Health insurance billing

[dgun]

OK. Here's my story.

I go to the doctor about a month ago due to some problems. He takes some blood and sends them to a hospital lab for tests.

Apparently he did not share my insurance information, so a week ago I get a bill from the lab for:
$2,100


Can you freaking believe it? But that is not even the outrageous part.

I go down to the hospital billing office and explain to them what happened and they take my information and say they will bill the insurance company.

I ask the clerk how in the world the bill was that high. She said that I had a lot of tests done.

So I was thinking maybe the doctor I went to was in on some kind of kick back scam. Then this week I get the statement from the insurance company showing what they were billed and what they paid.

The hospital billed $2,100 but accepted apx $400, all my insurance pays for those tests!

If I did not have insurance, the bastards at the hospital would have charged me $2,100.

This is absurd, immoral, and outrageous to the nth freaking degree. No wonder people without health insurance are screwed?

How can this even be legal?

If I run a produce stand, I can't sell Boogy an apple for 50 cents then at the same time charge lilly $2.50.

I understand a discount for buying in bulk, but holly crap! Over 5X the amount!

I am just..I don't know. Disgusted.

[preservanation]

That's nothing.
It gets worse for the insurance co because the hospitals know they have to pay and they over blow the bills shamelessly.
I've seen them too and it's shocking..
As a private cit with no insurance they still have to treat you but will charge you on your ability to pay, and still there age gov agencies which will help pick up the tab not the least of which is medicare and medicaid.
The truth be known, if Hillary Care gets done all our care will suffer at the DMV (DOT) nightmare hospital.
Except, of course for the rich elite (the unsanitary little secret) who can afford both the Fed premiums but can also afford to pay for their own private health care and or insurance.

Unless you are filthy rich or a politician, you will get a dirty deal.

[Drocket]

If I did not have insurance, the bastards at the hospital would have charged me $2,100.

Actually, they wouldn't have. Oh, some people do, and the hospital happily accepts their money. With one or two phone calls, though, you can EASILY negotiate that down to half, or less, of the original amount. With a little persistence, you could get it down to amount the amount the insurance company pays. That's not even taking into account any further discounts you could get if you were actually poor - that's just the basic discounts that they give. The reason for this is because of behind-the-scenes backscratching between the hospitals and insurance companies. The hospital pretends that everything is insanely overpriced and they're making massive amounts of money, the insurance company pretends they got a massive discount and are saving massive amounts of money, and bonuses all around for artificially inflating the stock prices.

Yes, the current American medical system works on the same basic principle as a crooked used car salesman.

[dgun]

Yes, the current American medical system works on the same basic principle as a crooked used car salesman.

It's a real shame.

And the hospitals are probably screwing themselves, truth be known. How many people will look at a bill like that, laugh, and throw it in the trash?

I mean, seriously, just because someone does not have insurance shouldn't mean they have to barter with the hospital to be treated fairly. I guess Hippocrates never got around to the topic of billing.

[BoogyMan]

I can certainly sympathize with you dgun. My youngest son was born 9 years ago and we just over two months premature. We wound up in Cooks Children's Hospital him for a couple of weeks and came home with a bill well in excess of $100,000.00.

It took us two years to get the insurance to properly cover all aspects that the policy claims to cover, but we finally did in the end.