3 ms·

It's baffling to me that so many smart people on this website don't understand how complex health insurance is or seem to think that people don't pay their bill

It's baffling to me that so many smart people on this website don't understand how complex health insurance is or seem to think that people don't pay their bills because they don't like the prices

sumoboy 8y ago
Rich or poor, money is money and if you feel like your getting screwed there is very little reason to feel obligated to pay when due or ever.
- almostdeadguy 8y ago
  People don't file for bankruptcy to stick it to their hospital, and their hospital isn't putting 7 administrators and clerical workers per 10 physicians on payroll to negotiate repayment and answer questions w/ people who could easily pay their full bill. Let me clarify that I'm not siding w/ the hospitals: you are getting screwed, there's no question about that. My problem w/ the discourse here is people who treat this like some econ 101 practice problem, when there's no evidence that "price transparency" does anything to address healthcare costs [1]. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/upshot/price-transparency-is-nice-just-dont-expect-it-to-cut-health-costs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/upshot/price-transparency...
  - sumoboy 8y ago
    I don't know how often people are filing bankruptcy over hospital bills but I don't it would matter even if there was price transparency. I haven't seen any hospitals going bankrupt lately. The cost of healthcare for those not under a group insurance plan or subsidized ACA plans is crazy expensive for a family regardless. To the point of what's more important your house payment or health ins payment? People are just barely scraping by so the intent to pay in the bill in full is just a dream, even if it's just a $100. They would rather face the consequences of bill collectors nagging them which they just ignore.
    - almostdeadguy 8y ago
      I'm not arguing that there aren't people who are technically (but not practically) capable of paying their hospital bills and don't, and for the most part I don't disagree w/ any of the above (though medical debt has more detrimental effects than just being "nagged", especially given there's a documented effect of debt judgements creating a spiral of entanglements w/ the criminal justice system [1]). [1]: https://www.aclu.org/issues/smart-justice/mass-incarceration/criminalization-private-debt https://www.aclu.org/issues/smart-justice/mass-incarceration...

It's baffling to me that so many smart people on this website don't understand how complex health insurance is or seem to think that people don't pay their bills because they don't like the prices

sumoboy 8y ago

Rich or poor, money is money and if you feel like your getting screwed there is very little reason to feel obligated to pay when due or ever.

almostdeadguy 8y ago
People don't file for bankruptcy to stick it to their hospital, and their hospital isn't putting 7 administrators and clerical workers per 10 physicians on payroll to negotiate repayment and answer questions w/ people who could easily pay their full bill. Let me clarify that I'm not siding w/ the hospitals: you are getting screwed, there's no question about that. My problem w/ the discourse here is people who treat this like some econ 101 practice problem, when there's no evidence that "price transparency" does anything to address healthcare costs [1]. [1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/upshot/price-transparency-is-nice-just-dont-expect-it-to-cut-health-costs.html https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/upshot/price-transparency...
- sumoboy 8y ago
  I don't know how often people are filing bankruptcy over hospital bills but I don't it would matter even if there was price transparency. I haven't seen any hospitals going bankrupt lately. The cost of healthcare for those not under a group insurance plan or subsidized ACA plans is crazy expensive for a family regardless. To the point of what's more important your house payment or health ins payment? People are just barely scraping by so the intent to pay in the bill in full is just a dream, even if it's just a $100. They would rather face the consequences of bill collectors nagging them which they just ignore.
  - almostdeadguy 8y ago
    I'm not arguing that there aren't people who are technically (but not practically) capable of paying their hospital bills and don't, and for the most part I don't disagree w/ any of the above (though medical debt has more detrimental effects than just being "nagged", especially given there's a documented effect of debt judgements creating a spiral of entanglements w/ the criminal justice system [1]). [1]: https://www.aclu.org/issues/smart-justice/mass-incarceration/criminalization-private-debt https://www.aclu.org/issues/smart-justice/mass-incarceration...