Hum, conservatives want to punish people for what theydeem to be a unhealthy lifestyle? Isn't it the Democrats and Obamcare that is punishing people for unhealthy lifestyles by pushing for increased taxes on "sugary beverages", cigarrettes, alcohol, tanning booths, elective plastic surgery and so on? Your comments about conservatives are totally unfounded and not supported by fact. And, Universal Health Care isn't the end all to the cost of providing health care to those that need it. You will wait months to see a doctor, taxes with increase as will the cost to the Govenment and Taxpayers, little choice in who you see or choices of treatments. There will be fewer students that choose to become a physician or surgeon as their salaries wll be set by the Federal Government and wll not fairly compensate them for the cost of Education, training and experience. Why do you think so many physicians from other countries choose to practice here? Shouldn't a physician or surgeon earn more or the same per hour( given they have responsibility for human lives) then/as say a vet., lawyer, plumber, electrician, accountant earns per hour? For that matter anyone that thinks Universal Health Care will lower medical costs without having financial and treatment consequences is living in lala land. Obama Care can only lower the cost of medical care by reducing what Medicare and Medicaid reimburses Hospitals, Physicians and other providers of services and equipment. That can only be reduced so much before it isn't enough to cover costs and provide a profit. Secondly, by cutting benefits and/or increasing premiums/co-payments. And..... the individual mandate fails to include the very individuals that seek emergency care or don't pay their medical bills. So, in my opinion the individual mandate was nothing more than a guarantee that Insurance Companies will earn more money to cover the costs Obamacare requires they pay 100% for and covering individuals with "costly" pre-existing conditions"; conditions that will cost the Companies more to insure than the premiums charged. The Insurance Companies win, the Federal Government wins though increased taxes and the taxpayers and those already insured are the "big losers"....
The best way to determine the lowest cost for any surgery is to go to the Medicare website and look up the reimbursement rate for the procedure and/or you can call your States Medicare administrator which is also listed on the Government website. The difference in fees by State and city/area within that State are not extreme. Without knowing how much this surgeon charged and what the surgery was billed as I can't say with certainty if it was more than the norm. But, I can say that as far as my experience goes, the charge should have been somewhere between $8,000-$10,000.00 unless there were complications during the surgery or post-surgically. IMO Insurance should not be considered a form of paying for all of an individuals medical costs and because that is now what is expected, it is no wonder the premiums have increased. IMO insurance policies should be purchased to cover major medical(surgery, hospitalization and catastrophic care). Not, doctors visits for minor health issues that individuals can afford out-of-pocket, preventative care including screenings. If indivduals and families were able to fully tailor their policies to their individual needs, premiums overall would be lower. The only means of doing that now is to increase your deductible or co-payment to bring down the premium. That is not an option for many individuals. But being able to purchase policies that cover surgery(inpatient and out) and illness that are routinely costly to treat would be a good start as would being able to purchase accross State lines and keep your group-health insurance at the same coverage and premium if you change jobs and your new employer doesn't offer coverage or it isn't as good, you retire early or if you don't seek further employment.
Actually the studies only showed that those studied included some amount of medical debt as one of the debts on their bankruptcy filing. To my knowledge there is no study that concludes medical debt was the only debt that caused the bankruptcy. Also, 99% of Hospitals and Doctors will set up payment plans based on the patients income to assist them in paying their bill. The Harvard study was discussed at a Congressional Hearing and there were numerous reasons brought to light by those giving testimony that concerned this.
Does the government employ physicians to treat the population in Australia, or is there any type of price-fixing scheme? Often in these healthcare situations, shortages result from the government not paying doctors enough or refusing to give compensation to doctors who charge the patient more than a government mandated co-payment.
No. You would have gotten the same surgeries and results if you went to an emergency room after your trauma, regardless of if you had insurance or not. Certainly insurance makes it much easier finanically, but certainly one doesn't "need" insurance as you stated. As a hospitalist, I provide and coordinate care for people of a wide income range, from millionaires to homeless and destitute illegal aliens, because, due to the law, our hospital cannot deny care, regardless of ability to pay. Also, your statement regarding medical/surgical residents is absolutely absurd. I work in a teaching hospital (e.g. a hospital with residents), and, as a hospitalist, I decide which patients are admitted with the assistance of residents and which ones I will admit alone. I admit only the sicker and more complicated patients with the residents because having multiple physicians working on and discussing a case (especially a complicated case) is usually better than one physician working alone, and the residents can learn much more from a complicated case. Thus, your statement that suggests that medical/surgical residents working alone is bogus: Attending physicians like myself work intimately with residents to provide superior care to sicker patients. Your statement that suggests that the poor/uninsured would see a "new physician" is equally bogus, and the orthopedic doctor that would have performed the surgery would have been whoever was on-call for the hospital (quite possibly even the chief of orthopedic surgery for that hospital). From your extremely misguided statements above, it is clear that you have little knowledge of how heathcare is run in the USA.
In present time health care services has become so costly So I am expecting you have got some good out of it
Cambridge and Harvard did a joint study that looked into that and found the reason was primarily administration. More on that here
47,000.00? You had the wrong physician/surgeon and no insurance company accepted by a physician or hospital would have approved that amount as reasonable. Patients need to become educated and negotiate a price for surgery upfront and shop for a good surgeon that charges a fair price for their treatment. You got screwed!
It was an emergency. It happened at 3:00 a.m. I wasn't in a position to check different hospitals and such or prices. I got my ankle back. It's worth every penny.
I had two heart attacks and both emergencies including ambulance and didn't cost that much. I am only saying as a person married to a doc and who has worked in upper hospital management for over 35 years, it seems "high"? How much did you ending up owing the Surgeon and hospital? If you would like to pm me I would be happy to give you my opinion and help especially if what you owe is putting you in a financial bind. I guess I am wondering why you started this thread if you believe what you were billed was fair.
They don't work for "free", they are paid what the "Government" determines their Services are worth. I wonder if the Australian Gov. pays 100% of their Medical School tuition and compensates them while in Residency? If not, their Physicians and Surgeons should be able to set up their practices and charge a fee for service that they feel covers their costs and provides them a profit. Just as a Lawyer or Accountant does or any other trained Professional. Do they "set" the fees plumbers, electricians, lawyers, accountants, hair dressers; can charge for their services? Not! So why pick on physicians and surgeons and other health care providers? The problem lies health insurance and the perception by the public that it should cover "all costs" and that they should pay nothing. It is that concept that has destroyed the ability of physicians to compete for patients, offer cash discounts and provide patients treatment as they determine is appropriate(not the government or insurance companies). Also, Government over-regulation that costs providers thousands of dollars/yr to operate their practices has lead to increases in physician fees to help cover those costs, not to mention having to charge more to cover "frivolous" lawsuits costs, rising supply costs, rising costs of electric, water, taxes and other operating costs. Lets get real here; it is not physicians or other providers that have cost health care costs to rise so dramatically over the last 30 years. It was the demands of insured's, insurance companies and the Federal Government itself.
I started this thread because IF had I not had insurance, I'd a been up the creek without a paddle and might even, have had to declare bankruptcy. The dire situation for un-insured people in the USA is a terrible one and I am glad that the "affordable care act" not only was passed, but that the Supreme Court, also agreed that it is constitutional, as such. What I got billed was pricey, but all things like such, are pricey. We don't have socialized medicine and the health of Americans isn't I don't think, even in the top 10. There is a lot of room for improvement and the trimming of waste. P.S. I am glad that you are doing okay after your heart attacks...whatta bummer.
Oddly I'm in the best spot for this I have no credit rating ("thin credit file"), no bank or savings & loan accounts, on paper no job with an employer and all my money I do earn is all cash so is not traceable or money that can be leaned on. So hospitals, doctors and all usually make only a token effort to get money if they try at all its simply an expensive process with a lean pickings on the other side for them. Going to collections then court and then to get a judge to order payment costs a lot of money and likely all that would happen is they wouldn't get paid and I would [maybe] go to jail for contempt of court at most. Which makes any chance of repayment even lower. So I can rack up debts and generally they will push for charity care funds and other means to get paid like drug reimbusement from drug companies on some programs. In your case likely I would have been treated, filled out the charity care paperwork, went to the free clinic for aftercare and owed nothing (except $5 for each visit to the free clinic) and if I did no one would do much to press for payment and if they don't get a court order to pay in four years I'm off the hook. In fact I may not qualify if they do expand Medicaid I have no way to verify my income at all as far as I can tell that is required.
With national health insurance everybody will pay anyway because everybody will be technically uninsured.
mrs wyly did the same about 5 years ago, EMT's, Hospital stay, surgery, follow up care, total out of pocket cost was about $5 for meds and $20 for crutch rental...gotta love our UHC, flash your health card to admitting and everything is taken care of...
that's ridiculous, like canada no one in australia is going to wait for mending a broken ankle, it's a trauma injury treatment is immediate...knees replacements everywhere even in the US are elective procedures, when the patient is in no danger of dying treatment is always a scheduled procedure...
Yes I am doing o.k. for now thanks. Please remember that you can work out a payment schedule with the hospital and other providers billing you, one that is affordable. Also, if you had no insurance, likely you still would have been cared for and the price charged much much lower and all providers including the hospital willing to work with you payment wise, basing your payment on what you could afford. Also, many times my husband who is a surgeon has provided the surgery free of cost when the patient had no insurance and little income; asking the patient only to pay for follow-up office visits and he has been able to often get the hospital to reduce their charges to cover only the cost of supplies. Medical Care would be more affordable if Insurance Companies had been regulated like electric companies and telephone companies, but under the Sherman Act they were always exempt. They drove prices up. The Federal Government through Medicare, Medicaid and over regulation drove prices up; not doctors who have seen their income steadily drop since the mid 90's while seeing more patients, performing more surgeries, working longer hours and paying more in overhead. IMO I don't think that our system; our doctors, want to work for the Government and have the way they practice medicine dictated by the Feds. It is just not compliant with a free market system. That is why you see so many foreign docs that have come from other Countries that do have Universal coverage. Be it what patients want or not, I don't think the majority of docs in the U.S. want to work in such an environment. Even the V.A. has trouble finding full-time docs that aren't also in private practice or on staff at a medical school. Filing Bankruptcy is not necessary as Physicians and Hospitals would rather get $100.00/month than nothing. And, the studies on Medical bankruptcy have never just been studies where medical bills were the "major cause" of the bankruptcy. It is usually credit card companies, electric companies, gas companies, auto loans and mortgage companies that fail to work with individuals. The fact that people that are ill or injured can't work and therefore can't pay their bills is what may lead to their bankruptcy, not the medical bills themselves. Does that make sense. Many studies on this.
Yes the government loans you the money for university. When you earn over a certain amount you pay the loan back through your income tax with the loan adjusted for CPI.
Maybe people could learn how to do their own basic medical care at home for cheaper, like pioneer style. Probably wouldn't really be that hard to set a cast on an ankle, not sure if a person who knows basic survival skills would need to shell out 47,000 bucks to some doctor to do it. - - - Updated - - - I wouldn't have paid a cent here either, I would have just not paid the bill if I knew I couldn't afford it - and legally I could not be denied treatment or forced to pay. If worst came to worst and I was sued and unable to pay I'd just declare bankruptcy.
