You Also Can't Keep Your Doctor

[JohnR! 5,495]

How much is your insurance going up

3.25% here with same benefits and same co-pay. I saw very disappointed people in the company when they realized their premiums were not going through the roof as they had been preaching... The smug smile is all but gone from their faces...

[Dakine10 5,452]

and P.S.

i just went round 6 with the never ending free colonoscopy that turned into bills from 4 sources and well over 1000

4 months later. Now the hospital is talking to the person who was supposed to resubmit 1.5 months ago, and the anesthesiologist office who I talked to 3 times and told me not to pay until it was settled sent it to a collection agency.

Yes we need more insurance and involvement Medical care.

Only if you have a 40IQ and are on Acid.

This on top of my wife's docs, who sent the labs of her's to an out of network lab. They want over 1k for that little uh-oh

Sorry Insurance is the problem. Anyone that thinks Obama care is going to make it better, is stupid..Sorry but that's just truth

P.S. Also if you think we got the best in the world and we don't need to do anything..Your stupid to.

One of the craziest things is trying to find out the contracted rates between different plans. You might have 80% coverage and I have 90% coverage but still the total contracted (in-network) cost for the same procedure might be $10000 for me and $5000 for you. The 80% and 90% means nothing in isolation. They give us the same painkiller and mine is covered but yours isn't.

It's a lot of work to figure out which version of a medication each patient needs, which labs there tests should go to. And when someone gets it wrong, your bill goes up exponentially.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

One of the craziest things is trying to find out the contracted rates between different plans. You might have 80% coverage and I have 90% coverage but still the total contracted (in-network) cost for the same procedure might be $10000 for me and $5000 for you. The 80% and 90% means nothing in isolation. They give us the same painkiller and mine is covered but yours isn't.

It's a lot of work to figure out which version of a medication each patient needs, which labs there tests should go to. And when someone gets it wrong, your bill goes up exponentially.

Very true. One of the things I've done multiple times is have the pharmacy work with my physician to find a prescription that works and doesn't break the bank. Doc doesn't know what my prescription plan covers at what rates but the pharmacist does. So I have them work that out among each other because I am not paying 230 bucks for an anti- biotic to treat my daughter's strep throat.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Very true. One of the things I've done multiple times is have the pharmacy work with my physician to find a prescription that works and doesn't break the bank. Doc doesn't know what my prescription plan covers at what rates but the pharmacist does. So I have them work that out among each other because I am not paying 230 bucks for an anti- biotic to treat my daughter's strep throat.

We had a scenario not long ago with a guy who's plan didn't cover lansoprazole (prevacid). He went to fill the prescription and it was going to cost $90. He was irate. The prescription was just a double dose of the regular OTC prevacid, so he calmed down when he realized he could just pick those up for $12.

I remember looking at the itemized bill after my son was born and saw ibuprofen charged 4 times at $8 a pill. When my father in law endup up in ER, the doc had me run across the street to Walgreens to pick up crutches since his plan didn't cover them and the ER charge for them would have been $450. They were $30 at Walgreens IIRC.

I saw a $100 charge for a simple strip band aid after my shoulder surgery. I guess my share of the band aid was just $10, but it's not hard to see where the bloat is in the system. You just don't expect that unreal of a markup, and you can't plan for every possibility. I do think I'll bring my own Advil and band aids if we ever need to go to the hospital again.