Rush Limbaugh HEARTS status quo healthcare

[nathanm]

No, you just accuse them of being more interested in getting billing information over the treatment/health of the patient, rapidly sending bill collectors after non-paying patients, and minimizing the significant contribution they make in the form of saving more than just "some" lives. That's all.

You apparently have a hard time differentiating between care being delivered and billing. I labor under no such difficulty.

The system as it stands discourages people from seeking care even in emergency situations, hence only "some" people get care. Not because doctors refuse to treat them, but because the prospect of impossibly high medical bills discourage "some" people from seeking treatment.

Moreover, my anecdote did not illustrate that doctors are prioritizing payment over care, but that ER administrators are doing that, whether by design or accident. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

[Conan71]

Is it just me seeing this or...

[USRufnex]

You will find this difficult to comprehend but there are people that truly want health care reform that believe the present Democratic Party presentation is not the correct answer.

The Democrats have been just as non-cooperative as the Republicans.

Is it just me seeing this, or......



Does Olympia Snowe look an awful lot like Lucy from Peanuts?

[guido911]

Is it just me seeing this or...

I'm seeing this, but I cannot differentiate very well:

[rwarn17588]

[Conan71]

You ever go to the doctor's office and leave your heath insurance card at home?
Try it sometime.

When I went to St Francis Imaging, they asked for $500 right then and there.  They had my BC/BS card in front of them.......

You realize that ER's have collections depts, don't you?
And they charge a TON of money if you don't have insurance or medicare negotiating on your behalf.
You realize we have a big problem in this country with citizens who are forced into medical bankruptcies, don't you?

What do you want ER's to do?  Deny someone care who's been in a car accident/shooting, etc. because the "paying people" should go first?

Do you really want that for our country?

Hyperbole?  Really?

TENS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS CANNOT AFFORD HEALTHCARE BECAUSE IT'S TIED TO THEIR EMPLOYER.
No job?  Don't get sick.

That's not hyperbole.
That's FACT.

Damn those leeches at Saint Francis!

My determined deductible for my shoulder surgery is $500, according to the clerk I worked with. 

They asked I pay $250 right then and there yesterday at my pre-op visit, or if I was incapable of doing that, they were willing to work that out with me.  The nerve of those greedy people expecting to get paid for a service rendered!!!  It's a total crime that I will have to pay the remainder of my deductible and co-pays (per my contract with my health insurer).  I'd hate to think anyone deserves to be compensated and perhaps even make a profit in the process of helping me live pain-free.  What a travesty!

I'll also bet two options are available to me after the surgery:

One is I can offer to pay all remaining co-pays and deductibles at once and ask for a discount which they will probably accept.  Or, pre-arrange to pay them out over a period of months using an auto-draft from my debit card or one of my bank accounts- and no, that does not go on your credit report as a medical collection.

Heartless bastards...I want my "free" health care!

[guido911]

You poor soul conan. I'll have usruf visit you in post op to give you a big hug.

[FOTD]

Damn those leeches at Saint Francis!

My determined deductible for my shoulder surgery is $500, according to the clerk I worked with.  

They asked I pay $250 right then and there yesterday at my pre-op visit, or if I was incapable of doing that, they were willing to work that out with me.  The nerve of those greedy people expecting to get paid for a service rendered!!!  It's a total crime that I will have to pay the remainder of my deductible and co-pays (per my contract with my health insurer).  I'd hate to think anyone deserves to be compensated and perhaps even make a profit in the process of helping me live pain-free.  What a travesty!

I'll also bet two options are available to me after the surgery:

One is I can offer to pay all remaining co-pays and deductibles at once and ask for a discount which they will probably accept.  Or, pre-arrange to pay them out over a period of months using an auto-draft from my debit card or one of my bank accounts- and no, that does not go on your credit report as a medical collection.

Heartless bastards...I want my "free" health care!

You shouldn't be sarcastic about this....they suck. Wish this demon could've advised you prior to your surgery. Well, good luck anyway.

How'd you injure your shoulder? Let me guess, trick fawkin...little old for that...guess you're finding out the hard way.

Happy new year and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Conan71]

You shouldn't be sarcastic about this....they suck. Wish this demon could've advised you prior to your surgery. Well, good luck anyway.

How'd you injure your shoulder? Let me guess, trick fawkin...little old for that...guess you're finding out the hard way.

Happy new year and best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Where on earth have you been man? Long strange trip?

[USRufnex]

Damn those leeches at Saint Francis!

My determined deductible for my shoulder surgery is $500, according to the clerk I worked with.  

They asked I pay $250 right then and there yesterday at my pre-op visit, or if I was incapable of doing that, they were willing to work that out with me.  The nerve of those greedy people expecting to get paid for a service rendered!!!  It's a total crime that I will have to pay the remainder of my deductible and co-pays (per my contract with my health insurer).  I'd hate to think anyone deserves to be compensated and perhaps even make a profit in the process of helping me live pain-free.  What a travesty!

I'll also bet two options are available to me after the surgery:

One is I can offer to pay all remaining co-pays and deductibles at once and ask for a discount which they will probably accept.  Or, pre-arrange to pay them out over a period of months using an auto-draft from my debit card or one of my bank accounts- and no, that does not go on your credit report as a medical collection.

Heartless bastards...I want my "free" health care!

Is your middle name, "Condescending?"

It's not about "free" health care.

It's about the haphazard way in which some doctors, clinics, and hospitals want their money upfront... I had a blizzard of bills to pay for my cancer surgery.... I wrote check after check after check... it didn't make any sense which ones wanted everything paid upfront and which ones wanted me to wait for a bill... and which ones would send a nasty letter out of the blue if I had forgotten to pay some $20 invoice for glorified Qtips and a cute little bottle of Nutrigena.....

I received a call days before my scheduled procedure at St Francis Imaging demanding payment over the phone after I'd already satisfied my deductible... explaining that to the 3rd party collector wasn't an option.... she obviously didn't care.  She just makes calls to get money from people before their procedures, and as far as I could tell, she had no connection to the healthcare system other than making cold calls to people like me demanding I pay money... and I ended up getting a refund check for the entire amount I paid.... MONTHS LATER.

And I guess I shouldn't forget the doc who didn't give me any sort of "choice" -- he referred me to a "boutique" hospital HE FRIGGIN OWNED THAT WAS OUT OF NETWORK, costing me alot of money that I never would have had to pay had I been given the proper choice of hospitals and options that I and my employer ALREADY FRIGGIN PAID FOR through BC/BS....

I'm not the only one to go through this, there are lots of horror stories out there.

I'm grateful yours wasn't one of them....

When I bought a new car, I didn't have to pay everybody who had a hand in building the car... and when my used car dropped a transmission, my mechanic didn't ask for $500 upfront days before he installed it.... and last time I checked, they were still in business making a profit.

Once again, NOBODY is/was talking about "free" health care.

Except maybe Conan, Gweed, and the "I want my free healthcare!" strawman you like to trot out and the moocher "Gimme gimme gimme" welfare strawman Gweed has perpetually on display.....  

[Conan71]

Is your middle name, "Condescending?"

It's not about "free" health care.

It's about the haphazard way in which some doctors, clinics, and hospitals want their money upfront... I had a blizzard of bills to pay for my cancer surgery.... I wrote check after check after check... it didn't make any sense which ones wanted everything paid upfront and which ones wanted me to wait for a bill... and which ones would send a nasty letter out of the blue if I had forgotten to pay some $20 invoice for glorified Qtips and a cute little bottle of Nutrigena.....

I received a call days before my scheduled procedure at St Francis Imaging demanding payment over the phone after I'd already satisfied my deductible... explaining that to the 3rd party collector wasn't an option.... she obviously didn't care.  She just makes calls to get money from people before their procedures, and as far as I could tell, she had no connection to the healthcare system other than making cold calls to people like me demanding I pay money... and I ended up getting a refund check for the entire amount I paid.... MONTHS LATER.

And I guess I shouldn't forget the doc who didn't give me any sort of "choice" -- he referred me to a "boutique" hospital HE FRIGGIN OWNED THAT WAS OUT OF NETWORK, costing me alot of money that I never would have had to pay had I been given the proper choice of hospitals and options that I and my employer ALREADY FRIGGIN PAID FOR through BC/BS....

I'm not the only one to go through this, there are lots of horror stories out there.

I'm grateful yours wasn't one of them....

When I bought a new car, I didn't have to pay everybody who had a hand in building the car... and when my used car dropped a transmission, my mechanic didn't ask for $500 upfront days before he installed it.... and last time I checked, they were still in business making a profit.

Once again, NOBODY is/was talking about "free" health care.

Except maybe Conan, Gweed, and the "I want my free healthcare!" strawman you like to trot out and the moocher "Gimme gimme gimme" welfare strawman Gweed has perpetually on display.....  

BTW- Your experience did, in fact save me the mistake of having mine done at OSH (I'm typing one-handed sort of, forgive typos my left arm is still paralyzed from a nerve block- it's creepy).  As soon as the surgical coordinator tried to schedule me at OSH I asked if it was in network, it was not.  Threrefore the reason this all came together very quickly. My surgeon only does surgeries at the Natalie twice a month and I need to get recovering quickly.

As far as the $500 issue, something still isn't right about the way that was handled.

[Hoss]

My experience today with the health care world wasn't for me, but my mother.

As a recovering cancer victim (uterine cancer about 15 years ago), her PCP suggested she get a sigmoid colonoscopy.  For some background, my mother is nearly 64, and has a previous diagnosis of a subdural hematoma from a fall in 1984.  She has some left-side paralysis but gets around pretty good on level ground.

Back to the discussion at hand.  My mother, since she is disabled, is in the SoonerCare network.  It has been a God send as far as keeping her costs manageable, and every year sofar we've had to pull teeth at the state level to make sure her care wasn't canceled due to neglect of her case worker.  But two dollar prescriptions is definitely good for her.

So the colonscopy was scheduled initially for October 9th.  I stayed with her during the grueling prep (I'm 42 and my physician tells me to expect this when I turn 50, ugh) which lasted nearly 48 hours.  I take her to Hillcrest for the procedure and the nurse tells us her prep wasn't good enough, so they had to abort the procedure.

They changed the method of her preparation for procedure two, she went in on Oct 22nd (her sister took her this time, whom I now know reads the forums..hi) and all went well this time.

Fast-forward to today.  My mother has been divorced from my dad (who lives with his sister in Claremore now) for about four years.  Mom was on (while they were married) his insurance through his former job (he retired and got to retain insurance through Sunoco) until they divorced.  Suddenly, my dad tells mom that he has received a collections bill for the procedure for a little over $300.  After calling Soonercare and the doctors office, we decided through some deduction by the doctor's office, since both visits had claims filed and paid for by Soonercare, that the offending bill was likely the Hillcrest facility.  Wound up not being the facility, but a radiology bill that the radiologist didn't file 'because I didn't think Soonercare would pay for it'.  So, instead of calling my mother or even sending a letter, they just turned the bill over to a collection agency.

This is a lot of what is wrong with the HCS right now.  A litany of paperwork that offices hate to move on because it's such a pain.  Was the radiologist in the wrong.  You bet your a$$.  But with seemingly 10s of different forms for each of the different insurance companies to file, I think it's high time that the industry and whomever else needs to be looking into it figure out some kind of clearing house system to standardize claims paperwork.

[guido911]

(I'm typing one-handed sort of, forgive typos my left arm is still paralyzed from a nerve block- it's creepy). 

pu$$y. Seriously, glad your up and around.

[FOTD]

Guess it's still too early to see if you have MURSA symptoms. Did give you all those antibiotics before they cut you?

Pinched nerve? Numb? Sounds like your nuts.

Good luck. Hope to hell that jerk doctor (one of too many over there) who put personal greed ahead of his Hippocratic oath didn't do the surgery.  Amazing how many qualified doctors they've let go or alienated for a much less quality care in favor of their "not for profit" bottom line.

Having hell sleeping?

[FOTD]

This is all too accurate.