Anyway when they rushed the United Health guy to the hospital I certainly hope it was in network.
8 Likes
I also hope the shooter didnât ride that ebike in the bike lane because in NYC that is an immediate ticket.
1 Like
Most EMS services are not.
They (UHC) sent me an unsolicited stool sample collection kit last week, less than two weeks after they paid for my 5-year colonoscopy. Left hand, right hand, something, something.
1 Like
I think itâs about $5k for an ambulance ride, which is why many Americans choose to Uber to hospital in an emergency. Hopefully you get a well-equipped Uber with a defibrillator and such.
Again, in the rest of the first world, an ambulance ride is fucking free. They scrape pick you up and drop you at the ER and go about their day, and no poor schmo has to play ghoul and try to find your credit cards.
If youâre non-ambulatory and have a hospital appointment - like if you are going in for that long-awaited hip replacement surgery - you can book an ambulance and itâs still fucking free.
2 Likes
OK, so not $5k, but stillâŚ
Guy wrecked his ankle and needed an ambulance. He got a bill for $2,600 after BCBS had paid its maximum, just $680.
Itâs unseemly to avow support for the public execution of the leaders of these disgusting, parasitic outfits, but the legitimate ire of individuals - violent, non-violent, undecided - is better targeted at a congress that continually and steadfastly refuses to implement a Medicare for all system.
I mean, I guess you could try to defend the countless Man breaks ankle, family goes bankrupt stories if this idiotic fucking system delivered exceptional patient outcomes, but it doesnât. Itâs wildly expensive, wildly capricious, wildly unfair and exists to serve only the health insurance companies and their stakeholders.
5 Likes
Also, the profit over people angle the US healthcare system runs on doesnât promote healthy living, eating, exercising, etc., you know preventative healthcare practices. Gots to make them dollah billz off the sick.
3 Likes
There is a balance, of course.
There are preventative practices that insurance companies push and pay for (see the colon cancer post above).
But yes the system as a whole is unwell and requires patience and sometimes dedication to navigate.
A complicated mess.
1 Like
If you have health insurance, they push you into âwellnessâ programs because it helps their bottom line. Insured people are not, for the most part, the problem.
Uninsured people avoid the doctor until their health becomes catastrophic, then go to the ER - the most expensive form of healthcare - with a problem that has been allowed to fester, so itâs harder to treat.
Such people are treated, mostly (although there are plenty of horror stories of patients being refused or even taken and dumped outside charity clinics), and then financially ruined as a result. Once their very shallow pockets have been hoovered out, the balance of the cost is charged back to paying customers in the form of higher bills. A lot of that falls on insurance companies, who have to increase premiums in response.
So everyone pays the bills of everyone else one way or another. Itâs is the most fucked up form of national health insurance possible, where the claims of the few are paid by the many, but only after compounding overheads and profit margins have been layered on top.
In 2022, healthcare spending in the U.S. was $4.3 trillion. If you could cut out just 10% of that through implementation of a single-payer system, thatâs a saving of $430 billion; equivalent to about 50% of the defense budget.
4 Likes
And just to round out my healthcare rant, if you freed employers from the responsibility of being the provider of health insurance for their employees, you will save every company in America a ton of money. They could use that money to pay higher wages buy back stock to enrich their shareholders.
And if you are an employee, you are no longer shackled to your employer simply because of the health insurance they arrange. You would be able to change jobs and not have to worry about a 3 month gap in coverage while you wait to qualify for benefits at the new place. Or you could start your own business knowing that you have health insurance, as will anyone you chose to hire.
Or you can retire when you have saved enough, without having to worry that a fall down the stairs or cancer or a burst appendix will destroy your retirement nest egg and you have to go back to work as a Walmart greeter.
The rest of the first world lives like this. I will never understand why we donât.
4 Likes
My biggest issue is that we need a regulation (more not less) that prevents insurance companies from making medical decisions.
I have 2 horror stories.
-
my wife needed a knee replacement and despite the doctor stating plainly and in fact, that it was medically necessary, the insurance company denied it and made us jump through hoops for well over 18 months before finally approving it. (Premera Blue Cross)
-
unspecified family member (a minor) was in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt and not stable with several mental conditions and the insurance company called the doctor and tried strong arming him into discharging. (Idaho State Medicaid)
4 Likes
I say this as a someone who has worked in the insurance industry for 40 years: the only way this can be done is to take insurance companies out of the system entirely. When your profitability depends on nickel ânâ diming claimants, you cannot ever stop doing that.
4 Likes
The âprofessionalâ should be emphasized. All reports are that the gunman had a silencer and fired from 20 feet away. Thatâs not typical of a crime of passion.
Because republicans.
5 Likes
This is one of the things that is most insane about this whole situation - if Medicare for all were implemented, the economy would go fucking nutso for the reasons you outline and many more. It doesnât fucking matter how much it costs because a) it will be significantly cheaper than what we have and b) society at large will benefit from enormous economic gains that will far outpace whatever costs are involved, and federal spending is fucking nonsense anyway so who cares.
Again, this entire chicken fried clusterfuck exists solely to enrich health insurance companies.
3 Likes
Well, brown people might benefit. I suspect among the MAGAs thatâs one of the main drivers.
3 Likes
And it continues to go back to the immoral and unethical nature of a health system that is driven by profit.
2 Likes