Perhaps. No doubt the medical billing and insurance industry is messed up, but the OP doesn’t give me enough information to see if the bill is reasonable or not. Also, can’t Americans get insurance through the Affordable Care Act?
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American Medical Bill
- Thread starter The Hammer
- Start date
Or maybe the hospital writes it off. Don’t really have enough info.
Maybe.
Soandso
ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚢᚱᛖ
...If they make under a certain amount, usually as part of a low income/welfare benefit. A lot of Americans make just above that minimum level and go without health insurance when they need to choose between paying rent and bills or paying for health insurance
Insurance companies are big knowledgeable consumers
of health care. They negotiate the unpublished nominal
(ie, sucker) prices down to something reasonable. Health
care providers know this is standard procedure. The
average consumer doesn't play the game, both because
of lack of knowledge, & lack of bargaining power.
I know some fell tactics when dealing with hospitals.
But I don't need them cuz I'm well insured. Woe unto
the feckless consumer who racks up a big bill.
Maybe if Americans didn’t eat like crap they wouldn’t have to go to the hospital so much.
Soandso
ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚢᚱᛖ
When it comes to the VA paying for it? Absolutely it's the tax payers
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
The fact that the rest of the first world has universal healthcare and none of them would trade their system for ours speaks for itself, along with aforementioned fact that the millions are driven into medical debt; a uniquely American problem. It's ghoulish, predatory, and can't be glossed over with bootstrap bull****.
But the VA didn’t pay the whole thing. The VA only approved about 1/10 of the total.
Yer preach'n to the choir, bub.
I loathe the current system.
Any thoughts about my recommendations?
Soandso
ᛋᛏᚨᚾᛞ ᛋᚢᚱᛖ
Well that's a flippant attitude to have
Thankfully it wasn't a stroke. It was an occular migrane. Ended up being nothing bad, but that didn't make it any less scary of an experience
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
Same with schools, roads, police and fire departments, libraries, parks, etc.
Also: Single-Payer Systems Likely to Save Money in US, Analysis Finds
Or the Swiss system with choice of provider. It's a pretty expensive system compared to every country besides the US but more palatable to those who want choice.
With my original Medicare, the system works like that except it's my choice whether or not to buy "medigap" insurance. That's why many are saying "medicare for all".
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
The elites want it expensive.
Pays for the Bentley, BMWs, and Porsche's for the kids to drive into trees in a drunken stupor.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Yep. Corporations and the 1 % sure don't pay any taxes.
Twilight Hue
Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
That's about around $2,111 an hour. Probably laying in a bed doing nothing and having nobody around at all save for one visit by an aid to take your blood pressure with a cheap battery operated device.
And this is why, despite the longer wait times and clearly overworked doctors, I will never ever complain about our Medicare system here. And indeed the government wants to constantly chip away at it and adopt a more US style approach, since they make a fraction of what the US does in terms of medical profits.
And I’ll fight tooth and nail to stop that from happening. Sorry but I wouldn’t trade ours for the US model even if you paid me
Subduction Zone
Veteran Member
It looks like the VA paid only $1,348.26 of that bill. Over eleven thousand was not covered and it appears that the hospital has to eat it. But the hospital probably came out just fine. Hospitals have a tendency to ridiculously pad bills under our system. The insurance companies do not pay for that padding. They have agreements with the hospitals on how much they will take. The US government tells them how much that they will pay them The only people that can be threatened by such bills are the uninsured. And they still do exist.
Father Heathen
Veteran Member
I liked them, and I believe that in most other countries private practices are an option.