Yet another problem that doesn't exist in single-payer systems.
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How many pills for the heartbreak of psoriasis and other banes of the elderly that are generously covered by medicare do we need? Shouldn't we choose to cover kids and young families? Let's cover the young for medical care and provide generous palliative end of life care for our seniors. I am old and unhealthy and spending a couple million dollars to keep me alive for another year or two is a waste of money and cruel and unusual punishment for me. Spending money on painful disfiguring procedures with minimal effectiveness while our kids can make a real difference. Saveing the young and providing comfort the elderly is the way to go.
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@Liam There are zero pills for psoriasis that cost millions of dollars. The pills for psoriasis are also not usually generously covered by Medicare. In my experience, Medicare often denies coverage for the better pills or requires an unaffordable copay for elderly patients on a fixed income.
If you're able to write this post, you're well enough to tell your doctor or medical center no to your treatments. That is completely your right.
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I refused care for procedures that I thought were gilding the lilly at a top flight teaching hospital and the Docs reacted like I had just grown a new head. Every place that I have sought care has been reluctant to refuse to perform expensive procedures that were covered by my generous health insurance. But the Medical Center has no scruples about turning away the uninsured or underinsured. Child birth and kids don't get care because they are too young to have fat bank accounts and don't vote
There are a bunch of new drugs that have sales over a billion dollars directed at the overinsured elderly market, are virtually no new drugs for conditions like malaria, and other diseases of the poor.
11
As a relatively young physician, hearing stories like this break my heart. I hate sending sick patients to the hospital for simple treatment like IV fluids, because I know I'm dooming them to a ridiculous hospital bill.
Two weeks ago, I got viral gastroenteritis and vomited for 8 hours. I knew I needed to go to the emergency room, but my wife (another physician) refused to let me, knowing our deductible is $8000. It's a sad state when two physicians refuse to seek medical help due to the cost.
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What about the matter of TikTok being a tool of spy craft or otherwise not a secure service or venue for sensitive or private information (see related NYT and other articles)?
9
When I retired 2 years ago at age 74, I often heard that medical expenses would be extraordinary over my remaining life. I knew I was in good health and that my mother lived until 97 with few medical issues. So, I was dismissive of that warning.
Then in November I got a 3 page letter from Social Security advising me that my premium for Medicare parts B and D would be increased from $135 per month to $426.70 per month.
I’ll do the math. Thats $5,120.40 per year. If I live to my mother’s age of 97, assuming no further increases in premiums (joke), that will be $107,528.40 over my lifetime.
Of course, that will be deducted from my monthly Social Security “benefit”. Each trip to the Social Security office produced different, conflicting ways to appeal.
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@Bob
That is a suspect result. The Part B and Part D premiums are fixed; what differs in both cases is the IRMAA add-on. That is a function of income, not age or health status.
10
@Bob People in the US seem to think that Medicare is "free" and indeed it is not "free." Nothing is free. We have to pay for it one way or another.
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Well, for the ones with Facebook, post this information and tell people what to ask for.....
1
Just seems like madness from where I'm sitting. When you're ill, the last thing you want to do is have to estimate whether it's cheaper to drive yourself or take an ambulance. I don't miss the US healthcare system at all.
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Here is the best tip. Vote all Blue in November.
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"Medical debt is a leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States."
The answer is going to a Chinese short video website that is mostly watched by teens???
This shows how far from reality we are in America. Republicans constantly tell us that
any type of national healthcare is simply socialism and equates it basically with devil worship. The Trump CULT eats up this rubbish thinking like it's candy.
National health care is not socialism - it is common sense.
Republicans used the the same strategy decades ago when Democrats proposed social security. Do you think any Republican senior citizens want to get rid of social security now?
Anybody home???
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Someone seriously needs to do an article on Kaiser Healthcare; an insurance company pretending to be a healthcare company. You know how hard it is to get reimbursed by an insurance company after a motor accident or for home damage? Well, that's how it's like trying to get things done under Kaiser. Took me three months to get surgery for an excruciating intestinal blockage caused by adhesions; the last month I was not eating any solid food, just drinking. After basic, and mindlessly stupid tests (they made me eat the white of a single egg!), I actually had a doctor tell me that since the tests came back okay, so there was nothing more they could do for me! My Kaiser records, had written on them "Not to be viewed by patient." They are my records! That, after an MRI showed I needed surgery which they didn't want to provide. I had to go elsewhere to get the surgery. I'm again in the same situation and now they refuse to give me an MRI at all!
If all you need is a flu shot, Kaiser is great - darn expensive flu shot, however. But if you really need healthcare, it's utterly useless for the manual worker with a lifetime of injuries and poor healthcare. And every visit is like the inquisition; by design, not there to help you, but to hinder you.
No wonder they losing money hand over fist and people are losing their jobs.
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@James Devlin
I hear you. Years ago under Kaiser, my wife had a heart problem which Kaiser dismissed with a home stay for two weeks. I took her to a local physician who examined her and said she had Periocarditus. He called Kaiser immediately and threatened them with a suit if she wasn't accepted at their hospital. Basically, he saved her life. I'll never forget that edisode and I would never join Kaiser.
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Another thing that insurance companies routinely charge for is lab tests done as part of an annual, routine exam. These tests should be 100% covered under an ACA compliant insurance plan. However, even if recommended and ordered by a doctor, the insurance company will undoubtedly charge for some portion of those lab tests- even tests for conditions that affect a significant percentage of the population. After paying many thousands of dollars annually for the insurance, you can't even be assured of getting a routine annual exam and testing covered. I usually end up with bills in the many hundreds of dollars.
13
Good for Ms.Zavala who was able to fight off all those unnecessary and over priced charges and bringing it down to $0. It is a shame how the medical system is in this country. There’s people out there that refrain from going to the ER because of these appalling situations, where you have no idea what the balance is of your care until you receive it in the mail. Sadly this is exacerbating people’s conditions simply for the scare of medical care cost.
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Please dear American neighbours--it's time to demonstrate in the streets, bug Congress and do whatever it takes to get government universal health care.
If I wind up in the ER, in the coronary unit, or in an operating room here in Canada, what will I have to pay--ZERO.
Yes,we have waiting lists for non-life-threatening procedures but no one goes bankrupt because of medical bills.
What are you waiting for???
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I am shocked and saddened. Many of the comments don't acknowledge and appreciate that we are number 1 in healthcare. Sad.
1
No we’re not. Many other countries have better outcomes. And they have no out of pockets costs.
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@Pomy We have the best healthcare facilities in the world - if you can afford it. Even our "typical" healthcare facilities are great - again if you can afford it. But overall - no we are not #1.
21
Talk about being out of touch. Wow!
20
My favorite was...the hospital was in network but the doctor at that hospital was not. Insurance will not cover it, and the hospital will not apply a self-pay discount because I do have insurance.
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@MWH That is a huge risk and it is a common occurrence in ER visits as hospital outsource doctors. Patients don't realize that they are being served by a doctor that is not a part of the network and bam... there goes a grand.
11
This is good. But won’t they simply learn to shroud their prices and charges better to withstand such inquiries?
3
Hospitals are just trying to wring money out of people who don’t know how to fight them.
I had a nerve block done in June 2019- a scheduled, routine visit in the pain clinic. Last month I received a bill. My insurance had paid $1,300 and they balance billed me for $4,000. Utterly insane especially since I’m on Medicaid. I waited for the statement from my insurance then called the hospital to dispute the bill. As I expected, they claimed it was a mistake and they “never” balance bill Medicaid patients. By the time I called, they had already sent the bill to collections (less than a month after they sent me the bill) so I had to call the collection agency to straighten them out.
I know that not everyone knows to make these phone calls to question the ruinous bills and it makes me so angry to know that they play these games, counting on people to try and pay up. The fact that they sent it to collections so quickly is terrifying. They’re not only greedy, they’re intentionally wrecking people’s credit too.
I wound up in the ER last month on the advice of my doctor. I had a CT scan and lab tests. I can’t wait to see what they try with that bill.
30
I'm still paying for a routine checkup from October. I got another bill yesterday evening for a "brief emotional assessment" which the doctor billed my insurance $20 for and I'm stuck paying for the rest. $5.63 out of pocket for filling out a piece of paper asking if I'm depressed and if I want antidepressants. I declined, was offered no referral for therapy, and I was billed for a 40 second conversation.
The state of medical care in this country is unreal.
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@Gen Just to follow up, I know I sound petty complaining about a $5 out of pocket expense but to think that this happens daily to people who are seriously ill and who perhaps cannot afford surprise bills even with insurance... the system is broken and something has to give.
6
@Gen A friend of mine was recently billed $9 for "smoking cessation counseling" after his doctor told him he should stop smoking during a visit for intestinal problems. Not something he asked for; he has no interest in quitting. It's ridiculous.
9
@Gen You're not petty to be complaining about this. I've also had the experience of having to pay a co-pay out of pocket ($20) for a routine checkup- something that is 100% covered under my insurance plan. The explanation from the doctor was that if he/she provides a referral or writes a prescription then the co-pay must be paid. What is a routine annual exam for if not to also get help with prescription refills and referrals? Are they only to take your blood pressure and peer down your throat? When I asked for a refund of the co-pay, it was promised but never sent.
10
The U.S. healthcare system is broken and hospitals tend to be thieves. I was charged thousands of dollars for an emergency room visit that included an ultrasound of my knee, a routine blood panel and ten minutes of time with an ER doc who ordered the tests and then referred me to an orthopedist. The hospital told me that the bill was 700 dollars which I paid upfront as an uninsured patient. I paid it with a credit card. Since then, I received an itemized bill for almost 6000 dollars which they discounted by 60 percent and then credited my 700 dollar payment. But they said I still owed then over 1800 dollars. This was for a couple of tests, and a ten minute medical consult. Obviously, we will all go bankrupt with these hospital charges. International comparisons show that we spend more per capita than any other advanced country with serious deficiences in our coverage system. We charge multiples of what other countries charge for tertiary care. Canadians and Australians have better care, better outcomes and pay less than half of what we do.
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@Yankelnevich
For the Commwealth countries, make that a tenth of what we pay in the USA.
6
Just another example why we stand alone in the civilized world with our rapacious for-profit healthcare system.
Those reading this article in other countries must be flabbergasted that people living in the richest, most advanced nation in the world accept this state of affairs when it comes to their health, the most important thing any of us have.
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The never-ending stories and reports about the lack of transparency with medical costs, surprise bills, the arbitrary nature of determining charges for services, the cozy relationship to insurance companies, the enormous yearly wasted administrative costs, and the comparisons to the rest of the civilized world point to the same conclusion. The US healthcare system is broken, completely. Factor in worse outcomes then the question is who is served?
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@Moses
Exactly correct. We all know who is served; the question is why so many in our country just accept the system and the politicians who perpetuate it.
38