health care pricing policy is something I have never understood. health care providers over bill knowing the insurance companies are only going to
reimburse a fraction of the billed amount. when a plumber comes to
fix a plumbing problem and the bill is $200, the home owner isn't able
to pay them only $60......but in the health care business that's the way it works. weird.

I retract my statement, when does this healthcare bill take affect? I might be able to go back on my parents insurance until I'm 26.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I'm sure they will collect a lot of that money from some homeless/unemployed person who routinely uses the emergency room for their primary treatment.

you hit the nail on the head. I've seen hospitals spend $5,000 to chase
a $500 bill. makes no sense whatsoever, but they do it. guess it
gives the lawyers something to do. in the end, it only wrecks
the patient's credit and they call it a "win".

Hopefully some of that will be reduced. We'll have to wait and see.

pipe dream. the vast majority of congress is made up of lawyers. during
all of this debate, everyone was under fire, i.e. insurance companies,
doctors, hospitals, etc etc EXCEPT one group.

trial lawyers were and are the lone exception. they are very good at writing themselves out of legislation because THEY are the ones that write it!!! and they make money from SUING people. every year more than TEN MILLION LAW SUITS are filed in the United States. statistically that means every man, woman and child will be sued 3.3 times in their life time FOR SOMETHING. it doesn't even have to be for a good reason. like spending $5,000 to chase a $500 hospital bill. so you and every other American can forget tort reform. it will never happen as long as the local BAR
association has anything to say about it. and since they are the ones that
write this bull s*** legislation, they are calling the shots. they are the REAL power brokers, brother.

there are individual states that have more lawyers than there are in the entire continent of Europe. that's a lotta lawyers out looking to sue somebody.

FOR the real story on how the legal profession works, check out the
movie "Devil's Advocate" with Al Pacino. having worked in the profession
I can only say the movie is right on the money.

as Pacino's character says in the movie, "WE'RE COMIN' OUT!!!"

As I said, we'll have to wait and see.

no need, here's the scoreboard:

lawyers 10
citizens 0

game over

10 million law suits per year . . . I think most of those are "Judge Judy" fodder. Less than 1.5 million are filed in California, one of the most shark infested waters . . . so weed out the landlord tenant, debt collectors, WalMart slip and fall cases, cervical strain injuries . . . what are the numbers for med malpractice?

About 85,000 per year, which does not include the claims that are settled before suit is filed or those that are dismissed by alternative dispute resolution, such as professional review panels or mediation.

What percentage of health care costs is comprised of malpractice suits?

__________________
1985 CA 300D Turbo , 213K mi

there will always be some slacker who wants to sue his/her doctor and the legal profession is glad to help out. as I said previously, tort reform is a pipe dream. as long as their are people to sue, the lawyers will be there to sue them.

a doctor can do the all right things for 30 years and BAM along comes an
unhappy customer who sues. guess what happens to his malpractice
insurance coverage? he takes a BIG hit in INCREASED premiums for his
malpractice insurance. who do you think pays for this increase in the cost of doing business?

you and I do and will continue to pay the ever increasing costs. and,
if he gets sued enough times, his malpractice insurance carrier WILL DROP
him like a hot potato (sometimes they drop him after only ONE lawsuit, BTW). he is then forced to CLOSE HIS DOORS. I wonder what the stats are for doctors being forced out of business in this fashion?

again,

lawyers 10
citizens 0

game over

I agree 100% !!!!!!!!!!

Had my appendix taken out 5 weeks ago got the bill yesterday.

$16,000 dollars for the hospital alone !!!!!!!!!

This was with no complications !

Simple operation they said !

$4500 Just for sterile supplies! ( and another thread is complaining about Diesel Giants price on latex gloves )

5 years ago Had a lower hernia repair $4000,00 for the entire procedure. hospital Dr's total . Hernia repair was more invasive I was told.

So this tells me the price increase in 5 years was 400% HOLY SH** !!
For those in sales ...... Try selling that to your customers !!

Now trying to absorb this on a single income providing for four dependants after being off for a week (no pay ) and light duty for 4 weeks (minimal pay )

What a friggin mountain to climb.

The insurance paid there part within days 80% . I never had a problem with the insurance. It worked smoothly . no stress whatsoever.

The problem is the cost these hospitals / doctors / law suits are costing customers and insurance agencies.
So how is this included in the bill ?

I'm on the fence about this bill and all ears !! (skyrocketing costs....Hell more like traveling the speed of light ) Explain how this bill will change these costs . The insurance co's seem to be the scapegoat here .

I told Rich "give a man a fish feed him for a day.... teach him to fish feed him for life"

Hell the fisherman would need a fleet of boats just to keep up with the speed of the price increase !!!


If I have to eat crow so be it !!!!
I"LL TAKE MINE WELL DONE LEAVE THE FEATHERS ON SMEARED IN BARBECUE SAUCE !!!!!

( I'll chew it while reading the Dr and anesthesiologists bills which havent arrived yet)

__________________


Experience : what you receive 3 seconds after you really needed it !!



86 300SDL 387,000? Motor committed suicide
81 300SD 214,000 "new" 132,000 motor
83 300SD 212,000 parts car
83 300SD 147,000

91 F700 5.9 cummins 5spd eaton 298,000
66 AMC rambler American 2dr auto 108,000
95 Chevy 3/4 ton auto 160,000
03 Toyota 4runner 180,000 wifes

Ah, so real malpractice doesn't exist. All so-called malpractice cases are just scams perpetrated by greedy, lazy plaintiffs/opportunists who need a downpayment for a new Welfare Cadillac. Got it, thanks.

here's a little Welfare Cadillac action: seems a few of these opportunists
in the great State of Mississippi decided to go after the neurosurgeons.
their lawyers were able to get the trials moved to Jerkwater County
where EVERYONE is broke (with a capital "B" as in BUSTED). gots to
send a message to the rich docs, 'ya see. Jury brings in a multimillion
dollar verdict, docs malpractice insurance pays off but then drops him.

the score:

Plaintiff walks with big $$$$$
Neurosurgeon - out of business

as a result of this lawyering, they drove all the Mississippi neurosurgeons OUT OF BUSINESS. If you happened to be traveling there and were in a car accident and suffered brain trauma, you had to to be life flighted to a neighboring state for treatment. of course, time is of no importance when dealing with a brain injury. can you say permanent brain injury? perhaps a few accident victims died as a result of the non-availability of prompt medical care. don't know.

several areas of the United States have no OB/GYN's thanks to the lawsuit
machine. your wife needs a doctor? load up the car and travel several
hundred miles and try and locate one. good luck, you'll need it.

between malpractice lawsuits and the recently signed sickcare legislation,
we are driving the EXPERIENCED doctors OUT OF BUSINESS. enter Soviet style medicine. Will Rogers once said, "People get the government they deserve". in this case, they are gonna get the medicine they deserve.

Well, healthcare is expensive and so are medical equipment and devices. A hospital bill of several $1000 per day does not seem shocking to me; staffing, equipping, and operating a hospital is not cheap. We are talking about a facility full of multi-million dollar equipment and six figure sallaries. I'm sure some of the expense is due to care for the uninsured, but it would still be expensive.

I recently paid about $5000 for a pair of hearing aids for my wife; clearly the device itself only contains a few dollars worth of hardware (my $700 phone is much more complex), but that's not really what I was paying for. One of my kids takes a medication that retails for about $1200 per month; again, I'm paying for more than just the pills. I also just paid about $3500 for an (unsucessful) surgery for one of my dogs. I was paying for more than just the vet's time. The point is that medical expenses cover the cost of the entire system, not just your specific procedure. Personally, this is one area where I don't mind spending a little extra.