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I heard on Reddit that Medicare pays 3x more for intubation. Can anyone find a source?

by mrfusion 7y ago

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
ceejayoz 7y ago
It’s a far more complicated procedure, of course it pays more. A five year old can install a nasal cannula.
- 1996 7y ago
  and it could be done at home, using an O2 cannister, that should be cheap even for those paying out of pocket without medical insurance. no wonder why the medical establishment would be opposed to a simple work around that would remove the need for hospitalization or ICU
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    These patients still need the care and monitoring you'd get in an ICU, and there's zero indication the "medical establishment" is opposed to it - high-flow oxygen is used regularly in hospitals in a variety of scenarios.
    - 1996 7y ago
      define care and monitoring. - care, like taking the drugs they have been prescribed and regularly take at home? Any family member can do that. - monitoring that the saturation does not fall too low... so that patients can be intubated with a 90% risk of death? I'd rather opt out of that one. To be clear, I'm talking about de-medicalizing covid: no ICU, no hospital. Just O2 nasal canula at home. It seems unimaginable, but a large number of in the world deal with no hospital healthcare.
caymanjim 7y ago
Hospitals are losing money on covid patients, and the more treatment they require (ICU, ventilator, medication), the more the hospital is losing. They do get paid about three times more for an intubated patient, but they lose more money too. Hospitals make their profit off voluntary procedures like shoulder and knee surgeries and the constant flow of voluntary tests and procedures ("I just want to get this checked out"). They lose a lot of money when people spend three weeks in the ICU. This is especially true when a huge percentage of the patients are Medicare or completely uninsured. Privately insured patients with good policies are better, but they still aren't getting rich off those people. I have no sympathy for the hospital systems or the entire medical industry that has created a massive bureaucracy full of perverse incentives, exploitation, overbilling, and accounting games, but in this particular situation, even with the massive federal handouts, they're not making bank.

I heard on Reddit that Medicare pays 3x more for intubation. Can anyone find a source?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

ceejayoz 7y ago

It’s a far more complicated procedure, of course it pays more. A five year old can install a nasal cannula.

1996 7y ago
and it could be done at home, using an O2 cannister, that should be cheap even for those paying out of pocket without medical insurance. no wonder why the medical establishment would be opposed to a simple work around that would remove the need for hospitalization or ICU
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  These patients still need the care and monitoring you'd get in an ICU, and there's zero indication the "medical establishment" is opposed to it - high-flow oxygen is used regularly in hospitals in a variety of scenarios.
  - 1996 7y ago
    define care and monitoring. - care, like taking the drugs they have been prescribed and regularly take at home? Any family member can do that. - monitoring that the saturation does not fall too low... so that patients can be intubated with a 90% risk of death? I'd rather opt out of that one. To be clear, I'm talking about de-medicalizing covid: no ICU, no hospital. Just O2 nasal canula at home. It seems unimaginable, but a large number of in the world deal with no hospital healthcare.

caymanjim 7y ago

Hospitals are losing money on covid patients, and the more treatment they require (ICU, ventilator, medication), the more the hospital is losing. They do get paid about three times more for an intubated patient, but they lose more money too. Hospitals make their profit off voluntary procedures like shoulder and knee surgeries and the constant flow of voluntary tests and procedures ("I just want to get this checked out"). They lose a lot of money when people spend three weeks in the ICU. This is especially true when a huge percentage of the patients are Medicare or completely uninsured. Privately insured patients with good policies are better, but they still aren't getting rich off those people. I have no sympathy for the hospital systems or the entire medical industry that has created a massive bureaucracy full of perverse incentives, exploitation, overbilling, and accounting games, but in this particular situation, even with the massive federal handouts, they're not making bank.