3 ms·
What really troubles me, that I didn't see represented in this video, is not so much the total amount of the bills but the sheer number of them. These days, a h
by bcrescimanno 15y ago
What really troubles me, that I didn't see represented in this video, is not so much the total amount of the bills but the sheer number of them. These days, a hospital visit results in bills from (at the very least)
* The hospital
* The doctor (or doctors) who may have spent a total of 10 minutes with you
* The lab company that did your blood work (if it was done)
* The lab company that did you CT scan / MRI / Ultrasound / X-Ray / other expensive diagnostic exam.
* The pharmacy that provided any medications you were given while at the hospital.
What's worse, is that if you look, most triage areas have a sign stating all the services are independently operated and you'll receive these separate bills. Confusing and obnoxious--but ok. The trouble begins when you discover that, though your insurance is accepted by the hospital, it's not accepted by one of the other people or services (of which you had no real choice but to use the service available on-site) isn't. The hospital might assign you a doctor that doesn't take your insurance and then you're screwed.
- jonhohle 15y agoA family member recently received minor surgery at a hospital. After the procedure was complete, she received a bill for surgeon's assistant, who didn't accept the family member's insurance (the surgeon did). This was a man she never met before entering the operating room, had no idea would be in the operating room, and never saw again.
- joezydeco 15y agoEvery surgical procedure I've had or seen so far, including my wife's two baby deliveries, has been performed in a hospital or outpatient surgical facility where the anesthesiologists are independent contractors. You have no idea who will be there and no idea if they will take your insurance. But their bill will be the first one that shows up in your mailbox, guaranteed.
- rbritton 15y agoCan't forget the sad reality that they can pretty much bill you whenever they want. We've received healthcare bills as much as six months later!
- larrys 15y ago"have a sign stating all the services are independently operated and you'll receive these separate bills" Those independently billed services must provide the services without regard to whether they will be able to collect. There is no credit checking (obviously). I did some foresenic consulting for someone in a divorce. The physician had a large amount of a/r that had to be valued. Based on my memory they were easily writing off 25 to 35% of the charges they were billing for services. And this was in an affluent area. The non-paid for charges came from both individuals as well as insurance companies that didn't pay for various reasons. The physicians (a group) simply didn't have the time to pursue the charges. In some cases they would sell off the receivables in other cases they were just written off. In a traditional business having a credit loss like that (spread among many accounts not one account going bust) would be unthinkable year after year.