Yup. Best care anywhere.

[captainsblog]

The assorted pay-later bills from Eleanor's accident have begun to trickle in. Here's the ER bill from ECMC, which just arrived today.  I need to get a referral to Hematology, because my blood is boiling:



It's not the co-pay amount; that's reasonable for the good work they did. It isn't even the basic charge for the service; that's about 10 hours at the rate I bill out my time, and in terms of quality and quantity of professionals on hand, they certainly exceeded that number.

No, it's that ADJ CB TRAD B line that gets me. That's Medical Recordese for "how much we discount your bill because you HAVE insurance, leaving your insurer (and, ultimately, you) with a much smaller bill to pay." I can appreciate the concept of discounting rates for a major customer like Blue Cross, but discounting it more than 80 percent?!? And we were one missed payment, or one furniture store Chapter 11, removed from being uninsured as of December 1st, in which case that entire $2,600 tab (plus numerous full tabs at clinics, pharmacies and medical supply providers) would have been expected to be paid at rack rates.

For all the shit Obama takes for not leading on health care, he sure as shooting saved our asses this year. The subsidy in the original stimulus bill, extended and expanded in December (in a defense appropriations bill, of all things) made it possible for us to stay covered for a year longer than we would've been able to.  I have yet to hear a single reporter, pundit or candidate give the Administration credit for this major benefit- leading me to believe that many potentially covered people didn't take advantage of it, on account of not knowing about it. No wonder they're mad.

When conservatives talk about bringing down the cost of insurance through "competition," they envision a world where providers will behave rationally in setting their rates, their discounts, and their payment expectations. This bill is clear proof that we do not yet live in that world.

Comments

[troubleagain.livejournal.com]

That's always torqued my jaws.

[miss-katelynne.livejournal.com]

Now, I'm thinking about what my ER bill would've been had I been insured when I had my asthma attack last summer. I'm still paying off the $3,000+ balance.

[targaff.livejournal.com]

I should add up all the money paid and saved from our various incidents in the last year. Maybe I will... once they finally admit to insuring us.

[nonspecific.livejournal.com]

But you're forgetting that they generally jack the bill WAAAAAYYY up when they bill the insurance. I saw it a lot in the pharmacy -- what we charged insurance for prescriptions was a ton higher than what came out if it simply ran something as cash.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

You would probably have a stroke if you saw the amount "discounted" from my mom's hospital stay. We're talking tens of thousands of dollars. It makes me sick to think of what shape they'd be in if she didn't have good insurance (which I do not.)