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'I live on the street now': how Americans fall into medical bankruptcy

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
This is how broken the American health care system is. And those proposing to fix it are attacked, demeaned and scorned by some. It's a sign we are not really a civilized country given the reality of all the civilized nations handling health care.

'I live on the street now': how Americans fall into medical bankruptcy

Having health insurance is often not enough to save Americans from massive debts when serious illness strikes

“I had thousands of dollars in various medical debt which made the majority of my claim. The last bill I got that really pushed me toward the bankruptcy was for a routine lab test that my insurance refused to approve because of a billing mistake. That bill was about a thousand dollars,” Hillman said. “I couldn’t work and had no way to pay these.”


At the time, Hillman was receiving several collection notices in the mail for past hospital stays and tests amounting to several thousand dollars, often having no knowledge of the bills that health insurance didn’t cover until receiving the collection notices.


“One of the biggest hurdles you face as a patient is just the sheer confusion of the process. You think you just show up and present your card, sometimes pay a copay, and that’s it. You don’t expect all these plan limitations and authorizations,” Hillman added. “What are you going to do if your authorization gets denied? You don’t really have a choice to not go get care. All these processes that are in the finest of fine print. And sometimes it feels like you are literally paying for nothing.”

 

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
I really think people are routinely being gouged and scammed on a regular basis through healthcare.
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
This is how broken the American health care system is. And those proposing to fix it are attacked, demeaned and scorned by some. It's a sign we are not really a civilized country given the reality of all the civilized nations handling health care.

'I live on the street now': how Americans fall into medical bankruptcy

Having health insurance is often not enough to save Americans from massive debts when serious illness strikes

“I had thousands of dollars in various medical debt which made the majority of my claim. The last bill I got that really pushed me toward the bankruptcy was for a routine lab test that my insurance refused to approve because of a billing mistake. That bill was about a thousand dollars,” Hillman said. “I couldn’t work and had no way to pay these.”



At the time, Hillman was receiving several collection notices in the mail for past hospital stays and tests amounting to several thousand dollars, often having no knowledge of the bills that health insurance didn’t cover until receiving the collection notices.


“One of the biggest hurdles you face as a patient is just the sheer confusion of the process. You think you just show up and present your card, sometimes pay a copay, and that’s it. You don’t expect all these plan limitations and authorizations,” Hillman added. “What are you going to do if your authorization gets denied? You don’t really have a choice to not go get care. All these processes that are in the finest of fine print. And sometimes it feels like you are literally paying for nothing.”

The system is definitely broken. The only real solution is to nationalize healthcare and Big Pharma, and seize the assets of insurance companies.

Another possibility that we might try: Whenever a patient dies due to a denied claim from an insurance company, whichever insurance company employee made the decision to deny the claim - that person would be put on trial for murder (and given the death penalty, when they're found guilty). Do that enough times, and it will get the attention of the rank-and-file employees among the insurance companies, and they'll start approving claims just to save their lives.

The only way to deal with these mafia types is to play hardball. It's the only language they understand.
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I really think people are routinely being gouged and scammed on a regular basis through healthcare.
Well of course. It's a business. It has a duty to its stockholders to extract the maximum profit possible. That's the American way!

What are you, some kind of socialist?
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
Our for-profit system is the most expensive one in the world (17% of our GDP), and yet it doesn't even offer universal coverage. With the other 19 most industrialized countries, people generally don't go bankrupt because of medical expenses.

BTW, we rank 47th when it comes to outcomes according to W,H.O. studies.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
I really think people are routinely being gouged and scammed on a regular basis through healthcare.
I agree. That's why we need a serious revolution in the health care system. We can pay ten times more for some tests than they charge in Japan, for example. And I've found health care bureaucrats to be no better and perhaps worse than government bureaucrats. My regular doctor had to employ a full time person to handle submitting bills to insurance companies which raised my rates as well.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Which is the wrong answer. Going from one extreme to the other wouldn't be helpful.
Not helpful but totally understandable. The level of frustration and anger continues to grow. Those in power are ignoring this. And single-payer won't really help. Switzerland has private insurance companies but their costs are 1/2 of ours.
 
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