Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Medical Costs

Your argument is completely valid, but the odds of Joe Blow getting care at the facilities in Rochester, MN are about the same as winning a $100,000 scratch ticket.

Joe Blow’s medical choices are a doc -in-the-box with a couple of harried PA’s or wait six weeks to see his family doctor, who will then refer him to a specialist with an 8 week wait.

The USA model has been broken for at least three decades. It's not sustainable but the older I get the less I care.

Went in for a medical test. At the time, I did NOT have Medicare. When the receptionist asked for insurance, I told her I was "cash pay".
The procedure was $5500.
Cash up front, cost was $1500!

Medicare has a schedule of payments. They have a specific payment for every procedure.
If you pay cash, most (not all) doctors will charge less than the Medicare schedule.
If you pay cash and file with Medicare, Medicare will pay more than the cash payment.
Medicare WILL NOT allow you to pay cash and tile with them. You could get rich.

EVERYtime I get a medical bill, my first question is, "What is your cash rate?".
Quite often, they will offer a significant discount. Last one gave me a 30% discount for prompt/cash payment.

Wife just had cataracts removed. Cash up front and Medicare was a significant savings.

Yes sir. The ACA/Obamacare just threw gas on an existing dumpster fire.

When I was working, I had employer paid health insurance. I paid the usual co-pays when service was rendered. Now I'm retired and on a fixed income. My insurance is still provided for by my (previous) employer, but Medicare has become my primary. Seeing that I paid into Medicare for the last 50 years I didn't think I'd be paying more now that I am receiving it. How wrong I was. I pay more for my health now than I ever did when I was working full-time.

Something is definitely wrong with this system.

Actually, you paid for all of it while you were working. It was simply another way of compensating you for your work, given in lieu of higher wages. The upside is that such a benefit is usually not taxed so the employee comes out ahead.

Everything...

California alone has almost twice the total population of Denmark on free Medicaid healthcare already and New York has a number equal to the entire population of Denmark on free Medicaid...

https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/medicaid-enrollment-by-state



Then there's this:

Denmark: #11 in the 2021 World Index of Healthcare Innovation

This is interesting!

This is exactly right. The vast majority of Americans, me included, obtain healthcare with no idea as to costs. Nothing else we buy works that way. I price shop everything I buy except healthcare.

Th best government reforms would be forcing a price competition and disclosure mechanism within the healthcare industry.

Daughter, when she was 18, needed surgery, BCBS 'might' not pay....

DRs said total if you have to pay is $7500.....

Surgery went well, the Bill, near $150,000, submitted to BCBS, DENIED 'this was elective'....

Appealed, making the case of 'Medical Necessity' with help of family physician, BCBS agreed to pay........

BCBS paid $7500 and everyone was happy........... !?!?!?!?

Some one gets to write off $147K.....

There's a scam in there somewhere...

The strange part, after the surgery and during the appeal process, daughter had scar revision surgery, scar from the 'denied' procedure..... BCBS paid for that with no question?????

The bill for just an outpatient surgery is insane right now. Bills keep coming months after the procedure, with little to no explanation of the services provided. From a medical standpoint, it pays to be a member of the underclass these days. I hear they get to strut out without paying a thing. Just think of all the Mexicans working labor related jobs. They have to be getting injuries requiring surgery. Are they getting away with paying nothing?

Sixty five dollars just to give a tetanus shot?

A friend’s daughter was in the hospital for a needed procedure several years ago. Insurance was covering most all except for the copay amount. His wife noticed a charge for “Miscellaneous” on the bill for $800.

She called and asked about this and was told that it was a customary billing. She asked for the reason and told the hospital that she was going to inform their insurance company of issue unless she received an adequate explanation of the charge.

The billing office later replied that it was for necessary feminine use items.

John’s wife then asked what necessary feminine use items did a 4 year old girl require?

It was taken off of the bill.

Holy Shiet

Still the best answer. As long as the consumer has no “skin in the game”, there is no incentive to control cost and prices will continue upward. Make the patient directly responsible for a percentage of the cost and market forces come back into play. Nobody watches your money more carefully than you will. Dinesh D’Sousa has a great discussion of this on YouTube. Good call Rocky.

Healthcare is a classic example of what happens to an industry when the government is the largest payer and has a direct role in limiting supply. Supply and demand applies to healthcare like every other good and service.

Some people work crappy jobs if the insurance is good.

I'm curious, how is the "supply" limited?

No, but he fugged it up even more. I was paying $254 per month prior to Obamacare. It went to $1500 once he made it affordable. With the increased premiums and higher deductible I was an extra $22,000 out of pocket before they paid a dime. Thanks.

From HeeHaw, Government aid, "They take a quart of blood from your left arm, and put in your right, and spill half of it on the way,"