Obamacare Survives with a twist

[kayleamay]

I'm lucky. I have insurance. Still after those two accidents, my husband coming down with pneumonia and my daughter being hospitalized with a collapsed lung all in the same year, my portion after coverage was about $15k. If I hadn't had insurance, I would have paid about $700k and I have a bill from my daughter's ICU stay that was so long they sent it to me in a box. A BOX! Seriously, it's over an inch thick, itemized.

I suppose you could gamble and not get insurance if you choose to, but unless you have a crystal ball, it's a pretty big gamble.

[Monkey]

Originally Posted by Bird of Prey

"Hello, is this Humana?? Quick, I'd like a binder. I don't care what the premium is, I just need it now. I think it's appendicitis. Huh?? Well too bad, pal, you can't refuse me. . . .

I bet there's a time period between when you sign up and when coverage kicks in, and that the time period is more than 30 minutes.

[raburrell]

Originally Posted by Don

Lots of people could stand the hit of a few thousand dollars, particularly if they've been banking that $3600 a year they're saving by not having insurance...

Those same people could also get hit by a bus on the way into work, school, etc, undergo a hour or so of life support efforts, and then die, leaving their parents or spouse with a bill for 50k or more... (especially, as was mentioned yesterday, that a Life Flight alone could run you 25k for a 50 mile flight.)

Why should your parents or spouse pay for you to take that risk? (editorial you)

[Vince524]

Originally Posted by raburrell

Those same people could also get hit by a bus on the way into work, school, etc, undergo a hour or so of life support efforts, and then die, leaving their parents or spouse with a bill for 50k or more... (especially, as was mentioned yesterday, that a Life Flight alone could run you 25k for a 50 mile flight.)

Why should your parents or spouse pay for you to take that risk? (editorial you)

Does death qulify as a pre-existing condition?

[raburrell]

lol.
I guess my point is that for someone who chooses to forego insurance, someone, who is not that person (spouse, parents, taxpayers, etc) ends up footing the bill for that unsuccessful treatment, so the argument that the uninsured-by-choice person is the only one taking a risk doesn't work for me.

[ColoradoGuy]

Originally Posted by raburrell

Those same people could also get hit by a bus on the way into work, school, etc, undergo a hour or so of life support efforts, and then die, leaving their parents or spouse with a bill for 50k or more... (especially, as was mentioned yesterday, that a Life Flight alone could run you 25k for a 50 mile flight.)

Why should your parents or spouse pay for you to take that risk? (editorial you)

Just a data point: the first 30 minutes of my time for your critically ill child costs you (or your insurance) about $1,500. Procedures I do may or may not add more cost, depending on the child's age. I can burn through ten grand in a morning. I don't make the fees, and I don't get the money (I'm salaried), but that's about what the charges are.

[benbradley]

Originally Posted by Vince524

Does death qulify as a pre-existing condition?

What do you mean? Health care, or voting?

[backslashbaby]

Originally Posted by kayleamay

Do you know what an ER bill for a "minor" accident costs? My son had a "minor" injury that resulted in about ten stitches. ER bill $3900. My daughter had to go the ER for a pack of x-rays after she fell off the swing. My bill was almost $5k. Those are minor ER bills.

My point is, you have no way of knowing when things will creep up. Even a cancer diagnosis comes after thousands of dollars in diagnostics.

I went to the ER as a self-pay and told them that, for an ulcer problem that got crazy-scary. It had been crazy-scary for 2 weeks prior, so I wasn't rushing into it (I was losing weight for 3 weeks, etc).

Cost: $8,000 and I didn't even have the gastro-scope thing or anything more advanced than a few ultrasounds. No ambulance. There were a lot of docs, and all the staff were awesome and kind. They kept me there forever... that bed costs money; I'm sure!

I did let them take a lot of pictures for students, lol. Least I could do.

OTOH, my neighbor's ulcer perforated. No telling what that ER/surgery bill cost! Terrifying.

eta: I wasn't clear; my situation was minor, relatively speaking (and still cost $8k). It's just one of those cases where folks should get it checked or else they could end up like my neighbor instead. She could have died and only went in because someone else called an ambulance for her.

[LJD]

Originally Posted by Toothpaste

The fact that you guys have to pay for ambulances is astonishing to me.

We have to pay for ambulances too. $45.
http://www.torontoems.ca/main-site/s...chor-Why-49425

[Don]

Anybody remember this golden oldie from way back in 2008?

[ColoradoGuy]

Good thing then that, as the SCOTUS says, it's not a mandate.

[mirandashell]

I just find this thing horrifying, to be honest. I'd be scared to death to get ill in America

[firedrake]

Originally Posted by mirandashell

I just find this thing horrifying, to be honest. I'd be scared to death to get ill in America

My former employer only gave us a month's health insurance after they laid me off. It meant that for the last 2 months we were there, we had no cover. I was afraid to leave the sodding house. I'm on meds for high blood pressure. My GP was brilliant. He wrote out a prescription for 3 months supply which I had filled before my employer's HI stopped, so at least I didn't have to pay the full whack in the subsequent two months.

[Bird of Prey]

Originally Posted by backslashbaby

I went to the ER as a self-pay and told them that, for an ulcer problem that got crazy-scary. It had been crazy-scary for 2 weeks prior, so I wasn't rushing into it (I was losing weight for 3 weeks, etc).

Cost: $8,000 and I didn't even have the gastro-scope thing or anything more advanced than a few ultrasounds. No ambulance. There were a lot of docs, and all the staff were awesome and kind. They kept me there forever... that bed costs money; I'm sure!

I did let them take a lot of pictures for students, lol. Least I could do.

OTOH, my neighbor's ulcer perforated. No telling what that ER/surgery bill cost! Terrifying.

eta: I wasn't clear; my situation was minor, relatively speaking (and still cost $8k). It's just one of those cases where folks should get it checked or else they could end up like my neighbor instead. She could have died and only went in because someone else called an ambulance for her.

Which begs the question: what the hell are doctors and nurses and insurance company employees and nurse's aides and technicians and most of all, executives of drug companies and scalpel makers making exactly?? Why on earth should your procedure, which was hardly a procedure, cost so darn much money??

And why is a hospital bed a thousand dollars or more a day??

[Cyia]

You don't even have to hit the hospital for the costs to rack up. Try affording a medication that costs $800 / month, is one of five/six you must take to stay alive, with none of those being under $200 / month. The "discount" from the manufacturer takes it down to a "reasonable" $300 for the most expensive, but you don't qualify for assistance on the others.

This is a regular health expense. Not counting the doctors' visits, ER care, bloodwork, or other related costs.

[BunnyMaz]

Originally Posted by Cyia

You don't even have to hit the hospital for the costs to rack up. Try affording a medication that costs $800 / month, is one of five/six you must take to stay alive, with none of those being under $200 / month. The "discount" from the manufacturer takes it down to a "reasonable" $300 for the most expensive, but you don't qualify for assistance on the others.

This is a regular health expense. Not counting the doctors' visits, ER care, bloodwork, or other related costs.

Whereas over here, I've never heard of a single prescription med costing more than £20 per month, and people who are retired or unemployed get discounts and/or free prescriptions.

[Bird of Prey]

Originally Posted by BunnyMaz

Whereas over here, I've never heard of a single prescription med costing more than £20 per month, and people who are retired or unemployed get discounts and/or free prescriptions.

I don't know where you live, but it's apparently a civilized country.

Edit: Either that or it's honest about health care cost. . . .

[shakeysix]

here's a crazy one--my daughter and my husband each had a life threatening illness and five hospitalizations within six months--November 98 to April of 1999. My daughter was recovering but my husband died.

I was up to my ears in medical bills, even though we had bc/bs--very good health insurance coverage. We had always been a two income family but suddenly I was a one income breadwinner with three kids in college.

My daughter was on a medication that cost 600$ a month. Another of hers cost almost 180 a month. She had a monthly doctor's visit that cost 100$. Her meds were strong enough so that she couldn't drive although she did have a part time job in a nursing home. She couldn't read for very long, either.

After I dealt with the medical bills I still had the medication to buy. 800$ was almost half my net paycheck. Our insurance premium was outrageous but I couldn't drop it because it paid half the medications and the doctor's visit. My daughter could only stay on my insurance if she was a part time student. The catch was that I would have to pay her tuition and drive her to school while holding onto my high school teaching job. So i took a night teaching job with her junior college --english comp, speech, english as a second language--my pay was basically her tuition.

The meds were so strong that she could not read or write well. So on the nights we didn't have to drive to school I read her textbooks to her. she's a sharp kid and hated that but she wouldn't give up. Eventually she got off the strong meds. Because I had worked as a social worker I knew about a program called Vocational Rehabilitation. She became eligible for that after about a year, after she began to show improvement. She wasn't eligible for MedicAid because her prognosis was that eventually she would recover. It was a relief to me when she was turned down for MedicAid because I had worked the program and knew that it was a dead end.

Once she got on Voc Rehab things got a lot easier but that was a crazy year. And yes, she did graduate. She works as a sixth grade teacher's aide now and is going to summer school to be a teacher. She is sitting on the sofa reading a book right now. Thank you God and Voc Rehab. --s6

[Death Wizard]

This was pretty funny.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#...us-dancing.hln

[AncientEagle]

Originally Posted by shakeysix

<snip>
Once she got on Voc Rehab things got a lot easier but that was a crazy year. And yes, she did graduate. She works as a sixth grade teacher's aide now and is going to summer school to be a teacher. She is sitting on the sofa reading a book right now. Thank you God and Voc Rehab. --s6

That last paragraph is reassuringly positive, but what you, and she, had to go through should not happen to anybody. I hope things continue to improve for both of you.

[Jstwatchin]

Originally Posted by BunnyMaz

Whereas over here, I've never heard of a single prescription med costing more than £20 per month, and people who are retired or unemployed get discounts and/or free prescriptions.

I'm insanely jealous.

Given our state's budget situation, my contract for the next teaching year has been late - so late that it had not arrived by the day the old contract expired. In contrast to you, I received a note from my school's parent company that my health coverage had stopped at the end of the previous month (since June was not a full contract month). I also received a letter from the payroll company this week with a premium bill for cobra - about $1000/month, not including my children...

[BunnyMaz]

Originally Posted by Jstwatchin

I'm insanely jealous.

Given our state's budget situation, my contract for the next teaching year has been late - so late that it had not arrived by the day the old contract expired. In contrast to you, I received a note from my school's parent company that my health coverage had stopped at the end of the previous month (since June was not a full contract month). I also received a letter from the payroll company this week with a premium bill for cobra - about $1000/month, not including my children...

Ouch! That's inhuman.

[tmesis]

Originally Posted by Cyia

You don't even have to hit the hospital for the costs to rack up. Try affording a medication that costs $800 / month, is one of five/six you must take to stay alive, with none of those being under $200 / month. The "discount" from the manufacturer takes it down to a "reasonable" $300 for the most expensive, but you don't qualify for assistance on the others.

Wow. Over here you can get a prescription prepayment card for £109 a year, no matter how many items you need, and many people are exempt from paying anything. And certain specific medications are free even if you're not exempt.

[EarlyBird]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...means-for-you/

According to this premium calculator, the more you make, the more you pay, regardless of your health.

One more reason to stay poor...or do some creative accounting.

[Chrissy]

*hands out more business cards*



It just occurred to me this could be great for the underground economy.

Paging Don to the front desk, Don, to the front desk, please.....