5 ms·

Care in the US is quite good, but the billing is the most opaque thing imaginable. I went in for a skin biopsy and got a bill from 3 different people. Why? I do

Care in the US is quite good, but the billing is the most opaque thing imaginable. I went in for a skin biopsy and got a bill from 3 different people. Why? I don't take my car to the shop and get a bill from 3 other shops in town. Ridiculous. I really think the onus should be on the provider to issue a single bill and provide up front pricing.

paulie_a 8y ago
I received a bill 9 months after a procedure. After I had already received a dozen other bills for various other services pretty much immediately and paid immediately. My nuanced argument was "you waited 9 months, fuck off". I never heard anything more about that one.
- fyfy18 8y ago
  That sounds more like a scam. Is there any way to verify the bill is legitimate?
  - paulie_a 8y ago
    It definitely was legitimate.
JonathonW 8y ago
100% agreed here-- on a HDHP (the only option from my employer) and recently had a diagnostic procedure done at an ambulatory surgical facility. Paid the surgical facility up front; later got a separate bill for two separate additional fees from the doctor and from the anesthesiologist (billed together because they're part of the same group, fortunately). And there was no way for me to tell how much any of this would cost me up front, while I was scheduling the procedure. Would it have been cheaper to have it done elsewhere? I dunno; no way to tell.
InclinedPlane 8y ago
> "Care in the US is quite good" Well, now there's a classic example of survivorship bias. Care in the US is good when you can get it, but on average? On average care is quite bad. When you bring in the millions of people with no health insurance into the averages then the picture looks quite a lot less rosy. Things are so bad that there is a multi-decade differential in life expectancy between the top 20% and the bottom 20%. That is absolutely unconscionable.

paulie_a 8y ago

I received a bill 9 months after a procedure. After I had already received a dozen other bills for various other services pretty much immediately and paid immediately. My nuanced argument was "you waited 9 months, fuck off". I never heard anything more about that one.

fyfy18 8y ago
That sounds more like a scam. Is there any way to verify the bill is legitimate?
- paulie_a 8y ago
  It definitely was legitimate.

JonathonW 8y ago

100% agreed here-- on a HDHP (the only option from my employer) and recently had a diagnostic procedure done at an ambulatory surgical facility. Paid the surgical facility up front; later got a separate bill for two separate additional fees from the doctor and from the anesthesiologist (billed together because they're part of the same group, fortunately). And there was no way for me to tell how much any of this would cost me up front, while I was scheduling the procedure. Would it have been cheaper to have it done elsewhere? I dunno; no way to tell.

InclinedPlane 8y ago

> "Care in the US is quite good" Well, now there's a classic example of survivorship bias. Care in the US is good when you can get it, but on average? On average care is quite bad. When you bring in the millions of people with no health insurance into the averages then the picture looks quite a lot less rosy. Things are so bad that there is a multi-decade differential in life expectancy between the top 20% and the bottom 20%. That is absolutely unconscionable.