Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Treated for Illness, Then Lost in Labyrinth of Bills

Paq · 10-15-2005, 03:21 AM

I think that is one of the main reasons why i wish we could adopt a univeral health care system. Namely, i pay entirely too much for insurance that covers very little. I also get bills up to 2 yrs AFTER a simple service. I broke a bone in my hand that costed $1800, mainly for 3 xrays and 2 rolls of fiberglass tape for a cast, nothing had to be 'reset' even though the bones are now misaligned, and nothing was done that i wasn't already doing for it. My insurance costed me $500 every 6 months, and it covered roughly $1000 of that, so i ended up paying about $1300 for the insurance plus the bill..then 6 months later, i get another bill from the actual doctor..then another from the center where i had my xrays performed...then a 3rd that i totally didn't understand, so all in all, it was about $1800 for a simple broken bone in a hand and took 4 hrs at one place and 3 hrs at another waiting in the waiting room. I don't know of many canadians that wait 7 hrs to have a broken bone diagnosed and reset and i sure don't know of any that spent several hours on the phone haggling with insurance companies and doctors' offices...

i'd HATE to imagine if i were to have heart troubles or an appendix rupture or anything requiring an overnight visit to a hospital.

heck, my 1 emergency room trip i nthe past 10 yrs took 6 hrs and involved 9...9!!! different bills from the xray tech to the doctor's home office that is over 400 miles away...

And as for insurance, i can BARELY find 20/80 coverage that does not have a $2000+ deductible and an obscene premium, and it's still over $100/month for 70/30 with several hundred limitations for a single white nonsmoker with no past medical issues...I don't know about hte rest of you, but the thought of coming up wtih 30% of a $100K operation is ...well, scary.

10-15-2005, 03:21 AM	#5 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	I think that is one of the main reasons why i wish we could adopt a univeral health care system. Namely, i pay entirely too much for insurance that covers very little. I also get bills up to 2 yrs AFTER a simple service. I broke a bone in my hand that costed $1800, mainly for 3 xrays and 2 rolls of fiberglass tape for a cast, nothing had to be 'reset' even though the bones are now misaligned, and nothing was done that i wasn't already doing for it. My insurance costed me $500 every 6 months, and it covered roughly $1000 of that, so i ended up paying about $1300 for the insurance plus the bill..then 6 months later, i get another bill from the actual doctor..then another from the center where i had my xrays performed...then a 3rd that i totally didn't understand, so all in all, it was about $1800 for a simple broken bone in a hand and took 4 hrs at one place and 3 hrs at another waiting in the waiting room. I don't know of many canadians that wait 7 hrs to have a broken bone diagnosed and reset and i sure don't know of any that spent several hours on the phone haggling with insurance companies and doctors' offices... i'd HATE to imagine if i were to have heart troubles or an appendix rupture or anything requiring an overnight visit to a hospital. heck, my 1 emergency room trip i nthe past 10 yrs took 6 hrs and involved 9...9!!! different bills from the xray tech to the doctor's home office that is over 400 miles away... And as for insurance, i can BARELY find 20/80 coverage that does not have a $2000+ deductible and an obscene premium, and it's still over $100/month for 70/30 with several hundred limitations for a single white nonsmoker with no past medical issues...I don't know about hte rest of you, but the thought of coming up wtih 30% of a $100K operation is ...well, scary. __________________ Live. Chris