Boomyal]

The problem of medical costs are probably multifaceted but we just had an experience that typifies a signifigant part of the problem.

We have an insurance carrier that has contractual agreements with a local clinic. It is close to our home and has been around for a long time.

Mrs Boomyal just went to have various skin lessions zapped off with liquid nitrogen, 12 in all. The proceedure took all of twenty minutes. It did not involve any cutting, stitching or biopsies, just zap, zap, zap.

We just got the billing report from the insurance company. The total bill was $550.00 of which she had to pay $332.00 with deductables and copays.

I hit the fan and told her to call the insurance company and report the exhorbatent charges. They did not want to hear it. They stated that they had contractual price agreements with the Clinic and that was that.

So we called the clinic. They have one price code for these proceedures whether they have to cut or sutcher. End of subject.

This is, pure and simple, a problem of the Third Party Payee Syndrome. Is there any mystery why so much of the American Public is clamoring for someone else to pay these attrocious charges?

All the while, the solution is within their grasp and it is not National Healthcare.

Eliminate the medical insurance game, get it only for catastrophic problems and have employers make payments into medical savings accounts that can then be administered by the individual. If people have direct control of the purse strings you will see costs plummet.

IMHO this is a problem that the Democrats are trying to use, not to solve the problem but to come up with a supposed solution that garners power unto themselves.

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Medical costs!

[colour=blue]Why is national healthcare NOT a solution?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Medical costs!

Aldo, it is because our Constitution dictates that the Federal Govenment's responsibility is to PROMOTE our general welfare, not to PROVIDE for it. And this was done for a very good reason. Our Forefathers were smart enough to know that a government strong enough to give us everything was also strong enough to take everything.

Something that children are no longer being taught in our GOVERNMENT controlled schools.

 

[roscoe]

Re: Medical costs!

Sorry Boomyal, but if you want consumer control, YOU have to first start acting like a consumer. An informed consumer, must investigate all options.

Did YOU inquire about the cost of said procedure before your wife had it done?

Did YOU ask the clinic what the charges would be if you paid cash, with no insurance company involvement? BTDT, often times its cheaper just to pay it yourself.

YOU perpetuated the third party payer problem by not inquiring. Instead, YOU just went along, thinking the insurance company would pay.

The deductibles and co-pays are part of your insurance policy. Why were you not aware of them?

$550 to remove 12 lesions, not bad. Would you have felt better if she only had 3 removed, for $350?

Was this medically necessary, or an optional procedure?

You could have done it yourself. Just go to your freezer and pull out your liquid nitrogen, and have at it. Or did you let your supply run low?

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Medical costs!

[colour=blue]Promoting general welfare includes alliviating financial burdens, especially ones that seem to be spiralling out of control.

A government sponsored healthcare scheme is still paid for by the tax payers, the very same people that vote every 4 years (or so). You decide and you pay.

The upside is - the gov knows that their fate is in your hands, they search for (they have massive negotiating power) for cheaper drugs and cheaper doctors etc.

And the kicker is, it's all for non-profit.

It works, boom. All you need to do is trust them.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Medical costs!

.......$550 to remove 12 lesions, not bad.

Not too bad, eh roscoe? $550 for 20 minutes work. No special tools, no special talent. All for the paltry rate of $1650 an hour.

Any private practice Dermatologist would have done it for the price of a standard office call. Indeed, she has had similar treatment from the same clinic in the past for nothing more than a standard office visit charge.

Your attempt to justify what went on here is pretty lame.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Medical costs!

[colour=blue]Promoting general welfare includes alliviating financial burdens, especially ones that seem to be spiralling out of control.

Sorry Aldo, won't wash. Alleviating someones financial burden would be considered 'providing' by Noah Webster.

 

[Dunaruna]

Re: Medical costs!

[colour=blue]How is that different to 'providing' a tax deduction, something that we all accept and sometimes demand?

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Medical costs!

[colour=blue]How is that different to 'providing' a tax deduction, something that we all accept and sometimes demand?

From your apparent perspective a tax deduction is the government giving you it's money.

From my perspective, a tax deduction, is simply me being able to keep money that was mine in the first place.

IMLTHO, a prime distinction between socialism and a free capitalistic society.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Medical costs!

Did YOU ask the clinic what the charges would be if you paid cash, with no insurance company involvement? BTDT, often times its cheaper just to pay it yourself.

Nope,........ Totally Untrue.......

If you offer to Pay Cash,............

The Normal Price goes UP about 40%...........

 

[tommays]

Re: Medical costs!

When you dont have insurance and pay cash YOU pay for the break they give people with insurance


For example the anesthesia provider is NEVER in any plan and your at there mercy

And given what just happened at walter reed goverment and health care seems a bad idea


One of the really bad trends is doctors owning part of MRI or CT places and then sending you to THERE place for a costly test you really do not need


Tommays

 

[Kiwi Phil]

Re: Medical costs!

Aldo and me come from the other side of the fence Boomyall.
Just believe me, our system works well, very well indeed.
Cheers
Phillip

 

[rwise]

Re: Medical costs!

many places here DO have two prices and the the price for cash is LOWER than the insured price! I have checked with my Dr's offices, the price is higher for insurance because of the negotiated price, the wait time for payment, and so on. The nitrogen can be had at wallmart to remove these yourself if you want to take the risk of causing more problems (however small that may be). Free? We are NOT Free, we are over taxed over regulated (to many stupid laws) and it gets worse every day!

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Medical costs!

I have the same problem as your wife's - lesions caused by years of sun exposure. My insurance cost is minimal for the first 3 removed. Beyond that, it's considered cosmetic by the insurance company and my cost skyrockets.

 

[treedancer]

Re: Medical costs!

Quote Bond-o

Nope,........ Totally Untrue.......

If you offer to Pay Cash,............

The Normal Price goes UP about 40%...........


Not in this area bond-o. My oldest son had to get an eye exam, He was between jobs, , took him to my eye Doctor he is a member one of the best eye clinics in the area. Went to the main office informed about there price schedule, as I had just been there the previous week for my annual eye exam, my insurance had paid them so I knew what the current charges were I spoke to the office manager and she quoted me the sticker price. I ask why that is different than the price my insurance paid, she said that the insurance has thousand s of customers. I said well I have the money when your done not two months down the line, she said in that case 33 per cent off the sticker.Not in them exact words but had the same effect.

 

[JB]

Re: Medical costs!

As most of you know, my immediate family includes one RN, one Master Nurse Practitioner, two Nurse Anethestists, a Physical Therapist and a PT assistant.

The subject of health care and its cost are a frequent topic at family gatherings.

Here are some of their (unanimous) thoughts:

1. The costs of frivolous litigation and astronomical awards for honest errors are borne by patients who pay.

2. The costs of health care for indigent and other "non paying" patients is borne by patients who pay.

3. The costs of malpractice insurance are borne by patients who pay.

4. The costs of repayment of student loans the health care people used to get their training and credentials are borne by patients who pay. It costs about a million bux to train a neurosurgeon from scratch.

5. The costs of new technology that allows accurate diagnoses where diagnosis was not available and improves diagnostic accuracy is borne by patients who pay.

All of this is included before diagnosis or treatment begins.

It is the cost of the underground universal health care system in this country.

Turn it over to bureaucrats and it would be worse, in my opinion..

 

[Drowned Rat]

Re: Medical costs!

Work the system right back at them. Is your wife completely satisfied with the results? Did she have any adverse affects? Anything? Pain from the procedure that wasn't addressed to your satisfaction?

The insurance/doctor relationship is designed to be beyond the consumer's understanding and that's criminal in my opinion. If you can find something that didn't go just right with the procedure, start asking questions. If you ask the right questions, the Dr's office will write off the bill. Don't look at it as frivolous, look at it as defending yourself.

 

[JB]

Re: Medical costs!

Yeah, DR.

How to be one of the patients who don't pay. Make everybody else pay for it instead.

Surely you don't mean that.

 

[xtraham]

Re: Medical costs!

also ask about your prescription med cost,
when I had insurance, I would ask the cost with insurance, then ask the cash price, you would not believe how many prescribed med's are cheaper if you pay cash than the co-pay,
example, the wife takes a maintenance med that cost 75.00 "cash" every 12 weeks, insurance cost out of pocket was 90.00
I called the insurance company to find the reason for this, and the only answer that they could give me, was because of company negotiated policies........
so always ask, because the same goes with office visits.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Medical costs!

time=1173798690 user=xtraham uid=81966 fid=20 tid= rid=18] [colour=red]...I called the insurance company to find the reason for this, and the only answer that they could give me, was because of company negotiated policies........[/colour]

Verbatim to what my insurance company stated. I asked the girl, how in good conscience, as a human being and as a consumer, can you sit there and justify to me the acceptance of these rates for this kind of proceedure?

The same thing was just repeated back to me. Kinda reminded me of Ali doing his rope-a-dope routine with 'ol Joe. Makes you mad enough to want to get the two by four out and drop 'em to the mat.