5 ms·

I went to ER a couple of months ago for a relatively minor issue and stayed for a few hours total. This was in-network hospital, doctors and so on. Purely by co

by godot 9y ago

I went to ER a couple of months ago for a relatively minor issue and stayed for a few hours total. This was in-network hospital, doctors and so on. Purely by co-pays this ended up being a ~$800 bill after all the insurance kicked in. If I didn't have a comfy software engineer salary, and instead lived paycheck to paycheck, this would've been devastating, even with insurance.

SilasX 9y ago
Which is ridiculous. We're at the point where the insurance is just covering the cost of the overhead that necessitates having insurance in the first place. There's no way the real charge should be $800, let alone co-pay.
- bdamm 9y ago
  This is exactly right.
- chimeracoder 9y ago
  > Which is ridiculous. We're at the point where the insurance is just covering the cost of the overhead that necessitates having insurance in the first place. There's no way the real charge should be $800, let alone co-pay. You're right. Of course the private insurance premiums have a negative expected value. Aside from insurance always having a negative expected cash value by definition, private insurance premiums are literally used to subsidize care of Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured patients.
madengr 9y ago
That $800 is cheap. I have a high deductible plan, and a recent visit will easily wipe out $4,500 of the $6,000 I had saved in my HSA. For a family of 4, I have been trying to save $8,500 (my OOP family maximum) for 3 years, but the HSA max contribution caps me at $6,750. Can't get there.
alonmower 9y ago
Very similar story, in the US as well. Went in, had a couple of tests that ruled out anything serious and was on my way in ~1.5 hours including all of the various wait times. Saw one doctor for maybe 1 minute and had a couple of nurses spend about 10 minutes with me total during the various tests. Insurance was billed ~10k, with coinsurance I had to pay $1,400. This is after the hospital billing in multiple rounds and forgetting to bill insurance on one of them and also forgetting to send the bill to me (which if I hadn't been proactive about following up with would have led to it getting sent over to collections). I'm assuming I have better health insurance than a decent percentage of the population and I can afford the bill but how the hell can most people? What a terrible, terrible choice for someone to have to make between getting care when they're at their most desperate and avoiding financial ruin
- sundvor 9y ago
  As a Norwegian expat living in Australia for nearly two decades, that just comes across [insert many expletives] insane. Depending on the nature and urgency of the tests, my guess is you'd not be up for anything at all in either of Norway (which is very similar to all of Europe, I guess) or Australia. I see USA as a country where, if the car crash didn't kill you, the medical bills certainly will.

by godot 9y ago

SilasX 9y ago

Which is ridiculous. We're at the point where the insurance is just covering the cost of the overhead that necessitates having insurance in the first place. There's no way the real charge should be $800, let alone co-pay.

bdamm 9y ago
This is exactly right.
chimeracoder 9y ago
> Which is ridiculous. We're at the point where the insurance is just covering the cost of the overhead that necessitates having insurance in the first place. There's no way the real charge should be $800, let alone co-pay. You're right. Of course the private insurance premiums have a negative expected value. Aside from insurance always having a negative expected cash value by definition, private insurance premiums are literally used to subsidize care of Medicare, Medicaid, and uninsured patients.

madengr 9y ago

That $800 is cheap. I have a high deductible plan, and a recent visit will easily wipe out $4,500 of the $6,000 I had saved in my HSA. For a family of 4, I have been trying to save $8,500 (my OOP family maximum) for 3 years, but the HSA max contribution caps me at $6,750. Can't get there.

alonmower 9y ago

Very similar story, in the US as well. Went in, had a couple of tests that ruled out anything serious and was on my way in ~1.5 hours including all of the various wait times. Saw one doctor for maybe 1 minute and had a couple of nurses spend about 10 minutes with me total during the various tests. Insurance was billed ~10k, with coinsurance I had to pay $1,400. This is after the hospital billing in multiple rounds and forgetting to bill insurance on one of them and also forgetting to send the bill to me (which if I hadn't been proactive about following up with would have led to it getting sent over to collections). I'm assuming I have better health insurance than a decent percentage of the population and I can afford the bill but how the hell can most people? What a terrible, terrible choice for someone to have to make between getting care when they're at their most desperate and avoiding financial ruin

sundvor 9y ago
As a Norwegian expat living in Australia for nearly two decades, that just comes across [insert many expletives] insane. Depending on the nature and urgency of the tests, my guess is you'd not be up for anything at all in either of Norway (which is very similar to all of Europe, I guess) or Australia. I see USA as a country where, if the car crash didn't kill you, the medical bills certainly will.