Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

    Originally posted by RaceBoarder View Post
    Broke my wrist on Dec. 29th. Scheduled Surgery for Monday. Was told today that I need to be paid in full to have the surgery

    When the **** did that become a thing?
    That sounds messed up. Like, crooked messed up. Unless you don't have the right insurance?
    Never really developed a taste for tequila. Kind of hard to understand how you make a drink out of something that sharp, inhospitable. Now, bourbon is easy to understand.
    Tastes like a warm summer day. -Raylan Givens

    Comment


    • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

      Originally posted by Brenthoven View Post
      That sounds messed up. Like, crooked messed up. Unless you don't have the right insurance?
      Nope, its a thing now...

      https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...fore-treatment

      The numbers are what I expected to owe (deductible + 20% of remaining bill). I just didn't expect it due immediately....

      And people wonder why I want to take a sledgehammer to the current medical industry
      It's never too early to start the Pre-game festivities

      Go Cats!!! GO BLACKHAWKS!

      Cuck the Fubs... Let's Go WHITE SOX!!!

      Wildcat Born, Wildcat Bred....

      Comment


      • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

        Originally posted by RaceBoarder View Post
        Nope, its a thing now...

        https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...fore-treatment

        The numbers are what I expected to owe (deductible + 20% of remaining bill). I just didn't expect it due immediately....

        And people wonder why I want to take a sledgehammer to the current medical industry
        Jebus. I have one shot I have to take 4 times a year, and I can defer it until insurance sorts it out. $2400 initial cost, or $5 after insurance handles it. Yeah. And they always ask if I want to be billed right away. Um, NO.
        Never really developed a taste for tequila. Kind of hard to understand how you make a drink out of something that sharp, inhospitable. Now, bourbon is easy to understand.
        Tastes like a warm summer day. -Raylan Givens

        Comment


        • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

          I have a PPO, and no one ever asks me to pre-pay my 20% coinsurance. Sorry, RB. #privilege

          Gotta say, this reeks of recent changes to the laws, and providers worried that Medicaid and the Obamacare subsides aren't going to pay them for much longer - so they demand whatever they can get up front.

          Comment


          • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

            Originally posted by RaceBoarder View Post
            Broke my wrist on Dec. 29th. Scheduled Surgery for Monday. Was told today that I need to be paid in full to have the surgery

            When the **** did that become a thing?
            THis has been happening for yrs where I am. Pay before you do anything. Can't tell you the number of times I ordered tests that I got a call saying they couldn't do them because the pt couldn't pay.
            Originally posted by RaceBoarder View Post
            Nope, its a thing now...

            https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...fore-treatment

            The numbers are what I expected to owe (deductible + 20% of remaining bill). I just didn't expect it due immediately....

            And people wonder why I want to take a sledgehammer to the current medical industry
            Take a hammer to the insurance industry. They are the ones that set the 'standards'. When I first started practice we would do things like waive fees or take things in barter (no, I am not in rural America- suburbs). We had a guy who would bring us bags of veggies from his gardens. Then the insurance co/medicare said we needed to prove need (pages of proof) or we were committing fraud by charging them $- if it wasn't worth anything for the guy with the veggies then we were overcharging for services. I could go on but in interest of sanity I won't. Not practicing anymore has recovered my sanity.

            Originally posted by FadeToBlack&Gold View Post
            I have a PPO, and no one ever asks me to pre-pay my 20% coinsurance. Sorry, RB. #privilege

            Gotta say, this reeks of recent changes to the laws, and providers worried that Medicaid and the Obamacare subsides aren't going to pay them for much longer - so they demand whatever they can get up front.
            Not recent law changes. This has been standard where I am from way before the ACA came into being. Got worse when people had the insurance with huge deductibles and the Cruz bill passed a while ago that decreased the stabilizing payments/rules. It will be insane now they have stopped the requirement for having insurance. If you think this is bad you ain't seen nothin' yet. The population is aging, they are finding more ways to treat things (all new things cost more- not generic), population is less healthy- poor diet, less exercise, and the current political climate doesn't have the balls to deal with the insurance companies. Without the payin from low utilizers that leaves a higher percentage of those who need $$ care. Duck and cover.
            Add- the gubmint is screwing the funding sources for a lot of the social net which will affect most rural clinics, hospitals, Primary care providers are leaving in droves (one study said 63% were very burnt out). The ERs are no longer staffed or set up to deal with all the pts that will present in extremis from lack of care for preventable things. They have figured out to defer testing that isn't absolutely necessary, telling pts to come back the next day for tests- which they then can't get because they can't pay. Eventually the pt ends up in the ICU, CCU or surgical costing the hospitals (and by default us) mucho buckos because no way is a person going to be able to cover the hundreds of thou they will rack up in care costs. (yeah, I guess the above aobut me stopping to save my sanity was BS

            ... and Darwin will not only make those bad brown people suffer but also a good part of the 'Repeal!!!!!' population. Red states have the worst stats for almost all medical measures- morbidity, mortality, general health... Just. plain. bad.
            Last edited by leswp1; 01-10-2018, 08:37 AM.

            Comment


            • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

              Originally posted by leswp1 View Post
              THis has been happening for yrs where I am. Pay before you do anything. Can't tell you the number of times I ordered tests that I got a call saying they couldn't do them because the pt couldn't pay.
              Take a hammer to the insurance industry. They are the ones that set the 'standards'. When I first started practice we would do things like waive fees or take things in barter (no, I am not in rural America- suburbs). We had a guy who would bring us bags of veggies from his gardens. Then the insurance co/medicare said we needed to prove need (pages of proof) or we were committing fraud by charging them $- if it wasn't worth anything for the guy with the veggies then we were overcharging for services. I could go on but in interest of sanity I won't. Not practicing anymore has recovered my sanity.


              Not recent law changes. This has been standard where I am from way before the ACA came into being. Got worse when people had the insurance with huge deductibles and the Cruz bill passed a while ago that decreased the stabilizing payments/rules. It will be insane now they have stopped the requirement for having insurance. If you think this is bad you ain't seen nothin' yet. The population is aging, they are finding more ways to treat things (all new things cost more- not generic), population is less healthy- poor diet, less exercise, and the current political climate doesn't have the balls to deal with the insurance companies. Without the payin from low utilizers that leaves a higher percentage of those who need $$ care. Duck and cover.
              Add- the gubmint is screwing the funding sources for a lot of the social net which will affect most rural clinics, hospitals, Primary care providers are leaving in droves (one study said 63% were very burnt out). The ERs are no longer staffed or set up to deal with all the pts that will present in extremis from lack of care for preventable things. They have figured out to defer testing that isn't absolutely necessary, telling pts to come back the next day for tests- which they then can't get because they can't pay. Eventually the pt ends up in the ICU, CCU or surgical costing the hospitals (and by default us) mucho buckos because no way is a person going to be able to cover the hundreds of thou they will rack up in care costs. (yeah, I guess the above aobut me stopping to save my sanity was BS

              ... and Darwin will not only make those bad brown people suffer but also a good part of the 'Repeal!!!!!' population. Red states have the worst stats for almost all medical measures- morbidity, mortality, general health... Just. plain. bad.
              Exactly. I don't blame the health care industry. That industry may have certain issues that have helped contribute to this mess, but the primary problem is this. We have created a public belief or perception that receipt of healthcare is a right, but we refuse to go away from the business model of delivering healthcare. It's no different than if we suddenly decided that clothing is a right. I'm sure if you stopped off at Macy's on your way to the hospital and told them you absolutely needed some new clothes, Macy's is going to expect to be paid.
              That community is already in the process of dissolution where each man begins to eye his neighbor as a possible enemy, where non-conformity with the accepted creed, political as well as religious, is a mark of disaffection; where denunciation, without specification or backing, takes the place of evidence; where orthodoxy chokes freedom of dissent; where faith in the eventual supremacy of reason has become so timid that we dare not enter our convictions in the open lists, to win or lose.

              Comment


              • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                Originally posted by RaceBoarder View Post
                Broke my wrist on Dec. 29th. Scheduled Surgery for Monday. Was told today that I need to be paid in full to have the surgery

                When the **** did that become a thing?
                I had that same situation for my shoulder surgery back in 2013, and I have pretty good insurance.
                "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." George Orwell, 1984

                "One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its Black Gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye is ever watchful. It is a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust, the very air you breathe is a poisonous fume." Boromir

                "Good news! We have a delivery." Professor Farnsworth

                Comment


                • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                  Originally posted by RaceBoarder View Post
                  Broke my wrist on Dec. 29th. Scheduled Surgery for Monday. Was told today that I need to be paid in full to have the surgery

                  When the **** did that become a thing?
                  I'd tell them they're just another contractor doing a job for you: half up front, half upon satisfactory completion of work.
                  The preceding post may contain trigger words and is not safe-space approved. <-- Virtue signaling.

                  North Dakota Hockey:

                  Comment


                  • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                    Originally posted by SJHovey View Post
                    Exactly. I don't blame the health care industry. That industry may have certain issues that have helped contribute to this mess, but the primary problem is this. We have created a public belief or perception that receipt of healthcare is a right, but we refuse to go away from the business model of delivering healthcare. It's no different than if we suddenly decided that clothing is a right. I'm sure if you stopped off at Macy's on your way to the hospital and told them you absolutely needed some new clothes, Macy's is going to expect to be paid.
                    Personally I believe it is a right but it is also financially smart to provide it. The current model costs us, as a country, ridiculous amounts of $$. If we had a cohesive system and provided care instead of the current system which is based on profit so rations care to those who have $$ or some of those who don't (and before people go off, it is a fallacy that people need to be poor to get care- they don't get it either, and no, the immigrants are not bankrupting the system except maybe in Calif). By excluding large chunks of the populace we spend huge amounts to fix things that are preventable or could have been fixed for way less earlier in the disease/event. THis costs the person, the family who needs to financially adjust, the place the person works to adjust, the hospital that eats what isn't paid. The insurance companies are killing us. They are not built on providing optimal care or keeping one healthy. They are built to minimize benefits and maximize profits. When you get ill your premium is not going to cover the expense.

                    Look at other countries- they have huge initiatives for prevention. We can't do that. THe companies that base profit on unhealthy things are very powerful. Look at Michelle Obama. All she tried to do was say be healthy- eat right and exercise. People did assassinated her on all levels. Whining about personal rights, stoked by companies who feed them sh1t about the right to eat or smoke or whatever that will end up in personal harm. With freedom comes responsibility. We have lost the responsibility part. Responsibility for ourselves and for our fellow citizens. We want the right to do things with impunity (including flying without insurance coverage) and then expect someone to pick up the pieces when we crash. I always wonder what would happen to all those healthy white young males who go off about not being required to have insurance if we were to put a tag on them that said don't treat. There are a few on here who go off about if people are properly prepared it won't be an issue. Huh. One little accident and you are screwed, your family is screwed and so is the taxpayer //end of rant.
                    Last edited by leswp1; 01-10-2018, 10:45 AM.

                    Comment


                    • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                      ANd the grammar horse is neighing like mad from those run on sentences

                      Comment


                      • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                        Yeah, we can debate whether it's a "right" or not. I understand the thinking behind making it a right. However, I think there are complications where we expand rights from intangible concepts (like the right to free speech or from unreasonable search and seizure) into the right to have an actual product. While it sounds good in practice that we all have that product as a matter of simple humanity, we do then get to the problem of who is going to provide that product without cost the the recipient. As soon as you make the recipient pay for some or all of the product, it really isn't a "right" anymore.

                        But my point was that if you want to make it a right, fine. Just don't try to do it using the current business model of delivering healthcare like it is fuel oil or something.
                        That community is already in the process of dissolution where each man begins to eye his neighbor as a possible enemy, where non-conformity with the accepted creed, political as well as religious, is a mark of disaffection; where denunciation, without specification or backing, takes the place of evidence; where orthodoxy chokes freedom of dissent; where faith in the eventual supremacy of reason has become so timid that we dare not enter our convictions in the open lists, to win or lose.

                        Comment


                        • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                          To further expand upon my last point, the closest we have to medical care (the product) as a right is free legal counsel to those accused of a crime. We don't make legal services free to everyone. We just make it free if charged with a crime, and only then if you meet certain indigency standards. Personally, I'm not certain that system is working that great right now. Funding gets stifled because it only affects a limited portion of the population, and not a very popular segment at that.

                          It seems to me you either just have to say that it's going to be free to everyone, then figure out how it's going to be paid (and what we're going to do with the multi-billion dollar medical business/insurance infrastructure already in place), or you're going to have to come up with another solution that has not been thought of yet.
                          That community is already in the process of dissolution where each man begins to eye his neighbor as a possible enemy, where non-conformity with the accepted creed, political as well as religious, is a mark of disaffection; where denunciation, without specification or backing, takes the place of evidence; where orthodoxy chokes freedom of dissent; where faith in the eventual supremacy of reason has become so timid that we dare not enter our convictions in the open lists, to win or lose.

                          Comment


                          • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                            I think the idea is that making it a right necessarily changes the business model.
                            Code:
                            As of 9/21/10:         As of 9/13/10:
                            College Hockey 6       College Football 0
                            BTHC 4                 WCHA FC:  1
                            Originally posted by SanTropez
                            May your paint thinner run dry and the fleas of a thousand camels infest your dead deer.
                            Originally posted by bigblue_dl
                            I don't even know how to classify magic vagina smoke babies..
                            Originally posted by Kepler
                            When the giraffes start building radio telescopes they can join too.
                            He's probably going to be a superstar but that man has more baggage than North West

                            Comment


                            • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                              Originally posted by SJHovey View Post
                              To further expand upon my last point, the closest we have to medical care (the product) as a right is free legal counsel to those accused of a crime.
                              However, there is no clearcut right to competent legal counsel.

                              The problem with a "right" to healthcare on the demand side is how do you manage the supply side? Are you going to force doctors to treat people without getting paid for it? If not, where does the money come from? and if there isn't enough money to go around, who decides what patients must be denied which treatments?

                              Economics 101: wants always exceed available resources; therefore "rationing" is always in play, every time, everywhere, for everyone, always. You can ration by price, you can ration by waiting lists, you can ration by a set of arbitrary standards (i.e., politicians and other rich people always get better care than anyone else), but there must be and always will be rationing in some form or another.
                              "Hope is a good thing; maybe the best of things."

                              "Beer is a sign that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

                              "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." -- W. B. Yeats

                              "People generally are most impatient with those flaws in others about which they are most ashamed of in themselves." - folk wisdom

                              Comment


                              • Re: Gear Grinding 8: I Got A Lot Of Problems With You People!

                                Perhaps a more trivial gear grinder.....

                                Many food products now have self-seal strips built in (e.g., shredded cheese, croutons, bagged lettuce, etc.) With some of these packages, the self-seal strip holds together more strongly than the glue that holds the strips to the packaging material. I've inadvertently ripped the strips from the package when trying to separate the strips from each other.

                                Of course, then I place the torn package in a storage bag with self-seal strips. They never seem to have that problem.
                                "Hope is a good thing; maybe the best of things."

                                "Beer is a sign that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

                                "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy." -- W. B. Yeats

                                "People generally are most impatient with those flaws in others about which they are most ashamed of in themselves." - folk wisdom

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X