Is it Visa Fraud if ...

[Aymerlu 3]

I think its crazy what people have to pay for insurance in the USA.

I feel for the people that dont have any insurance.

I am not used to paying to go see a doctor. If you need to see a doctor, you should just be able to go, and not worry if you have the money to go or not.

The health care really needs to be addressed so its fair for everyone that needs medical treatment.

socialist medicine, because crack addicts need health care too!

Socialized healthcare. Not quite the same...

Uh...YES $30,000. Broke 4 bones...fibula, tibia, and lateral and medial malleolus (ankle bones). Had surgery with 10 screws, pins and plates and about 3 months after that I had to have surgery on a ligament in my foot that is totally shot so I can walk with a cute little limp now. So YES $30,000 I might add too that since this is a pre-existing condition, I am having even a harder time finding insurance.

There's also the problem of insurance companies interfering with your treatment, against the advice of doctors. My father in law has a heart condition that requires him to see a cardiologist once a month, in addition to taking a bunch of medication.

Thing is, his insurance company decided that since he hadn't had an 'episode' for a few months he didn't need to see the cardiologist. So they told him they weren't going to pay out for it, and he ended up having several angina attacks that landed him in hospital. Luckily he was ok, but he could have had a major heart attack - and all because some insurance agent figured he knew better than the doctor.

I'm a nurse in a doctor office and on a daily basis, insurance companies will call us to see if a patient can be on another medication other than the on prescribed by the doctor. They will say....has the patient tried this, this or this yet??? We want them to try this before we will approve what the doctor has ordered! Burns me how insurance companies can over-ride a doctors orders. Something has to change.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm a nurse in a doctor office and on a daily basis, insurance companies will call us to see if a patient can be on another medication other than the on prescribed by the doctor. They will say....has the patient tried this, this or this yet??? We want them to try this before we will approve what the doctor has ordered! Burns me how insurance companies can over-ride a doctors orders. Something has to change.

Exactly. And you KNOW that they're not calling up because its in the patient's best interests to use a different drug - they're protecting their profit margins first and foremost. Concern for the patient's welfare is secondary.

Seems like if drug X cost less than drug Y, they'd put you on it even if it doesn't do as good a job as the more expensive one.

Ultimately that's the conflict of interest - making a profit vs ensuring quality care for patients. Not to say that socialized systems are perfect, far from it - but you shouldn't be encouraged to take dangerous risks with your health because you're worried about how much it costs. Seen a lot of people do that. Still, having experienced both systems, I have to say that the care I received in the US under a corporate insurance plan was not much different from that I received in the UK - only thing was I didn't have to worry about a big fat bill at the end of it...

Just dread to think what happens if I ever end up with a serious long term problem like my father in law - will I even be able to afford the premiums. Most likely I'll end up like my mother in law - who has had no insurance for as long as I can remember...

Edited June 11, 2006 by Fishdude

[Aymerlu 3]

I'm a nurse in a doctor office and on a daily basis, insurance companies will call us to see if a patient can be on another medication other than the on prescribed by the doctor. They will say....has the patient tried this, this or this yet??? We want them to try this before we will approve what the doctor has ordered! Burns me how insurance companies can over-ride a doctors orders. Something has to change.

Exactly. And you KNOW that they're not calling up because its in the patient's best interests to use a different drug - they're protecting their profit margins first and foremost. Concern for the patient's welfare is secondary.

Seems like if drug X cost less than drug Y, they'd put you on it even if it doesn't do as good a job as the more expensive one.

And something else that burns me is the person that is asking me this I can almost bet has no medical background. With some insurance companies, once they deny coverage on a patients meds, I just hang up and call them back, get ahold of someone else, and they approve. What a tangled web.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm a nurse in a doctor office and on a daily basis, insurance companies will call us to see if a patient can be on another medication other than the on prescribed by the doctor. They will say....has the patient tried this, this or this yet??? We want them to try this before we will approve what the doctor has ordered! Burns me how insurance companies can over-ride a doctors orders. Something has to change.

Exactly. And you KNOW that they're not calling up because its in the patient's best interests to use a different drug - they're protecting their profit margins first and foremost. Concern for the patient's welfare is secondary.

Seems like if drug X cost less than drug Y, they'd put you on it even if it doesn't do as good a job as the more expensive one.

And something else that burns me is the person that is asking me this I can almost bet has no medical background. With some insurance companies, once they deny coverage on a patients meds, I just hang up and call them back, get ahold of someone else, and they approve. What a tangled web.

And that's of course assuming that nurses aren't so snowed under with work that they can take the time to do this. I would hazard a guess that plenty can't - and the patient is left at the mercy of the insurance company.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Absolutely. If you don't have insurance.

My friend had her ankle broken. The hospital bill was in the vicinity of $17,000.00. The insurance company (after getting the negotiated "discounts") was laible for only $2,000.00. HAd my friend not had health insurance, she would have been on the hook for the full 17 grand. That's how the "best health care system in the world" *cough, cough* operates.

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

Health insurance here in the U.S sucks the big one. I have not had health insurance for 2 years now, not because I don't want it, but because I cannot afford it. I even bit the bullet and tried for medicaid when I broke my leg so badly last October and basically because I work.....I did not qualify. I was told I had to be off work for 3 months, then to reapply. HELLO....I'm a single mom of 2 kids....I can't just NOT WORK. What burns my butt is that I'm a nurse and I see 100's of patients a day. I see what they drive, what they wear and where they work. I know they are making a ton more money than me and they get medicaid. So not fair. OK....rant off. You can go to the health department for the immunizations, some are free and some they want a small donation. At first I was too proud to go, but then I thought....Hey....I am a tax payer, right? So now I don't have a problem with it. And is their really free health care at the hospital? I went to the county hospital when I bummed up my leg so bad in October. I owe them a nice $30,000 now which my great grandkids will probably still be paying on one day.

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Uh...YES $30,000. Broke 4 bones...fibula, tibia, and lateral and medial malleolus (ankle bones). Had surgery with 10 screws, pins and plates and about 3 months after that I had to have surgery on a ligament in my foot that is totally shot so I can walk with a cute little limp now. So YES $30,000 I might add too that since this is a pre-existing condition, I am having even a harder time finding insurance.

what in the world were you doing to break 4 bones? you're not evil knievel are you?

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Absolutely. If you don't have insurance.

My friend had her ankle broken. The hospital bill was in the vicinity of $17,000.00. The insurance company (after getting the negotiated "discounts") was laible for only $2,000.00. HAd my friend not had health insurance, she would have been on the hook for the full 17 grand. That's how the "best health care system in the world" *cough, cough* operates.

good thing i got medical thru the military then

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Absolutely. If you don't have insurance.

My friend had her ankle broken. The hospital bill was in the vicinity of $17,000.00. The insurance company (after getting the negotiated "discounts") was laible for only $2,000.00. HAd my friend not had health insurance, she would have been on the hook for the full 17 grand. That's how the "best health care system in the world" *cough, cough* operates.

good thing i got medical thru the military then

You better believe it. Those that don't have health insurance coverage are getting fcuked over in so many different ways it's not even funny.

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Absolutely. If you don't have insurance.

My friend had her ankle broken. The hospital bill was in the vicinity of $17,000.00. The insurance company (after getting the negotiated "discounts") was laible for only $2,000.00. HAd my friend not had health insurance, she would have been on the hook for the full 17 grand. That's how the "best health care system in the world" *cough, cough* operates.

good thing i got medical thru the military then

You better believe it. Those that don't have health insurance coverage are getting fcuked over in so many different ways it's not even funny.

maybe the military should start touting that again to increase recruits

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Absolutely. If you don't have insurance.

My friend had her ankle broken. The hospital bill was in the vicinity of $17,000.00. The insurance company (after getting the negotiated "discounts") was laible for only $2,000.00. HAd my friend not had health insurance, she would have been on the hook for the full 17 grand. That's how the "best health care system in the world" *cough, cough* operates.

good thing i got medical thru the military then

You better believe it. Those that don't have health insurance coverage are getting fcuked over in so many different ways it's not even funny.

maybe the military should start touting that again to increase recruits

Fortunately, there are alternatives.

[almaty 19]

the medical costs are traumatic...i think nusa helath care is some of the worst health care on the planet..if it is too high in price for people to use..then it is worthless...no matter how state of the art it is

[iceyspots 0]

I've seen Free Health Care in Algeria, I'll never complain about having to buy medical insurance in U.S. again lol

[Aymerlu 3]

Health insurance here in the U.S sucks the big one. I have not had health insurance for 2 years now, not because I don't want it, but because I cannot afford it. I even bit the bullet and tried for medicaid when I broke my leg so badly last October and basically because I work.....I did not qualify. I was told I had to be off work for 3 months, then to reapply. HELLO....I'm a single mom of 2 kids....I can't just NOT WORK. What burns my butt is that I'm a nurse and I see 100's of patients a day. I see what they drive, what they wear and where they work. I know they are making a ton more money than me and they get medicaid. So not fair. OK....rant off. You can go to the health department for the immunizations, some are free and some they want a small donation. At first I was too proud to go, but then I thought....Hey....I am a tax payer, right? So now I don't have a problem with it. And is their really free health care at the hospital? I went to the county hospital when I bummed up my leg so bad in October. I owe them a nice $30,000 now which my great grandkids will probably still be paying on one day.

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Uh...YES $30,000. Broke 4 bones...fibula, tibia, and lateral and medial malleolus (ankle bones). Had surgery with 10 screws, pins and plates and about 3 months after that I had to have surgery on a ligament in my foot that is totally shot so I can walk with a cute little limp now. So YES $30,000 I might add too that since this is a pre-existing condition, I am having even a harder time finding insurance.

what in the world were you doing to break 4 bones? you're not evil knievel are you?

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Absolutely. If you don't have insurance.

My friend had her ankle broken. The hospital bill was in the vicinity of $17,000.00. The insurance company (after getting the negotiated "discounts") was laible for only $2,000.00. HAd my friend not had health insurance, she would have been on the hook for the full 17 grand. That's how the "best health care system in the world" *cough, cough* operates.

good thing i got medical thru the military then

Oh God.....the truth????? It was homecoming weekend, me and friends were walking and I stepped in a pothole in the sidewalk. Just call me Grace! And NO I wasn't drunk, I was actually the driver for the evening. Yes, it was a heck of a pothole. My friends went back the next day to take pictures and you could put your whole foot in it.

Health insurance here in the U.S sucks the big one. I have not had health insurance for 2 years now, not because I don't want it, but because I cannot afford it. I even bit the bullet and tried for medicaid when I broke my leg so badly last October and basically because I work.....I did not qualify. I was told I had to be off work for 3 months, then to reapply. HELLO....I'm a single mom of 2 kids....I can't just NOT WORK. What burns my butt is that I'm a nurse and I see 100's of patients a day. I see what they drive, what they wear and where they work. I know they are making a ton more money than me and they get medicaid. So not fair. OK....rant off. You can go to the health department for the immunizations, some are free and some they want a small donation. At first I was too proud to go, but then I thought....Hey....I am a tax payer, right? So now I don't have a problem with it. And is their really free health care at the hospital? I went to the county hospital when I bummed up my leg so bad in October. I owe them a nice $30,000 now which my great grandkids will probably still be paying on one day.

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Uh...YES $30,000. Broke 4 bones...fibula, tibia, and lateral and medial malleolus (ankle bones). Had surgery with 10 screws, pins and plates and about 3 months after that I had to have surgery on a ligament in my foot that is totally shot so I can walk with a cute little limp now. So YES $30,000 I might add too that since this is a pre-existing condition, I am having even a harder time finding insurance.

what in the world were you doing to break 4 bones? you're not evil knievel are you?

$30,000 for fixing a broken leg?

Absolutely. If you don't have insurance.

My friend had her ankle broken. The hospital bill was in the vicinity of $17,000.00. The insurance company (after getting the negotiated "discounts") was laible for only $2,000.00. HAd my friend not had health insurance, she would have been on the hook for the full 17 grand. That's how the "best health care system in the world" *cough, cough* operates.

good thing i got medical thru the military then

Oh God.....the truth????? It was homecoming weekend, me and friends were walking and I stepped in a pothole in the sidewalk. Just call me Grace! And NO I wasn't drunk, I was actually the driver for the evening. Everyone teases me saying if I had've been drunk I would've been fine! Yes, it was a heck of a pothole. My friends went back the next day to take pictures and you could put your whole foot in it.

[meddykomp 0]

American healthcare .. where the doctors are trained in medical school more about drugging you when you are sick than keeping you healthy to begin with. Our healthcare is as advanced as it is to counteract the damage that we do to ourselves.

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

Oh God.....the truth????? It was homecoming weekend, me and friends were walking and I stepped in a pothole in the sidewalk. Just call me Grace! And NO I wasn't drunk, I was actually the driver for the evening. Everyone teases me saying if I had've been drunk I would've been fine! Yes, it was a heck of a pothole. My friends went back the next day to take pictures and you could put your whole foot in it.

so why is it that a horde of lawyers is not chasing you?

Edited June 12, 2006 by charlesandnessa

[Aymerlu 3]

Oh God.....the truth????? It was homecoming weekend, me and friends were walking and I stepped in a pothole in the sidewalk. Just call me Grace! And NO I wasn't drunk, I was actually the driver for the evening. Everyone teases me saying if I had've been drunk I would've been fine! Yes, it was a heck of a pothole. My friends went back the next day to take pictures and you could put your whole foot in it.

so why is it that a horde of lawyers is not chasing you?

LOL...I got my lawyer. I didn't wanna sound like a gold digger