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Hospital bill shows need for reform
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009 | 2 a.m.
One glaring reason for a public insurance option, or national health care, or whatever you want to call it: my wife’s bill after a recent 1 1/2-day stay in a local hospital.
The breakdown:
Total charges: $10,526.00; amount paid by my insurance, $1,695.25; my insurance discount, $8,580.75; amount I paid, $0.00; amount I owe, $250.00.
My question to the folks who are fighting health care reform: What does a person with no insurance do? And why does a person with no insurance not get an $8,000 discount?
Discussion: comments so far…
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I had no insurance and stayed in a hospital.
It was a nice hospital and I had a room to myself.
I earned to much money to be on Medicaid and was not disable and therefore not qualified to be on Medicare.
The hospital wrote down some of the cost...like a discount.
A charity picked up the bulk of the bill.
I made payments over two years to pay off the rest of the bill.
The earth keep spinning and Sun rose in the east and set in the West.
It is not the end of the world.
I have no clue what Peter is whining about.
His wife got good healthcare at hospital and OMG he paid out $250.
hey private peeble...
what a clown you are...
man o man...
it really is funny how the loudest retarded republicans on these board are total and complete clowns...
hee hee hee...
let me get this straight...
you had no health care insurance...
you considered applying for medicaid...
wow wee...
that is just too damn funny!!!
Hey Peter: Health insurance companys offer hospitals a contract for there medical services the hospital either accepts or rejects that contract offer most will accept a reasonable offer. That way the hospital will always get paid for most services and not have to write off a whole bill like they would have to do for a uninsured person this way they always have money coming in. Now that $8000.00 Thats your discount for having insurance.
Mary Smith who had health insurance through her company suddenly received a cancer diagnosis. She now faces chemotherapy co-payments that she cannot afford. Because she is now unable to work and has to focus on treatment, she has been shifted to short-term disability for 90 days. After that she will lose her employer health insurance.
She can keep her insurance if she makes Cobra payments on her own, but without a paycheck, she can't afford the high cost of Cobra. She should;
a. Apply for a "Death Panel" hearing?
b. Ask her church for the $125,000 for the chemotherapy?
c. Thank the Republican party for killing her?
d. Ask John Ensign's parents for the money?
The correct answer is (d). If Ensign's parents were willing to shell out $100,000 to some tramp who seduced their little, Johnny how could they turn down this sick woman.
******************
Mary Smith overcame her cancer and is now faced with a $75,000 medical bill that arrives each month along with late charges and letters from collection agencies. She sold her house and cashed in her 401K and was able to pay some of her medical bill. She now has no job or means of support and no medical insurance for future checkups. If she could find a job her pre-existing condition will prohibit her from getting insurance from her employer for one year after the ninety day waiting period for her to apply. She should;
a. File for bankruptcy so her medical bills can be passed on to other insured suckers in the form of higher premiums and co-pays?
b. Thank the Republican Party for ruining her life?
c. Move to any other civilized country and apply for citizenship to obtain healthcare?
d. Ask John Ensign's parents for the money?
The correct answer is (d) Although Ensign's parents did not help with the original request for money, the bad press is starting to hurt little Johnny's slim reelection chances and they may change their minds.
************************
Mary Smith has been evicted from her tiny apartment. She is penniless and living on the streets. She cannot get the follow up treatment to monitor whether her cancer is in remission. She should.
a. Ask John Ensign's parents for some money?
b. Thank the Republican Party for ruining her life?
c. Do the "right thing" so she is no longer a burden to our great country?
d. Just be forgotten like millions of other americans without healthcare?
It's obvious by now that Ensign's parents are not going to pay up as people begin to realize he is a "chosen one."
If you are a Republican, (b), (c), & (d) are all correct answers as your low moral standards will easily allow you to forget what happened to Mary Smith, your former neighbor, co-worker, and longtime premium paying member of your insurance group.
There are four comments posted before this one. Two are apparently against government-run health care and they are intelligent comments. The two that are apparently in favor of government-run health care show that immature bashing is the best they can do. Sad.
larrys: The answers to the questions about "Mary Smith'", (alias), are intended to make opponents of universal health care squirm, among other intentions.
Unfortunately the details of the story are true, and becoming all too common. If we continue without major healthcare reform you will know many Mary Smiths, likely among your family and friends. At that time it will not be a story you can just read about and easily forget.
Peter,
Anecdotal evidence is great for story telling but useless for making an intelligent policy decision. If anecdotal evidence was good enough the world would still be flat, and the sun would revolve around the earth which stood at the center of the cosmos which was just 5,000 years old.
Dear Wayne,
True story:
Mr. Smith goes to the emergency room with chest pain. He is fifty years old and could work but instead lives with his mother and sister who basically support him. He has high blood pressure and diabetes.
He is uninsured. He says he smokes 3 packs per day of cigarettes. In his possession are two prescriptions for blood pressure and diabetes medicine that he got from a doctor he saw that are available for 4$ at Wall Mart. They are four days old and, obviously, unfilled.
He has been out of his meds for about three days. When asked why he doesn't stop smoking (at 450.00$/month) and purchase medical insurance he says, "You got me on that one, Doc". When asked why the scripts are not filled he says he hasn't had time to get them. When it is pointed out that he had time to get the smokes he shrugs his shoulders. He gets free medical care and stiffs the hospital and the Docs for the money.
As a Liberal you should:
a. Find Mr. Smith and give him a hug and go to the pharmacy for him every month and make sure he takes his meds?
b. Tell Mr. Smith that he has every right to smoke and live off his mom and sister and that you would be happy to support him with free medical insurance?
c. Start a root cause analysis of why this poor man has these problems and how George Bush must ultimately be responsible?
d. Talk all high and mighty about how you are going to save the world with other people's money?
Any good Lib knows the answer is".All of the Above!
The purpose of this true story is to get Liberals to THINK about something other than how they are going to save the world by taking from the productive class and giving it to every free loader and deadbeat that comes along. However, as any one knows, this is not really possible.
At no time now or in the future is care going to be denied to Mr. Smith, so if you're suggesting that the ER should lock it's doors when they see this slacker coming, it's not going to happen. The trick is it avoid the ER visit that cost's over $1,000 per visit and come up with another alternative that isn't so expensive, like a medicare type plan for the poor.
It took a long time for our society to develop people like Mr. Smith and they're going to be around for a good while so you better stop waiting for euthanasia by default for the lesser among us.
Most intelligent people realize that those $1,000 ER visits and $900 ambulance rides are being added to OUR healthcare premiums and co-pays as fast as insurance companies can print a new rate schedule. Hopefully your employer can give you a raise sometime in the future instead of having to pay skyrocketing costs to insure you.
Get sick and get an education on healthcare in America. Be prepared for an expensive lesson.
P.S. Mrs Smith didn't smoke or have diabetes. Our medical system killed her when cancer couldn't. Also, you're probably right about blaming Bush. Denying healthcare to kids as he did might have put a few more Mr. Smiths in our future.
You are my new favorite Liberal. You are such an ideologue that you completely missed all my points. If you are not careful, speaking your mind as you do, free and " as well as birdie are going to lobby to have you removed from this site.
Explain to us all how "society" developed Mr. Smith?
Explain how someone with prescriptions in his pocket for chronic medical conditions, when he is out of the medicine, is going to be convinced to become a compliant patient when he already isn't taking the medicine needed to prevent complications?
Your case of Mrs. Smith sounds made up to me. There are so many safety nets in place for the Mrs. Smith's of the world that you can hardly be taken seriously. The Mr. Smiths on the other hand are too legion to count.
I could go on and on but since you are better at making my points for me I'll just wait for your rebuttal.
pbm72: My 33 year old son has MS, lost his job and of course, his medical insurance.
Please post the list of safety nets you spoke of. Do not include emergency rooms, clinics, or the MS Society. Medicare takes two years until he's not able to pay for that. Be concise please, as I have wasted plenty of time already trying to find "safety nets."
Looking forward to your post.
What do you mean, "Medicare takes two years until he's not able to pay for that"?
Gordon;
Is he poor? Medicaid.
Is he disabled? Medicare/social security.
You won't here me say that things should not be done to help the unfortunate, unlucky, displaced (UMC has a clinic. Not sure why you are against clinics).
Do you know that it takes a poor person with a disabeling stroke over 100 days to get approved for Medicaid? Then try finding a place that will take Medicaid that will help them.
These are GOVERNMENT run health care plans. We want more government? I'm not saying the system doesn't need reform.
What a lot of people like me object to is Obama's plan to ram a 1000 page bill through with minimal debate because there is an emergency. An "urgency" sure. But let's come up with something resonable.
Oh, do you mean it takes two years to get Medicare? Well, there you are. Why don't we do something about that instead of giving health insurance over to politicians. Read what I posted today under the letter to the editor about the hospital bill. That's my point.
No one is advocating that society can't help people like your son. If he is in desperate need of medical care we can and should help him!
pbim72: He is disabled and gets $1780 a month for him and two children from SS. There is a 24 month waiting period for people under 65 who become disabled to get medicare. When he is eligible for medicare there will be no money in the budget to pay the premium. The drug Copaxone was what he took that successfully arrested the disease and, of course, he no longer has access to the drug ($22,000 annually). Of course we will help him with his economic problems but no clinic is going to provide the proper drugs, or perform MRI's to monitor the disease, along with other necessary health related care. If you need specifics he is $500 a month short on just paying for a roof over his head and partially supporting his kids. I provide the $500 but that's just for the basics.
Many people who have been laid off that had illnesses while they were working face the same situation. Basic needs come before their own health and they sacrifice themselves because they must. Those "safety nets" don't get to the core of the healthcare problem.
Look Gordon,
Like I said, you won't hear me saying there are not problems to be fixed. You would be better off lobbying congress to fix the gaps in medicare than trying to revise the whole system.