Woman who gave birth in her car gets $7,400 bill for hospital delivery room

[Dakine10 5,452]

In addition to that, the prices are deliberately manipulated so that by the time you go to pay your co-pay or deducible or whatnot, you think "Wow! I saved so much by having the insurance!" This was one of the factors my dad was bickering about: the pricing is often inflated to ridiculous levels just for appearance and that's all. The insurance companies aren't even paying all of the pre-insurance, walk-in price. It's all a behind-closed-doors negotiation of smoke and mirrors to make us think we're getting a good deal.

I got an MRI here done in Russia for $50.00 at a top private clinic (same day service without insurance)....I googled the uninsured walk-in price for one in the US, and the average came up around $5,000.00 for a single MRI. Then I asked my dad: so if you have insurance, do the insurance companies actually pay all of that for a single MRI? Nope, he said. They do some kind of behind-the-scenes negotiation and agree on a price totally hidden to the consumer, and then pass on the co-pay to the insuree. However, if you are the unfortunate person who just walks-in insuranceless, you will end up with a $5,000.00 bill. The whole thing is just madness....it's the opposite of a competition driven free market, so I don't see how the free market Republicans can support it. I don't see how anyone can think the system works unless you actually work in this industry and benefit from its insanity.

We have a single payer ballot initiative here in Colorado. The intent of the bill is to keep consumer health costs down. You can follow the money by watching who is for and against it. The hospital where I work has donated half a million to defeat the bill. Insurance companies, pharmaceutical, and much of the medical industry are working hard against it. The fly by night ER's and clinics are popping up on every street corner.

The whole industry has become a cash cow at the expense of regular people. Regardless of who wins the election, congress is already bought and paid for so we probably can expect more of the same.

Well not to be Captain Obvious, lol?

Anyone who thinks Obamacare is the reason that health care costs are rising need a dose of captain obvious. Glad I could help.

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

My insurance is awesome. I pay about $46 a month, no deductible. Last year, when my wife flipped her car with her and our daughter in it, they ended up in the ER. 6 days later, I got a bill for just over $50,000 for literally 2.3 hours of care. And much of that time was spent waiting. They got a MRI each, daughter got 10 stitches, they both got some pain meds. That's really it. I was furious because the letter said my insurance refused to pay. So I called up the insurance folks to ask why. Turns out, the bill was already settled. Since the hospital had sent me a line-item detail of all the charges, I asked the insurance lady to lay out all that was paid by them. In the end, the insurance company paid just under $5,000, and I paid nothing. They only paid the "negotiated costs". Typically, about 10%, the lady told me.

So the insurance company pays 10%, but if I didn't have insurance, and didn't know any better, I would have been on the hook for almost $51,000 worth of bills. Now THAT is a crooked system!

[TBoneTX 46,452]

The only sensible place to buy prescription-in-the-U.S. medicines are the Mexican border-city pharmacies.

The meds are produced by the major European labs, foreign distributors for the major U.S. labs, or major Mexican labs.

The pharmacies down there compete, sometimes ferociously.

One can buy almost anything, except pseudoephedrine products and a very few others, off-the-shelf.

However, multi- and letter vitamins are typically cheaper in the U.S.

One wonders whether U.S. governmental regulations (FDA, et al.) have the greatest impact on med prices here.