Medical Billing Errors - WTHELLO

[Muddyboots]

Gong to LGS, need some smiles..

 

[Old Rooster]

Enjoy your day buddy

 

[snox801]

I know folks that don't have any insurance as it is so expensive.
Too young for medicare and have older folks health problems but can't go to the doctor or dentist so what else does the greatest country on this earth have to offer?Our tax dollars should go for something other than line political leaders pockets.
I'm lucky as I have a supplement and medicare but millions don't have anything.They are one accident from abject poverty.
Something needs to be done.

Our tax dollars do in fact go to that.
Over 2/3 of our spending is social programs.
First of all most those same people you talk about I would bet have a cell phone car and other things. I self insure so I know the cost. The fact is it's usually a choice. Is it expensive yes. But I see many people forgo buying insurance for cell phones clothes and entertainment.
I've never met a person or known of one that is giving up all that and making the sacrifices who can't get help from the social fabrics of society. Churches, synagogues and the likes.
My church help countless mentally disabled people on a weekly basic.
Again this is all avoided by keeping the government out not having them take more. As stated in an above post as pii oh g as the coding is right they pay. So it's ripe for fraud.
I personally have had a ton of orthopedic surgery. The fact that you can't even get a quote for a simple procedure is part the problem. They know exactly how much it cost to X-ray and cast a arm. But they will never say because they want to find out what's covered first.
Not saying the system needs help but government funding is not the solution.
Please give one example of where that worked?
Poverty nope worse per capita, social security nope going bankrupt, education nope. Money keeps getting g poured in and results get worse.
All I ask is to do some research for yourself before talking about single payer. It sounds great but play it out more than just short term.

 

[birddog 68]

What's amazing to me is these "errors" are always in the favor of of the billing party. These errors happen in phone, cable and even restaurant bills but they are usually only a few dollars compared to hundreds or thousands on medical bills!

 

[P7M13]

Gong to LGS, need some smiles..

May they be unboxing 8 lb'ers of all the powders you need as you walk in.

 

[JimFromTN]

This could be the dumbest thing I've every heard.
Please do some more research into this.
First out system has by far the best quality of outcome of any country period.
Second again the problem is the government getting in the way. Red tape, money, and the fda.
I could find millions of examples of people from other countries mainly Canada coming here for care. Why?
If we get rid of our system you may not have the option for the care that saves your life.
What we need to do is get some type of transparency in that system and let the market work.
Take a look at lasik for example. When it came out it was very expensive. But most insurance won't cover it, and government backed care would not either. With time and supply demand cost has come down so low you can get it done much cheaper.
Heck I know people that paid less for that than I did for 20 stitches in a finger.
First bill was $1300 when I called said I had no insurance or money.(true at the time) bill magically like Jesus magic came to $389.

it is absolutely untrue that our system has by far the best quality of outcome of any country period. We are probably somewhere around 40th in the world, if that high. Cuba has a longer life expectancy and a lower infant death mortality rate. We do, on the other hand, spend more per capita on healthcare in this country than any other country in the world.

We don't need a universal healthcare system, we need a universal health insurance system. A prime example is medicare. I don't know anyone on medicare that is waiting in any lines or can't get any life saving procedures. All providers accept it and they all get paid. You don't have bean counters determining whether or not its more profitable to let someone die or not. The other great thing is you can't be turned down or over charged for pre-existing health conditions. Old people would be dropping like flies if they didn't have medicare because they are uninsurable and they would be dying penniless. No one is going to insure an 80 yr old with a heart condition.

As for lasik, its the same price it always was. There has always been a cheap option. When I had my lasik done, you could have it done for $300 an eye from someone who bought a used machine and attended a week long training. Sometimes you would see places offering to do it for $100 an eye. These people aren't necessarily eye doctors or had any training in the field. Are you going to trust your vision to them? If you do, you must not value your eyesight. It is a good example of what happens when you have a free market where there is not enough regulation.

As for you example of $1300 bill and they charged you $389, thats the price they charge the insurance, maybe a little more. Most if not all providers will give you a reduced rate if you are uninsured but can pay cash or plop down a credit card. The reason for the enormous cost of most healthcare is because they are trying to get a percentage of it and never expect it to be paid in full. Also, they charge as much as they do to help cover the cost of people who are uninsured and don't have the money. In other words, they probably could have charged you $250 but they need you to help pay for the guy who skipped on his bill.

 

[mongo4567]

it is absolutely untrue that our system has by far the best quality of outcome of any country period. We are probably somewhere around 40th in the world, if that high. Cuba has a longer life expectancy and a lower infant death mortality rate. We do, on the other hand, spend more per capita on healthcare in this country than any other country in the world.

We don't need a universal healthcare system, we need a universal health insurance system. A prime example is medicare. I don't know anyone on medicare that is waiting in any lines or can't get any life saving procedures. All providers accept it and they all get paid. You don't have bean counters determining whether or not its more profitable to let someone die or not. The other great thing is you can't be turned down or over charged for pre-existing health conditions. Old people would be dropping like flies if they didn't have medicare because they are uninsurable and they would be dying penniless. No one is going to insure an 80 yr old with a heart condition.

As for lasik, its the same price it always was. There has always been a cheap option. When I had my lasik done, you could have it done for $300 an eye from someone who bought a used machine and attended a week long training. Sometimes you would see places offering to do it for $100 an eye. These people aren't necessarily eye doctors or had any training in the field. Are you going to trust your vision to them? If you do, you must not value your eyesight. It is a good example of what happens when you have a free market where there is not enough regulation.

As for you example of $1300 bill and they charged you $389, thats the price they charge the insurance, maybe a little more. Most if not all providers will give you a reduced rate if you are uninsured but can pay cash or plop down a credit card. The reason for the enormous cost of most healthcare is because they are trying to get a percentage of it and never expect it to be paid in full. Also, they charge as much as they do to help cover the cost of people who are uninsured and don't have the money. In other words, they probably could have charged you $250 but they need you to help pay for the guy who skipped on his bill.

Agree with this 100%. The doctors often don't even know how much they charge or bill, the people that submit it just know know the billing codes. There are small fixed cost surgery centers that do things like knee replacements at a lower rate than the out of pocket costs under most insurance. The system should pull all of the small things like annual visits or non-emg visits out of the whole health care insurance. Credit your coverage with a discount for preventive care and drive on. Get the huge health insurance companies out of your medical care, only bring them in for catastrophic issues,

 

[snox801]

Nope wrong, your confusing quality of outcome with outcome. You need to take a look at the larger picture. Death rate was not per capita in what you referred to. Also Cuba has a much healthier population than us on average because they don't have access to crap food and eat like pigs like we do.
So I may have misspoke or I'm more sure how to word it but quilts of outcome should be framed in terms of sickness and health issues not self inflicted.
5 year cancer survival rate for the US is vastly higher than any other country.
Same with most severe illness.
Not a far comparison to do the overall health of say Sweden to use either or Japan they are simply healthy by the lifestyle they lead. So we need to narrow down to the health issues that doesn't care as much about your health.
Lastly lasik has never been the same price.
With a family full of bad eyes and my brother being one of the first people to get that. I can tell you the cost is drastically cheaper overall.
More people are doing it. When it came out not many places did it. So cost was higher.
Our system stinks it's neither free market or government run.
I suggest you take a deeper look at your Cuba reference. I think I know where that info was gathered. They do not have a good health care system. I can tell you that.

 

[snox801]

it is absolutely untrue that our system has by far the best quality of outcome of any country period. We are probably somewhere around 40th in the world, if that high. Cuba has a longer life expectancy and a lower infant death mortality rate. We do, on the other hand, spend more per capita on healthcare in this country than any other country in the world.

We don't need a universal healthcare system, we need a universal health insurance system. A prime example is medicare. I don't know anyone on medicare that is waiting in any lines or can't get any life saving procedures. All providers accept it and they all get paid. You don't have bean counters determining whether or not its more profitable to let someone die or not. The other great thing is you can't be turned down or over charged for pre-existing health conditions. Old people would be dropping like flies if they didn't have medicare because they are uninsurable and they would be dying penniless. No one is going to insure an 80 yr old with a heart condition.

As for lasik, its the same price it always was. There has always been a cheap option. When I had my lasik done, you could have it done for $300 an eye from someone who bought a used machine and attended a week long training. Sometimes you would see places offering to do it for $100 an eye. These people aren't necessarily eye doctors or had any training in the field. Are you going to trust your vision to them? If you do, you must not value your eyesight. It is a good example of what happens when you have a free market where there is not enough regulation.

As for you example of $1300 bill and they charged you $389, thats the price they charge the insurance, maybe a little more. Most if not all providers will give you a reduced rate if you are uninsured but can pay cash or plop down a credit card. The reason for the enormous cost of most healthcare is because they are trying to get a percentage of it and never expect it to be paid in full. Also, they charge as much as they do to help cover the cost of people who are uninsured and don't have the money. In other words, they probably could have charged you $250 but they need you to help pay for the guy who skipped on his bill.

So your telling me they are not running like a business? Weird.
They need to stop worrying about the people that can't pay. Treat it like other stuff. Make health care more important or live with it. I can't afford to replace my new house if it burns down l. And I don't like my insurance.
But I forgo a new cell phone and things to make sure it paid. Called being responsible.
Why should the ability to pay determine the cost?
Juts go scroll though some plastic surgery cost and see how much cheaper every part of that surgery is time and resources based compared to simple health insurance based surgery.
I know women that went out for implants and lost more after care with a significantly less cost than getting some scar tissue removed from my hand that took and hour.
we need changes but what you are suggesting is not the correct way.
I do t see any wealthy people flying to Cuba or Canada for top notch health care when they are sick it's always the USA. It's not because we are 40th in health care and they wanna pay more.

 

[Reelamin]

The real question is why are there do many errors in the medical system? Can you imagine a billing error being submitted to Ford? GM? DC? Why does the medical industry get a pass?

Muddy...I try to not go all tin foil hat with this BS. My wife has worked deeply in the medical field for well over 30 years. This is clearly a designed and controlled extortion of the AMERICAN PEOPLE propagated by ALL POLITICIANS. For me it all comes down to the self serving money grubbing at all costs including human life. When you look at where and how politics in AMERICA started and changed within 20 years to the present I don't have to look anywhere else.
Follow the money and it will lead you to all the answers...politicians!!

Try your best not to capitulate and allow them to destroy who and what you are.

 

[JimFromTN]

So your telling me they are not running like a business? Weird.
They need to stop worrying about the people that can't pay. Treat it like other stuff. Make health care more important or live with it. I can't afford to replace my new house if it burns down l. And I don't like my insurance.
But I forgo a new cell phone and things to make sure it paid. Called being responsible.
Why should the ability to pay determine the cost?
Juts go scroll though some plastic surgery cost and see how much cheaper every part of that surgery is time and resources based compared to simple health insurance based surgery.
I know women that went out for implants and lost more after care with a significantly less cost than getting some scar tissue removed from my hand that took and hour.
we need changes but what you are suggesting is not the correct way.
I do t see any wealthy people flying to Cuba or Canada for top notch health care when they are sick it's always the USA. It's not because we are 40th in health care and they wanna pay more.

You understand we are talking about healthcare, not mcdonalds or walmart? They are not going to let people die simply because they can't afford to pay the bill which apparently you are suggesting. One way or another, you are going to help pay for it.

You are basically comparing a boob job to heart surgery. If you have to have heart surgery, are you going to shop around for the best price? Heart surgeons aren't going to try and out price the other to get more surgeries. If they did, you probably should not go to them. Seems like the women you know that shopped around for the best price on a boob job, didn't fare well. Normal, sane people try to find the best, not the cheapest.

Wealthy people have health insurance and don't need to go somewhere else. If you have health insurance, you can get some of the best healthcare in the world here. Besides that, if they did go get it somewhere else, it would probably be India or Thailand where they have built the best hospitals in the world and charge a fraction of the price we charge here.

 

[JimFromTN]

Nope wrong, your confusing quality of outcome with outcome. You need to take a look at the larger picture. Death rate was not per capita in what you referred to. Also Cuba has a much healthier population than us on average because they don't have access to crap food and eat like pigs like we do.
So I may have misspoke or I'm more sure how to word it but quilts of outcome should be framed in terms of sickness and health issues not self inflicted.
5 year cancer survival rate for the US is vastly higher than any other country.
Same with most severe illness.
Not a far comparison to do the overall health of say Sweden to use either or Japan they are simply healthy by the lifestyle they lead. So we need to narrow down to the health issues that doesn't care as much about your health.
Lastly lasik has never been the same price.
With a family full of bad eyes and my brother being one of the first people to get that. I can tell you the cost is drastically cheaper overall.
More people are doing it. When it came out not many places did it. So cost was higher.
Our system stinks it's neither free market or government run.
I suggest you take a deeper look at your Cuba reference. I think I know where that info was gathered. They do not have a good health care system. I can tell you that.

The top 5 countries for cancer treatment are Australia, Netherlands, United States, Canada, and Finland in that order. The US being the only country that does not provide Universal Healthcare or a public option for their insurance. The United States overall healthcare system is ranked 37th in the world.

Lasik averages about $2200 an eye from a reputable eye surgeon which is what it was 15 years ago. You can go cheaper if you go to an eye doctor and even cheaper if you want to go to someone who bought a used machine and went to a week long certification, which is the same as 15 years ago.

 

[Muddyboots]

Try your best not to capitulate and allow them to destroy who and what you are.

Never happen, bulldogs are jealous of me. If I have evidence and documentation, I know how to climb corporate ladders including their legal departments. Look bottom line is review your billing and make sure it is 100% correct and if not, be prepared to make war.

 

[HockeyDad]

I helped finance my way through college by being a hospital corpsman in the Navy reserve. One year I did my two weeks at Balboa hospital at the admitting desk. Enlisted retirees would come in, and it didn't cost them a dime. Heart surgery, cancer treatment ..... Why I didn't stick with it until retirement!!! ......... go ahead and slap me, I've been slapping myself for decades.