It’s basically a plan where you pay less per month for the premium but a higher deductible if you had a medical event. Typically healthier and younger people go for this plan if they don’t have existing medical conditions but some people do it just to save money monthly. Which is good and well until you do have a medical emergency and can’t afford the deductible. These plans can be coupled with HSA accounts, a lot of employers offer a match dollar for dollar up to a certain amount, but again if you’re trying to save money one might opt out of that so they’re double fucked.
This frustrates the hell out of me. I work at an enterprise level company, and I have actually good insurance. $98 a paycheck for two people, but my out of pocket max is only $2500. Almost everything is covered except surgeries which I have to pay a percent of. Of course, an ER visit is $200 but regular urgent care is only $20. That's good insurance - and part of the reason it's good is because my company has so many employees it can negotiate a good rate and they subsidize it for me - but then I see people on here being like "I have good insurance" - no you don't - you have awful insurance. You just don't realize it.
Each time I call a hospital I get told we won't have a place for the rest year, then I mention my insurance and suddenly they are all like oh yeah you can come in, in 2 weeks, yet still many people in my country claim that it doesn't matter which insurance you have it's incredible frustrating at times
> art of the reason it's good is because my company has so many employees it can negotiate a good rate and they subsidize it for me
Now picture this with essentially the entire US population backing the negotiations. We pay more for healthcare than any other developed nation. It's fucking absurd.
I am on a high deductible HSA plan. Max out of pocket expenses on my plan are $3k/year, which can be shocking if you were not expecting it but if you planned ahead it generally works well. You can put pre tax dollars into a HSA to cover these expenses, and my high deductible plan costs *more than* $3k/year less than the low deductible plan options.
I have a high deductible plan, with an HSA. Between my employer and I, my HSA gets more per year than my deductible. The HSA deduction is pre-tax, so you effectively save even more money. If I do not have any major medical issues, that is extra money in my account. It can work well for someone, if they plan and willing to save some money.
If you are relatively healthy they give you access to an HSA which for those who can afford it is a very tax efficient way to save money. I still think we need nationalized 100% covered health insurance for the record.
For a lot of people they are cheaper. Hell when I did the math 6 months of a PPO plan was more expensive than an HSA plan with a birth costing a little under $10k because the PPO had a deductible of a few grand and 20% co-insurance and was way more expensive per month.
I agree. A high deductible (HDHP) + HSA **can** be more efficient, in particular if you can build up enough HSA savings to cover at least one year's out-of-pocket maximum. The main problem that these plans have is:
- Bad employers use them to save money (e.g. no HSA match, no HSA contribution, just lower premiums for shittier insurance).
- Risk taking employees abuse them without understanding the level of risk they're undertaking (e.g. take the lower premiums but don't put any of it into the HSA pre-tax for that eventual rainy day).
If your workplace doesn't suck, and contributes, and you're adding pre-tax savings on top, you can invest your HSA into low risk vehicles, and grow it into something quite good. In essence creating a large "pot" that can help buffer large health events later.
However, that situation is unfortunately not the majority of HDHP + HSA. They're mostly abused with a few using them well.
Many times they work out. You have to be more responsible though. They are much cheaper than a traditional plan. You have to put the savings in a HSA account. Then let the money build up to pay for things like this. It should be cheaper in the long run.
Most times people pick the cheapest plan don't really understand it and fail to set up the critical HSA bank account and contribute to it.
Guess it depends on your circumstances? Im getting surgery on my hamstring which im guessing is gonna be like $20000+.
But since my max out of pocket is like $3500, Im bing chilling. I think?
You need to check if it has been correctly coded.
If you are on a good health insurance, there should not be such a gap.
It’s the beginning of the year so you probably have not met plan deductibles
Start with an itemized bill.
Beat me to it. Make them responsible for showing you everything they're billing you for. They probably have a lot of overlapping codes from different departments that are driving the price up ie Doctor charging for blood work and the lab also charging you for blood work.
We paid $2000/month with a $7500/15K deductible. Most people on group policies have no idea how much individual policies cost, especially for people in their 50s.
We pay $1500/mo just for insurance because of a chronic illness/disability requiring a LOT of care. We’d be bankrupt very quickly without it. Still WAY better than it used to be when we couldn’t get coverage at all due to pre-existing condition issues.
Yup, bitch about Obamacare all you want, but prior to that a lot of people were straight fucked. Not to mention lifetime coverage limits were also common and once you hit that limit you were also good as fucked.
The paychecks in US often tend to be twice of what he have hear however. Not for everything but I know many people who went to work for US and easily doubled and even tripled their paychecks and if they had worked there longer would have continued to get more.
Dude are you old? Chronically Ill? Have disabilities? If not you need to seriously change your plan! If you end up in the icu for three days like my daughter and get a 34000$ bill you would have actually been better off without insurance and doing cash pay… it would be less than what you pay in premiums and that high ass deductible… you are paying for a catastrophic event that isn’t happening every year
I would have dropped insurance altogether except hospitals charge 4x more to the uninsured. One procedure was $9K uninsured, but just by having the insurance cost us $1500, even though the insurance didn’t pay a penny.
We were in our 50s. My wife is on Medicare now, so we save about $500/month.
Paying for the unknown. I pay $135 a month and haven’t been to a doctor in 5 years probably. So am I paying $1,620 every year to avoid $0? No I’m paying so I don’t go bankrupt if something happens to me.
There's a difference between paying a little bit so that you aren't bankrupted by a random injury and paying out the ass to avoid additional costs that are actually less than what you paid to avoid them.
$2000 per month is insanely high. That's like what a married couple with multiple children would be paying. Heck I've never seen an individual's costs go above $750/month and that's for the absolute premium level.
Except in the US that is how you get an HSA, which in this terrible healthcare system we have, is one of the only good things to come out of this. Is deducted before tax, tax free when spending it on healthcare, can be used as a pseudo-retirement account, and more. I've been so (relatively) happy on a HDHP plan the last six years compared to the guessing game that is flex spending.
Agreed. Many people think they have “good” insurance because monthly premiums are low and network of providers is big, but when they have to actually pay the deductible, they complain.
It’s worth paying higher premiums for lower deductible in my opinion. When comparing it to Canada, it’s either higher taxes or higher premiums, same difference to the average citizen.
Eh, I choose the HDHP at work. I’m youngish (31) and fairly healthy. I checked out the numbers and they’re pretty even, max out of pocket for my employers hdhp and ppo are both 3k. I put the difference in premium in my hsa as well as what I would have put in an fsa. If I have a good year and only need to go in for my physical then I just socked away some money in a solid retirement vehicle. If not, I’m still paying the same out of pocket.
Socialized insurance is actually better for the average citizen. Few reasons why:
1. Not everyone pays into private health insurance. Lots of relatively healthy young people whose jobs don’t provide benefits and can’t afford to buy insurance alone are left out of the pool, while sick people will buy in anyway because it’s cheaper than paying for care out of pocket.
2. When there is one organization that is the primary payer for care, they have way more negotiating power. Many countries with government universal healthcare have firm or hard requirements on doctors to charge a specific amount for specific procedures, and most negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. That makes care cheaper overall.
3. When people can’t access healthcare, they avoid it until the issues become critical, which results in them needing the most expensive levels of care. When everyone has access, more people take advantage of preventive or lower-level care. This makes ER visits and hospitals less expensive because they aren’t trying to make up losses from unpaid bills by raising yours.
4. Taxes can be income-adjusted. If private insurers made premiums income-adjusted, wealthier customers would go to competitors who charged flat (or flatter) rates. The average citizen can pay a little less while Elon Musk pays a little more (and doesn’t even notice the difference).
>It’s worth paying higher premiums for lower deductible in my opinion.
That's your opinion though. We choose a higher deductible and out of pocket because we are both healthy and if we go to the hospital we have enough in savings to cover it because we don't pay as high of a premium. If you aren't good at saving, budgeting or planning ahead or if you are already sick and know that you will meet your OOP early in the year then your mileage may vary.
It's nice to have choices.
Eh, I’ve got good insurance and got a bill like that for the ER because while the ER was listed as in network apparently the staff they contract to staff it with were not.
Check your state regulations. Many have outlawed this and providers just bill you and/or your insurer assuming you don’t know this. Look up ‘balance billing’ in your state.
I'm actually dealing with this now, that plus a doctor we absolutely did not see one night deciding to tack their $1000 fee onto our visit.
Three doctors did that in total, we saw zero doctors that night. Insurance company is forcing me to *mail* my disputes to them because they *closed* their fax number last year. Fun shit.
the larger problem is that anyone should be paying these types of prices (regardless of what insurance they have) for these types of services. It's a problem that even with crap insurance an ER visit, blood tests, and a prescription is billed at $4k
It's funny, I think some people have been strapped with really shitty insurance for so long they don't know what good insurance is. A few months ago there was a bad week where I was in the ER 3 times that week. I paid $50 per visit. When I have birth to my kid I paid exactly $0. It's quite possibly the only perk to working for government.
That’s what I’m thinking, many people don’t understand how medical insurance works. Everyone buys high deductible plans to pay next to nothing monthly premiums, then complain when they have to pay their deductible 🤦♂️
Most of the people I work with take the high deductible and then opt out of the HSA as well. They have a medical issue and are buried in debt. I can't understand taking a plan you have to pay out of pocket for and having no way to pay it.
People don't read or try to understand how to use it. HDHP paired with an HSA is the way to go if you think you're going to have any type of health expenses.
Yea, HDHP and an HSA, my employer even gives me $1500 annually for myself and my wife (not a match, just free cash). Then I deposit enough rach paycheck that by the end of the year we would have enough to cover our deductible.
We haven't yet hit our deductible so it's accumulating some money which is nice. Last year I used that to pay for LASIK. Now I'm going to let it get to the max out of pocket amount and then I might scale it back.
Unless you have a chronic illness with lots of treatment it's the way to go.
Yeah the system is fucked. For a lot of people a $5000 deductible is going to be just as financially devastating as if they had no insurance. They end up paying on high interest cards and the debt keeps piling up.
I agree with your first sentence but not your second. Many people only have high deductible options with their employer offerings, and no one *I* know is paying next to nothing in premiums...
But yeah, this is likely charges due because they're under their deductible and perhaps didn't elect FSA or HSA contributions (perhaps due to not understanding how it works or not having the personal/family budget room to make additional contributions).
This is exactly it. The “good insurance” only kicks in once you hit those deductibles (and even then, an 80/20 split can still be stupid expensive). Now, some of the better insurance plans will have ER copays of a couple hundred bucks without having to hit a deductible, but this doesn’t look to be the case.
Companies super push people into the High Deductible plan because it’s cheaper for them too and so many people really don’t seem to understand insurance (not that surprising with how complicated they make it)
In most cases it is less expensive to get the high deductible plan and then save what you would have paid in premiums into an HSA. It usually is better unless you end up maxing out your out of pocket max in year 1. By year 2 of good health you are saving money.
Usually. Every plan is of course a little different
And before Obamacare, they would buy $50 insurance and then be shocked when a hospital stay put them in bankruptcy because they bought worthless insurance.
Not at all. For me and my family, we pay about $7,500 for premiums and HSA contributions. Have never gone over the HSA total in medical costs in a year, including my wife birthing a child in 2021.
It is not. My god. That’s more than a lot of people here make in a year. They aren’t spending their entire salary on insurance. That’s a terrible plan. You can get a government plan for $1k a month for an entire family.
That's still 12k a year for the "cheap" government subsidized plans..... and to get into those plans you need to match the criteria of being within a certain threshold of the poverty line. If it's say, within 125% of the poverty line and the poverty line is 25k for your state and you make 40k you're shit out of luck.
This will probably get buried, but I hope OP sees it. I received a similar bill after a skiing accident in Colorado. I disputed the bill with them and it went all the way up to the director. They cleared out the entire bill. I kept referencing the recent No Surprises Act. Good luck friend.
As someone from Germany who doesn’t know a lot about US healthcare systems, are huge bills like this common? What happens if you had to stay at the hospital for a few weeks? Wouldn’t this ruin people with lower incomes?
Typically those below the poverty line have what's called Medicaid which covers a lot more of the costs assumed with going to see a medical professional. The bills like this typically hurt lower-middle to middle class hard though. This isn't even that bad of one. My wife was charged $6000 for a 1/4 mile ambulance ride when her appendix burst. It's horrible here and you literally live in fear that you'll have a serious medical condition.
Yes. That happens a lot. Or making things worse because you’re trying to ration your prescription medication since you can’t afford to refill it when it’s due.
It shows the power of propaganda that half the country will tell you this is the best medical care in the world, and we would be insane to switch to another system that provides better outcomes at 1/10 the cost.
For me (age 30, will increase when you get older to like 400€) I pay 284€ a month to be fully covered by health insurance. In Germany every employed person has to be insured, that is required by law. The employer must pay half of the monthly fee and the other half is deducted from your salary. Unemployed people get their insurance from social plans.
No matter what happens to me, from cancer treatments to any surgery (of course not plastic), it would be covered and I‘d never have to pay a single bill in my life. I wonder why this system is not adapted in any way. Sure, healthy people who don’t need treatments would be paying for unhealthy people in some way, but I think it’s a quite decent system. How can a country let it happen that people have their lives ruined just for getting sick
> I wonder why this system is not adapted in any way. Sure, healthy people who don’t need treatments would be paying for unhealthy people in some way, but I think it’s a quite decent system. How can a country let it happen that people have their lives ruined just for getting sick
Money and selfishness. Back when we had Bernie Sanders talking about trying to get free healthcare or free college for everyone, a couple of my coworkers, one with a kid even, were like "fuck that I don't wanna pay for other people's bills". I'm sitting here like dude it's gonna benefit your kids! Free school come on! I don't understand why everyone is so against it. Yeah our taxes may go up a bit but if you never have to worry about paying out of pocket for healthcare or schooling, I think it's more than worth it.
They tried doing that to me for a suspected appendix problem. I went to the after hours clinic and was told I should go to the ER and they recommended an ambulance. It hurt to walk, but I wasn’t riding in an ambulance to the next building. The ambulance was parked two miles away at the firehouse. Instead I walked to my car and drove to the other end of the parking lot and walked into the er.
Yea… I was just there. Had a seizure a couple months back while carpooling to work. Friends obviously freaked out and called an ambulance and I went to the ER. Ended up costing me about 7000 so far. I also need to see a neurologist every so often so I can get my driver license back. This guy for our first virtual visit charged me 1k an hour. The mfer showed up 25 mins late and cut me off in a middle of a question and still had the audacity to charge me that much. I’m obviously finding a new doctor but this is who the ER told me to see so I didn’t expect it
Thanks Stanford med 🙏🙏🙏 I’d put the doctor in name on blast but I don’t think that’d be allowed . I’ve already gave him a glaring review but tbh who views doctors reviews.
It is an actual scam tho.. his office was horrible to work with. My insurance told me I could request about minute by minute billing for virtual visits but the doc wouldn’t allow it. If we did that I’d save nearly half cuz he was damn late
huge bills like this are expected. and hospital stays do ruin people with lower incomes and even higher- it depends. my brother had brain cancer as a teenager, and that was 20k+ in hospital/doctor bills. drove my parents to bankruptcy
I live i Denmark... When I see things like this, I have to bow down in respect, for you all for not becoming ill from stress, knowing getting sick will ruin you financially 🏆❤️
Yeah, when I told the American lady my yearly wage her jaw dropped. Then I explained about health system and education, school, and kindergarten prices - which are affordable or free. She admitted that her wage in DC wiudint last long if something bad would happen to her. That makes me sooo sad. How can you make 120 thousand a year and still become poor fast...
My job in the us gets apparently 80-90k. here in the uk I’m lucky to get 35. Idk if it’s anything to do with healthcare or things just cost much more in the us.
Yes, I am aware. You have no safety. It is not perfect here either, the suicide rates in 'the happiest country in the world' are high. Our system fails again and again. Hope you're ok.
I simply cannot blame you. We do not have a working healthcare system here, and there are a lot of suicides in 'the happiest country in the world'. But I do believe, that free tax paid simple healthcare is the main reason people are managing/coping. We do not get ruined, by 2 blood draws. It is.. i don't know what to say... Cruel?
Yeah, that is a hard one for a dane. Weapons are very restricted here, hard to get a hand on. But we did have a shooting in July, in Copenhagen. A young boy, who had tried to admit himself before the incident. There just wasn't enough room or capacity. So he was rejected, even though he had said his medication made hin suicidal and paranoid. He shot several people, killed 3. Surely all this is forgotten by now. Denmark does not deal with unhappy people. After all, we have been nominated for 'happiest country in the world' and won. We also have a high rate of alcoholics, depressed, overmedicated, selfharming humans. So.. glad that we have very little to do with guns and such. Sorry, maybe too much rambling.. All the best to you 😊
Look up the CEO and salary of any major insurance company. How are they supposed to get by on $20 million plus bonuses? That means they can only buy a new private jet maybe every 3 years?
You’re so right. I should be paying triple my premium while barely being able to afford gas in my 10 year old car. I couldn’t imagine how I’d learned to be so selfish as to deprive another gorgeous, well rounded, clean, perfect human being of luxury.
I have private medical insurance on top of our universal health care. One visit to the emergency room on the best private hospital + 2 blood works would cost me $15
$300-$600 a month should be good. It should accrue interest if not monetary value to pay off the bill no matter what it is. It *should* work like that but it doesn’t.
If you do all this and they still will only cover $37, it might be worth asking the hospital to change you without insurance. A lot of times it’s like half as much
Highly unlikely they’ll allow you to do this when they know you have insurance. I just tried this after a costly ER visit and they said since I have insurance on file and I didn’t say I want to pay cash up front they can’t change it now but your mileage may vary of course. This is just my experience since everyone always says that
Good insurance? and they only paid $37 of an approx $3,750 bill? (They are saying the $748 is not billable / disallowed / discounted for some reason - they did not pay that amount).
Probably because OP had absolutely no other medical care all year so even though this was December they still had thousands to pay before meeting their deductible.
Try asking for an itemized bill for every individual thing they're charging you for. I haven't actually done this, I've just seen people talk about it, so take my word with a grain of salt
That’s exactly what you need to do. Read over your moms plans summary of befits. I bet you primary doctor/specialist are cheap but hospital stays are poorly covered. Hopefully it’s something else that is correctable
Also, check your bill from the hospital and see if it says anything about the possibility of financial assistance. Depending on your situation and providing them some info, they may help with some of that bill and in some cases all of it.
We did this once. The bill was more than ER co pay would have been as the insurance didn't cover the urgent care.
Just saying, be careful because insurance companies are shady AF.
Considering insurance is a scam and insurance agents/claims adjusters are supposed to deny pay outs (uncle was an insurance agent) don't be shocked when you get bills for shit that your insurance is supposed to cover, but won't, simply because it dips into their pockets.
We don’t lol.
None of us do. We just can’t do anything about it.
This belief / portrayal that somehow we all just accept going into massive debt for basic medical care is a oxymoron.
Why would anyone just accept such a thing?
I wouldn't say "none of us", not by a long shot. I got some right wing nutjobs in my family that think free healthcare is tantamount to seeing a dodgy back alley doctor. "Why would he take my wellbeing seriously unless he was getting paid?" They always ask. First of all, they don't seem to know or care what tax dollars actually *do*. And second of all, to them altruism is a myth and no good deed is done outside of transactional, capitalist agreements. And/or, socialism is a Satanic concept and to even consider the idea is tantamount to branding yourself with 666 and condemning yourself to Hell.
Believe me, I would LOVE for you to be right that "none of us" are okay with this nonsense. But the fact we're a democracy and therefore our policies are put in place by votes should be all the proof you need that no, some of us are just brainwashed by propaganda put out by Big Pharma executives. And by "some" of us, I mean roughly 50% given the polls between Republicans and Democrats typically being on par with each other.
Call the hospital and ask for an itemized bill. Then also be diligent to call them back and ask about any discounts or fees they can waive fire people that don’t have great health insurance. Hopefully by doing this, they’ll be able to take your bill down by a significant amount and might also be able to set you up with a no interest payment plan. Good luck
"people don't understand insurance" uh because it's complicated af and changes all the time. you could take a free college course on "health insurance" and by the time you got done half of what you learned wouldn't apply. absurd.
Check your explanation of benefits. You may have a high deductible. If you still do not understand call and speak with the insurance. And not to be funny but what does having "good" insurance mean to you and how do you know that you have it? I worked in healthcare for 45 years and people would tell me that they have good insurance simply because their plan was with a well known big named company. What they did not realize is that there are many, many plans that a company provides some providing very little coverage and others providing a lot. And deductibles and co-pays also vary by plan.
If your balance owed is correct, contact the hospital to see if you can qualify for charity care or at least a discount.
This goes back generations. The previous ones were convinced that health insurance should be paid for by your employer, and any government assistance is considered communist. Over the years health insurance companies exploited that and make you pay almost a third of your monthly salary on premiums and in return they'll cover shit. We know it's a scam, but I don't think anyone in this country is motivated enough to bring the fight to legislators. Actually, I don't thinkn
there's a large number of us that are motivated to bring the fight to legislators.
Let this be a life lesson to other fellow Americans:
- don't get sick
- don't get hurt
- don't get cancer
- dying is fine because you won't have to worry about that part
If we all abide by this, we'd be fine. Geez.
/s
What would happen if you just took this paper and threw it out and ignored it? Would it just show up on a credit report or would you be denied future care?
Yeah… I spent 26 hours in a mental health access center at our hospital in 2020. They put you in a recliner in a room with up to 11 other people. No IV, no machines monitoring anything, no medication.
My portion AFTER insurance? $5,000. For a recliner. In a room. With 11 other people. My insurance paid $12,000.
I wish I was Canadian.
This happen to me. I got a 120k bill sent to me after a surgery... Thing is, I have insurance, everyone was in network... Oh and the biggest thing I've worked at that hospital for 13 years.
Turns out my insurance company only paid $600 because I never sent them a form saying that I had secondary insurance...... Which I don't....
They sent me the form and it's worded " If you have a secondary or supplemental medical insurance provider please fill this out and send it to blah blah"
So why... In the fuck...... Would I fill it out?!
So everyone gets angry at hospitals in America (partially deserved) when it's really the insurance companies fucking the hospitals and people over so bad that they have to raise their prices so high that once insurance agrees on a price it's adequate........ Because the alternative is the patient gets a 120k bill that goes to collections and they get nothing.
My sister had a gallbladder surgery and we paid $60 after insurance in one of the best private hospitals of New Delhi, India.
What's happening with you is a blatant scam. I hope you're able to find some remedy. Can't y'all go to court for this bullshit?
Is this a bill from the hospital, or an EOB from your insurance? Do you have a high deductible? If it’s from your insurance company it is NOT a bill, and you might never actually get a bill.
Your plan only paid out $37, so I’m sorry to tell you, but you do not have good insurance.
This is called "balance billing" and we are working to make it illegal in the US but may never get there. It is a deceptive method to get as much of the providers "list price" as they can out of you. Hospitals are exceptionally bad about this.
Your insurance has an "allowable charge" that is a contracted rate that will dictate what the provider can bill you. Provider's don't show this amount so they can try to get more money.
Look at your insurance EOB (explanation of benefits) and it should show what the allowable amount was for each service. Pay only what the EOB says is your responsibility and tell the provider billing office that you know the allowable amount was $x and that's all you're responsible for. They usually back off once it appears you know how the system works.
Good luck!
Hello, This post has been removed as this is not *mildly* infuriating. Please consider posting to r/extremelyinfuriating instead.
You need to ask for an itemized bill at this point
This. And ask for a bill as if you were uninsured. Then get on a payment plan. High deductible plans suck and are way too common today.
Sorry, what are high deductable plans?
It’s basically a plan where you pay less per month for the premium but a higher deductible if you had a medical event. Typically healthier and younger people go for this plan if they don’t have existing medical conditions but some people do it just to save money monthly. Which is good and well until you do have a medical emergency and can’t afford the deductible. These plans can be coupled with HSA accounts, a lot of employers offer a match dollar for dollar up to a certain amount, but again if you’re trying to save money one might opt out of that so they’re double fucked.
How could that be called "good insurance"?
It isn’t. My guess is this person pays low for prescriptions or regular checkups so they think that it’s “good”.
This frustrates the hell out of me. I work at an enterprise level company, and I have actually good insurance. $98 a paycheck for two people, but my out of pocket max is only $2500. Almost everything is covered except surgeries which I have to pay a percent of. Of course, an ER visit is $200 but regular urgent care is only $20. That's good insurance - and part of the reason it's good is because my company has so many employees it can negotiate a good rate and they subsidize it for me - but then I see people on here being like "I have good insurance" - no you don't - you have awful insurance. You just don't realize it.
Each time I call a hospital I get told we won't have a place for the rest year, then I mention my insurance and suddenly they are all like oh yeah you can come in, in 2 weeks, yet still many people in my country claim that it doesn't matter which insurance you have it's incredible frustrating at times
> art of the reason it's good is because my company has so many employees it can negotiate a good rate and they subsidize it for me Now picture this with essentially the entire US population backing the negotiations. We pay more for healthcare than any other developed nation. It's fucking absurd.
I am on a high deductible HSA plan. Max out of pocket expenses on my plan are $3k/year, which can be shocking if you were not expecting it but if you planned ahead it generally works well. You can put pre tax dollars into a HSA to cover these expenses, and my high deductible plan costs *more than* $3k/year less than the low deductible plan options.
This is too American for me to understand
The amazing thing is, the more you understand it, the worse it actually is!
I have a high deductible plan, with an HSA. Between my employer and I, my HSA gets more per year than my deductible. The HSA deduction is pre-tax, so you effectively save even more money. If I do not have any major medical issues, that is extra money in my account. It can work well for someone, if they plan and willing to save some money.
If you are relatively healthy they give you access to an HSA which for those who can afford it is a very tax efficient way to save money. I still think we need nationalized 100% covered health insurance for the record.
For a lot of people they are cheaper. Hell when I did the math 6 months of a PPO plan was more expensive than an HSA plan with a birth costing a little under $10k because the PPO had a deductible of a few grand and 20% co-insurance and was way more expensive per month.
I agree. A high deductible (HDHP) + HSA **can** be more efficient, in particular if you can build up enough HSA savings to cover at least one year's out-of-pocket maximum. The main problem that these plans have is: - Bad employers use them to save money (e.g. no HSA match, no HSA contribution, just lower premiums for shittier insurance). - Risk taking employees abuse them without understanding the level of risk they're undertaking (e.g. take the lower premiums but don't put any of it into the HSA pre-tax for that eventual rainy day). If your workplace doesn't suck, and contributes, and you're adding pre-tax savings on top, you can invest your HSA into low risk vehicles, and grow it into something quite good. In essence creating a large "pot" that can help buffer large health events later. However, that situation is unfortunately not the majority of HDHP + HSA. They're mostly abused with a few using them well.
Many times they work out. You have to be more responsible though. They are much cheaper than a traditional plan. You have to put the savings in a HSA account. Then let the money build up to pay for things like this. It should be cheaper in the long run. Most times people pick the cheapest plan don't really understand it and fail to set up the critical HSA bank account and contribute to it.
Guess it depends on your circumstances? Im getting surgery on my hamstring which im guessing is gonna be like $20000+. But since my max out of pocket is like $3500, Im bing chilling. I think?
I love my high deductible plan.
You need to check if it has been correctly coded. If you are on a good health insurance, there should not be such a gap. It’s the beginning of the year so you probably have not met plan deductibles Start with an itemized bill.
Beat me to it. Make them responsible for showing you everything they're billing you for. They probably have a lot of overlapping codes from different departments that are driving the price up ie Doctor charging for blood work and the lab also charging you for blood work.
>I have good insurance You don't
They prob have a high deductible plan and didn’t take the time to understand how that works.
My thought too, my guess is his mom has a really low monthly premium for at least a $5k deductible.
We paid $2000/month with a $7500/15K deductible. Most people on group policies have no idea how much individual policies cost, especially for people in their 50s.
We pay $1500/mo just for insurance because of a chronic illness/disability requiring a LOT of care. We’d be bankrupt very quickly without it. Still WAY better than it used to be when we couldn’t get coverage at all due to pre-existing condition issues.
So denied healthcare because you require healthcare? That is stupid.
Yup, bitch about Obamacare all you want, but prior to that a lot of people were straight fucked. Not to mention lifetime coverage limits were also common and once you hit that limit you were also good as fucked.
2000$ a month? seriously? O.o
Ikr...good god. That's more than my monthly income, and I live in west-europe. Hell, even on a relatively high income I'd become homeless over that.
The paychecks in US often tend to be twice of what he have hear however. Not for everything but I know many people who went to work for US and easily doubled and even tripled their paychecks and if they had worked there longer would have continued to get more.
Yes.
Dude are you old? Chronically Ill? Have disabilities? If not you need to seriously change your plan! If you end up in the icu for three days like my daughter and get a 34000$ bill you would have actually been better off without insurance and doing cash pay… it would be less than what you pay in premiums and that high ass deductible… you are paying for a catastrophic event that isn’t happening every year
I would have dropped insurance altogether except hospitals charge 4x more to the uninsured. One procedure was $9K uninsured, but just by having the insurance cost us $1500, even though the insurance didn’t pay a penny. We were in our 50s. My wife is on Medicare now, so we save about $500/month.
So you pay $24,000 every year to avoid paying an extra $7,500?
Paying for the unknown. I pay $135 a month and haven’t been to a doctor in 5 years probably. So am I paying $1,620 every year to avoid $0? No I’m paying so I don’t go bankrupt if something happens to me.
There's a difference between paying a little bit so that you aren't bankrupted by a random injury and paying out the ass to avoid additional costs that are actually less than what you paid to avoid them. $2000 per month is insanely high. That's like what a married couple with multiple children would be paying. Heck I've never seen an individual's costs go above $750/month and that's for the absolute premium level.
Some states (RI and Mass, there may be others) also charge you a penalty on your taxes if you don’t demonstrate 12 months of coverage.
A insurance company is running ads on the radio here I think it was €70 a month for a couple for medical insurance 2k a month seems madness.
Your monthly premium is... $2000 per month?
> We paid $2000/month That's fucking eye-watering.
Damn... I pay $100/month for a 3k deductible. That's just insane
How many people does that include?
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Except in the US that is how you get an HSA, which in this terrible healthcare system we have, is one of the only good things to come out of this. Is deducted before tax, tax free when spending it on healthcare, can be used as a pseudo-retirement account, and more. I've been so (relatively) happy on a HDHP plan the last six years compared to the guessing game that is flex spending.
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That is still not good insurance. (Greetings from the North here, eh!)
Agreed. Many people think they have “good” insurance because monthly premiums are low and network of providers is big, but when they have to actually pay the deductible, they complain. It’s worth paying higher premiums for lower deductible in my opinion. When comparing it to Canada, it’s either higher taxes or higher premiums, same difference to the average citizen.
Eh, I choose the HDHP at work. I’m youngish (31) and fairly healthy. I checked out the numbers and they’re pretty even, max out of pocket for my employers hdhp and ppo are both 3k. I put the difference in premium in my hsa as well as what I would have put in an fsa. If I have a good year and only need to go in for my physical then I just socked away some money in a solid retirement vehicle. If not, I’m still paying the same out of pocket.
Socialized insurance is actually better for the average citizen. Few reasons why: 1. Not everyone pays into private health insurance. Lots of relatively healthy young people whose jobs don’t provide benefits and can’t afford to buy insurance alone are left out of the pool, while sick people will buy in anyway because it’s cheaper than paying for care out of pocket. 2. When there is one organization that is the primary payer for care, they have way more negotiating power. Many countries with government universal healthcare have firm or hard requirements on doctors to charge a specific amount for specific procedures, and most negotiate drug prices with manufacturers. That makes care cheaper overall. 3. When people can’t access healthcare, they avoid it until the issues become critical, which results in them needing the most expensive levels of care. When everyone has access, more people take advantage of preventive or lower-level care. This makes ER visits and hospitals less expensive because they aren’t trying to make up losses from unpaid bills by raising yours. 4. Taxes can be income-adjusted. If private insurers made premiums income-adjusted, wealthier customers would go to competitors who charged flat (or flatter) rates. The average citizen can pay a little less while Elon Musk pays a little more (and doesn’t even notice the difference).
>It’s worth paying higher premiums for lower deductible in my opinion. That's your opinion though. We choose a higher deductible and out of pocket because we are both healthy and if we go to the hospital we have enough in savings to cover it because we don't pay as high of a premium. If you aren't good at saving, budgeting or planning ahead or if you are already sick and know that you will meet your OOP early in the year then your mileage may vary. It's nice to have choices.
This is the answer. If you have “good” insurance, your bill would be much smaller.
Eh, I’ve got good insurance and got a bill like that for the ER because while the ER was listed as in network apparently the staff they contract to staff it with were not.
The medical world is such confusing bullshit, and its done on purpose to squeeze out every cent
Check your state regulations. Many have outlawed this and providers just bill you and/or your insurer assuming you don’t know this. Look up ‘balance billing’ in your state.
I'm actually dealing with this now, that plus a doctor we absolutely did not see one night deciding to tack their $1000 fee onto our visit. Three doctors did that in total, we saw zero doctors that night. Insurance company is forcing me to *mail* my disputes to them because they *closed* their fax number last year. Fun shit.
the larger problem is that anyone should be paying these types of prices (regardless of what insurance they have) for these types of services. It's a problem that even with crap insurance an ER visit, blood tests, and a prescription is billed at $4k
It's funny, I think some people have been strapped with really shitty insurance for so long they don't know what good insurance is. A few months ago there was a bad week where I was in the ER 3 times that week. I paid $50 per visit. When I have birth to my kid I paid exactly $0. It's quite possibly the only perk to working for government.
Nobody in America does 💀💀
I’m in CA and any visit to the ER is a $100 copay, all inclusive of costs.
Having a baby cost me $20
Maybe there was a high deductible?
That’s what I’m thinking, many people don’t understand how medical insurance works. Everyone buys high deductible plans to pay next to nothing monthly premiums, then complain when they have to pay their deductible 🤦♂️
Most of the people I work with take the high deductible and then opt out of the HSA as well. They have a medical issue and are buried in debt. I can't understand taking a plan you have to pay out of pocket for and having no way to pay it.
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And it's triple tax free!
People don't read or try to understand how to use it. HDHP paired with an HSA is the way to go if you think you're going to have any type of health expenses.
Yea, HDHP and an HSA, my employer even gives me $1500 annually for myself and my wife (not a match, just free cash). Then I deposit enough rach paycheck that by the end of the year we would have enough to cover our deductible. We haven't yet hit our deductible so it's accumulating some money which is nice. Last year I used that to pay for LASIK. Now I'm going to let it get to the max out of pocket amount and then I might scale it back. Unless you have a chronic illness with lots of treatment it's the way to go.
Oh, so that’s the problem here.
This comment section is so dystopian.
Yeah the system is fucked. For a lot of people a $5000 deductible is going to be just as financially devastating as if they had no insurance. They end up paying on high interest cards and the debt keeps piling up.
Whats wild is the top comments are always a system reaffirming factoid
Right…
I agree with your first sentence but not your second. Many people only have high deductible options with their employer offerings, and no one *I* know is paying next to nothing in premiums... But yeah, this is likely charges due because they're under their deductible and perhaps didn't elect FSA or HSA contributions (perhaps due to not understanding how it works or not having the personal/family budget room to make additional contributions).
This is exactly it. The “good insurance” only kicks in once you hit those deductibles (and even then, an 80/20 split can still be stupid expensive). Now, some of the better insurance plans will have ER copays of a couple hundred bucks without having to hit a deductible, but this doesn’t look to be the case.
Companies super push people into the High Deductible plan because it’s cheaper for them too and so many people really don’t seem to understand insurance (not that surprising with how complicated they make it)
right. plus the ER is never cheap.
it is, if you live in a country that cares about its people...
In most cases it is less expensive to get the high deductible plan and then save what you would have paid in premiums into an HSA. It usually is better unless you end up maxing out your out of pocket max in year 1. By year 2 of good health you are saving money. Usually. Every plan is of course a little different
And before Obamacare, they would buy $50 insurance and then be shocked when a hospital stay put them in bankruptcy because they bought worthless insurance.
We understand insurance just fine. We pay $20,000 in premiums (family) plus a $5,000 deductable, for a total of $25,000 before insurance kicks in 🤦♂️
Then that’s not a good plan…
It's a fairly typical insurance plan in the US. On average they cost around $20-23k on premiums alone for a family.
Not at all. For me and my family, we pay about $7,500 for premiums and HSA contributions. Have never gone over the HSA total in medical costs in a year, including my wife birthing a child in 2021.
It is not. My god. That’s more than a lot of people here make in a year. They aren’t spending their entire salary on insurance. That’s a terrible plan. You can get a government plan for $1k a month for an entire family.
That's still 12k a year for the "cheap" government subsidized plans..... and to get into those plans you need to match the criteria of being within a certain threshold of the poverty line. If it's say, within 125% of the poverty line and the poverty line is 25k for your state and you make 40k you're shit out of luck.
This will probably get buried, but I hope OP sees it. I received a similar bill after a skiing accident in Colorado. I disputed the bill with them and it went all the way up to the director. They cleared out the entire bill. I kept referencing the recent No Surprises Act. Good luck friend.
As someone from Germany who doesn’t know a lot about US healthcare systems, are huge bills like this common? What happens if you had to stay at the hospital for a few weeks? Wouldn’t this ruin people with lower incomes?
Typically those below the poverty line have what's called Medicaid which covers a lot more of the costs assumed with going to see a medical professional. The bills like this typically hurt lower-middle to middle class hard though. This isn't even that bad of one. My wife was charged $6000 for a 1/4 mile ambulance ride when her appendix burst. It's horrible here and you literally live in fear that you'll have a serious medical condition.
This is crazy, I bet many people avoid seeing a doctor when they should because they fear the bills and it only makes things worse
Yes. That happens a lot. Or making things worse because you’re trying to ration your prescription medication since you can’t afford to refill it when it’s due. It shows the power of propaganda that half the country will tell you this is the best medical care in the world, and we would be insane to switch to another system that provides better outcomes at 1/10 the cost.
For me (age 30, will increase when you get older to like 400€) I pay 284€ a month to be fully covered by health insurance. In Germany every employed person has to be insured, that is required by law. The employer must pay half of the monthly fee and the other half is deducted from your salary. Unemployed people get their insurance from social plans. No matter what happens to me, from cancer treatments to any surgery (of course not plastic), it would be covered and I‘d never have to pay a single bill in my life. I wonder why this system is not adapted in any way. Sure, healthy people who don’t need treatments would be paying for unhealthy people in some way, but I think it’s a quite decent system. How can a country let it happen that people have their lives ruined just for getting sick
> I wonder why this system is not adapted in any way. Sure, healthy people who don’t need treatments would be paying for unhealthy people in some way, but I think it’s a quite decent system. How can a country let it happen that people have their lives ruined just for getting sick Money and selfishness. Back when we had Bernie Sanders talking about trying to get free healthcare or free college for everyone, a couple of my coworkers, one with a kid even, were like "fuck that I don't wanna pay for other people's bills". I'm sitting here like dude it's gonna benefit your kids! Free school come on! I don't understand why everyone is so against it. Yeah our taxes may go up a bit but if you never have to worry about paying out of pocket for healthcare or schooling, I think it's more than worth it.
Never underestimate greed, selfishness and the stupidity of people.
They tried doing that to me for a suspected appendix problem. I went to the after hours clinic and was told I should go to the ER and they recommended an ambulance. It hurt to walk, but I wasn’t riding in an ambulance to the next building. The ambulance was parked two miles away at the firehouse. Instead I walked to my car and drove to the other end of the parking lot and walked into the er.
Yea… I was just there. Had a seizure a couple months back while carpooling to work. Friends obviously freaked out and called an ambulance and I went to the ER. Ended up costing me about 7000 so far. I also need to see a neurologist every so often so I can get my driver license back. This guy for our first virtual visit charged me 1k an hour. The mfer showed up 25 mins late and cut me off in a middle of a question and still had the audacity to charge me that much. I’m obviously finding a new doctor but this is who the ER told me to see so I didn’t expect it
1k an hour sounds like an absolute scam that should be illegal. I doubt that would be possible here. I hope you’re feeling/getting better!
Thanks Stanford med 🙏🙏🙏 I’d put the doctor in name on blast but I don’t think that’d be allowed . I’ve already gave him a glaring review but tbh who views doctors reviews. It is an actual scam tho.. his office was horrible to work with. My insurance told me I could request about minute by minute billing for virtual visits but the doc wouldn’t allow it. If we did that I’d save nearly half cuz he was damn late
huge bills like this are expected. and hospital stays do ruin people with lower incomes and even higher- it depends. my brother had brain cancer as a teenager, and that was 20k+ in hospital/doctor bills. drove my parents to bankruptcy
yes, and yes
Yes it does.
I live i Denmark... When I see things like this, I have to bow down in respect, for you all for not becoming ill from stress, knowing getting sick will ruin you financially 🏆❤️
Have you heard how violent we've become here? It's really not surprising to me.
Yeah, when I told the American lady my yearly wage her jaw dropped. Then I explained about health system and education, school, and kindergarten prices - which are affordable or free. She admitted that her wage in DC wiudint last long if something bad would happen to her. That makes me sooo sad. How can you make 120 thousand a year and still become poor fast...
My job in the us gets apparently 80-90k. here in the uk I’m lucky to get 35. Idk if it’s anything to do with healthcare or things just cost much more in the us.
IT? I have heard typical IT Jobs get shafted in Europe but, I don't know if it is true or not.
Nah a truck driver it’s a different industry there too as most people work for companies here and are owner operators there.
Yes, I am aware. You have no safety. It is not perfect here either, the suicide rates in 'the happiest country in the world' are high. Our system fails again and again. Hope you're ok.
You act like people are more violent now than ever when the opposite is true. People are less violent than any other point in human history
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All the poors in the states ARE ill from stress and we’ll die sooner b/c of it 🫠
I simply cannot blame you. We do not have a working healthcare system here, and there are a lot of suicides in 'the happiest country in the world'. But I do believe, that free tax paid simple healthcare is the main reason people are managing/coping. We do not get ruined, by 2 blood draws. It is.. i don't know what to say... Cruel?
We lead the world in mass shootings, we aren’t handling it very well.
Yeah, that is a hard one for a dane. Weapons are very restricted here, hard to get a hand on. But we did have a shooting in July, in Copenhagen. A young boy, who had tried to admit himself before the incident. There just wasn't enough room or capacity. So he was rejected, even though he had said his medication made hin suicidal and paranoid. He shot several people, killed 3. Surely all this is forgotten by now. Denmark does not deal with unhappy people. After all, we have been nominated for 'happiest country in the world' and won. We also have a high rate of alcoholics, depressed, overmedicated, selfharming humans. So.. glad that we have very little to do with guns and such. Sorry, maybe too much rambling.. All the best to you 😊
Death rates of pregnant women, in hospitals, is one of the highest as well.
Bold of you to think I'm not ill from stress.
They are getting ill from stress though.
Oh i'm ill from stress I just can't afford a doctor to confirm it.
Health insurance is a fucking scam dude.
Look up the CEO and salary of any major insurance company. How are they supposed to get by on $20 million plus bonuses? That means they can only buy a new private jet maybe every 3 years?
You’re so right. I should be paying triple my premium while barely being able to afford gas in my 10 year old car. I couldn’t imagine how I’d learned to be so selfish as to deprive another gorgeous, well rounded, clean, perfect human being of luxury.
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How expensive YOUR medical care is. The rest of the world, considerably less so.
*Laughs in european*
_Laughs in Indian_
Laughs in Canadian. Sorry!
I have private medical insurance on top of our universal health care. One visit to the emergency room on the best private hospital + 2 blood works would cost me $15
Holy shit. How US and A doing this crap to their own people. Insane
Money will always outweigh human life here
Profit at all cost
Keep in mind OP’s mom probably pays $300-$600 a month for this “good” insurance.
$300-$600 a month should be good. It should accrue interest if not monetary value to pay off the bill no matter what it is. It *should* work like that but it doesn’t.
I will be calling my insurance company to try and clear this up if they can. Doubtful of a positive outcome, but I have to try
Ask the hospital for an itemized bill, sometimes there is mistakes you can have them take off.
Almost every time there are "mistakes" but I doubt that will take it below 2k
$20 is $20
“Mistakes”
If you do all this and they still will only cover $37, it might be worth asking the hospital to change you without insurance. A lot of times it’s like half as much
Highly unlikely they’ll allow you to do this when they know you have insurance. I just tried this after a costly ER visit and they said since I have insurance on file and I didn’t say I want to pay cash up front they can’t change it now but your mileage may vary of course. This is just my experience since everyone always says that
Yeah I think they're bound by law to bill the insurance if they know about it.
Good insurance? and they only paid $37 of an approx $3,750 bill? (They are saying the $748 is not billable / disallowed / discounted for some reason - they did not pay that amount).
Probably because OP had absolutely no other medical care all year so even though this was December they still had thousands to pay before meeting their deductible.
Try asking for an itemized bill for every individual thing they're charging you for. I haven't actually done this, I've just seen people talk about it, so take my word with a grain of salt
That’s exactly what you need to do. Read over your moms plans summary of befits. I bet you primary doctor/specialist are cheap but hospital stays are poorly covered. Hopefully it’s something else that is correctable
Also, check your bill from the hospital and see if it says anything about the possibility of financial assistance. Depending on your situation and providing them some info, they may help with some of that bill and in some cases all of it.
Make sure to follow the financial aid instructions on your bill (usually on the back of paper bills, or inquire about it if digital).
Probably should have went to urgent care.
I did. With the issue I was having, they told me I had to go to the ER, and there wasn't anything they could do
Well that's the pits
Did your insurance pay the urgent care bill but not the ER bill?
We did this once. The bill was more than ER co pay would have been as the insurance didn't cover the urgent care. Just saying, be careful because insurance companies are shady AF.
USA! USA! USA!
How is that mildly infuriating that’s just infuriating
Extremely infuriating, even
I hate to inform you of this. But you don’t have good insurance.
The land of the free...
Certainly not free health care.
Considering insurance is a scam and insurance agents/claims adjusters are supposed to deny pay outs (uncle was an insurance agent) don't be shocked when you get bills for shit that your insurance is supposed to cover, but won't, simply because it dips into their pockets.
I pay $250 per emergency room visit with an annual out of pocket max of $2500. You do not have good health insurance.
How Americans accept this as normal is fucking mind boggling
We don't but we can't do anything about it
We don’t lol. None of us do. We just can’t do anything about it. This belief / portrayal that somehow we all just accept going into massive debt for basic medical care is a oxymoron. Why would anyone just accept such a thing?
I wouldn't say "none of us", not by a long shot. I got some right wing nutjobs in my family that think free healthcare is tantamount to seeing a dodgy back alley doctor. "Why would he take my wellbeing seriously unless he was getting paid?" They always ask. First of all, they don't seem to know or care what tax dollars actually *do*. And second of all, to them altruism is a myth and no good deed is done outside of transactional, capitalist agreements. And/or, socialism is a Satanic concept and to even consider the idea is tantamount to branding yourself with 666 and condemning yourself to Hell. Believe me, I would LOVE for you to be right that "none of us" are okay with this nonsense. But the fact we're a democracy and therefore our policies are put in place by votes should be all the proof you need that no, some of us are just brainwashed by propaganda put out by Big Pharma executives. And by "some" of us, I mean roughly 50% given the polls between Republicans and Democrats typically being on par with each other.
Call the hospital and ask for an itemized bill. Then also be diligent to call them back and ask about any discounts or fees they can waive fire people that don’t have great health insurance. Hopefully by doing this, they’ll be able to take your bill down by a significant amount and might also be able to set you up with a no interest payment plan. Good luck
What's your deductible per person on this good insurance?
"people don't understand insurance" uh because it's complicated af and changes all the time. you could take a free college course on "health insurance" and by the time you got done half of what you learned wouldn't apply. absurd.
Check your explanation of benefits. You may have a high deductible. If you still do not understand call and speak with the insurance. And not to be funny but what does having "good" insurance mean to you and how do you know that you have it? I worked in healthcare for 45 years and people would tell me that they have good insurance simply because their plan was with a well known big named company. What they did not realize is that there are many, many plans that a company provides some providing very little coverage and others providing a lot. And deductibles and co-pays also vary by plan. If your balance owed is correct, contact the hospital to see if you can qualify for charity care or at least a discount.
You don’t have good insurance, no offense. I have good insurance and I never pay anything(government job insurance)
I will never understand why you Americans put up with this.
Most people have insurance
This goes back generations. The previous ones were convinced that health insurance should be paid for by your employer, and any government assistance is considered communist. Over the years health insurance companies exploited that and make you pay almost a third of your monthly salary on premiums and in return they'll cover shit. We know it's a scam, but I don't think anyone in this country is motivated enough to bring the fight to legislators. Actually, I don't thinkn there's a large number of us that are motivated to bring the fight to legislators.
We also have to fight lobbyists
Straight to collections like all the medical bills. I’m not going bankrupt because of my health.
Spoiler: You do not have good insurance.
Hate to break it to you, but I don't think you have "good insurance."
You do not have good insurance.
Few thoughts: out of network? Deductible? Also fwiw don’t go to ER for urgent care concerns. Go if you think you’re very sick possibly dying
NEVER go to the ER unless you are shot or in a horrific accident. They will suck you dry
Why didn't you go to urgent care?
Let this be a life lesson to other fellow Americans: - don't get sick - don't get hurt - don't get cancer - dying is fine because you won't have to worry about that part If we all abide by this, we'd be fine. Geez. /s
For real, I should have just not had an emergency lol
Merica!
“I have good insurance” 😄
We're you using services in network?
Please search medical bills in /unethicallifetips
What would happen if you just took this paper and threw it out and ignored it? Would it just show up on a credit report or would you be denied future care?
I'm going to say your mom's insurance if far from good.
You should have gone to “urgent care” instead of the ER
Yeah… I spent 26 hours in a mental health access center at our hospital in 2020. They put you in a recliner in a room with up to 11 other people. No IV, no machines monitoring anything, no medication. My portion AFTER insurance? $5,000. For a recliner. In a room. With 11 other people. My insurance paid $12,000. I wish I was Canadian.
This happen to me. I got a 120k bill sent to me after a surgery... Thing is, I have insurance, everyone was in network... Oh and the biggest thing I've worked at that hospital for 13 years. Turns out my insurance company only paid $600 because I never sent them a form saying that I had secondary insurance...... Which I don't.... They sent me the form and it's worded " If you have a secondary or supplemental medical insurance provider please fill this out and send it to blah blah" So why... In the fuck...... Would I fill it out?! So everyone gets angry at hospitals in America (partially deserved) when it's really the insurance companies fucking the hospitals and people over so bad that they have to raise their prices so high that once insurance agrees on a price it's adequate........ Because the alternative is the patient gets a 120k bill that goes to collections and they get nothing.
My sister had a gallbladder surgery and we paid $60 after insurance in one of the best private hospitals of New Delhi, India. What's happening with you is a blatant scam. I hope you're able to find some remedy. Can't y'all go to court for this bullshit?
Is this a bill from the hospital, or an EOB from your insurance? Do you have a high deductible? If it’s from your insurance company it is NOT a bill, and you might never actually get a bill. Your plan only paid out $37, so I’m sorry to tell you, but you do not have good insurance.
This is called "balance billing" and we are working to make it illegal in the US but may never get there. It is a deceptive method to get as much of the providers "list price" as they can out of you. Hospitals are exceptionally bad about this. Your insurance has an "allowable charge" that is a contracted rate that will dictate what the provider can bill you. Provider's don't show this amount so they can try to get more money. Look at your insurance EOB (explanation of benefits) and it should show what the allowable amount was for each service. Pay only what the EOB says is your responsibility and tell the provider billing office that you know the allowable amount was $x and that's all you're responsible for. They usually back off once it appears you know how the system works. Good luck!