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Those numbers make kind of no sense. We had a 5 days delivery+postpartum at Stanford and were billed ~200k (insurance paid 50k, we paid 600$) which I found insa

Those numbers make kind of no sense. We had a 5 days delivery+postpartum at Stanford and were billed ~200k (insurance paid 50k, we paid 600$) which I found insane already. So 100k billed for stitches makes even less sense.

lordnacho 5y ago
How does that work? Who paid the rest of the 200K? Seems like a crazy amount for something that mostly goes ok in the modern world.
- marcinzm 5y ago
  It's a negotiation. The $200k is simply the starting/maximum ask by the hospital to the insurance company. A bunch of automated and (sometimes) manual systems go back and forth until a price is agreed upon. Eventually everyone agrees on paying $50k. Like any negotiation you want to start high rather than low.
- gccs 5y ago
  Nobody. You aren't ment to pay the price they charge.
- gilbertbw 5y ago
  The insurance company negotiated a lower bill.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  No one. The rest just evaporates. The original bill has little relation to the actual costs the hospital has to recoup.
- css 5y ago
  In the above example, the remaining balance gets accounted for as a loss to maintain the fiction of the facility’s not-for-profit status. It also provides the basis for a kickback the federal government sends to this hospital called Disproportionate Share Hospital payments [0]. In medical parlance, this is called uncompensated care or uncompensated revenue. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid provides a ton of detail [1]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disproportionate_share_hospital https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disproportionate_share_hospita... [1]: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/Paper-Based-Manuals-Items/CMS021935 https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manual...
jayski 5y ago
i live in Mexico, when my son was born we went to a private hospital. i know Americand are imagining a horrible 3rd world facility, but its not. its a beautiful hospital with very kind people who take great care of you. we got the fancy big suite, so we could accommodate a bunch of family and friends. we were there for four days and i ended up paying about 4k USD, out of pocket, without insurance. and I think this is where the problem is. I personally have friends who are doctors here (private sector) they have great lives financially, (nice cars, big house, trips to europe, etc). I get a feeling healthcare professionals in the US arent satisfied with upper middle class, they want to be hyper rich. Maybe if youre the only person that can save me from a strange cancer you should be hyper rich, but not if youre doing regular procedures.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

lordnacho 5y ago

How does that work? Who paid the rest of the 200K? Seems like a crazy amount for something that mostly goes ok in the modern world.

marcinzm 5y ago
It's a negotiation. The $200k is simply the starting/maximum ask by the hospital to the insurance company. A bunch of automated and (sometimes) manual systems go back and forth until a price is agreed upon. Eventually everyone agrees on paying $50k. Like any negotiation you want to start high rather than low.
gccs 5y ago
Nobody. You aren't ment to pay the price they charge.
gilbertbw 5y ago
The insurance company negotiated a lower bill.
ceejayoz 5y ago
No one. The rest just evaporates. The original bill has little relation to the actual costs the hospital has to recoup.
css 5y ago
In the above example, the remaining balance gets accounted for as a loss to maintain the fiction of the facility’s not-for-profit status. It also provides the basis for a kickback the federal government sends to this hospital called Disproportionate Share Hospital payments [0]. In medical parlance, this is called uncompensated care or uncompensated revenue. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid provides a ton of detail [1]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disproportionate_share_hospital https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disproportionate_share_hospita... [1]: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/Paper-Based-Manuals-Items/CMS021935 https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manual...

jayski 5y ago

i live in Mexico, when my son was born we went to a private hospital. i know Americand are imagining a horrible 3rd world facility, but its not. its a beautiful hospital with very kind people who take great care of you. we got the fancy big suite, so we could accommodate a bunch of family and friends. we were there for four days and i ended up paying about 4k USD, out of pocket, without insurance. and I think this is where the problem is. I personally have friends who are doctors here (private sector) they have great lives financially, (nice cars, big house, trips to europe, etc). I get a feeling healthcare professionals in the US arent satisfied with upper middle class, they want to be hyper rich. Maybe if youre the only person that can save me from a strange cancer you should be hyper rich, but not if youre doing regular procedures.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]