Comments on: What a 9-day hospital stay taught me about health insurance

By: danni

danni — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:04:21 +0000

I feel very sorry for all of you americans – In australia, we have universal healthcare and also the private system. I have access to both private insurance and also public insurnace.
I just had a baby – who died at 9 days, and I stayed in hospital for 11 days and my daugther for 9 days, in nicu (intensive care for infants) and we where looked after as public patients.
Not once dollar am I out of pocket and I have had the best of health care, from the hospital for the last 7 months.

I think that a lot of people are making far to much money from people who are able to least afford it.

By: Health Ins Frustrations

Health Ins Frustrations — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 02:22:22 +0000

At least your bills got paid 90%, and not deemed medically unnecssary. That’s what I write about on my blog

By: beth

beth — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:01:51 +0000

Read “practicing medicine without a license” read “practicing medicine without a license by Owen Fonorow. Read practicing medicine without a license. if you want to dramatically improve your health and save your life read this book.

By: charlie

charlie — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:47:35 +0000

i have high medical bills from hospital and doctors can they touch my 401k
and ssck total bill over 275,000.00 i only have 40,000.00 in 401k
i am 65yrs old

By: Indya

Indya — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:30:22 +0000

@ Tina,

I am a health insurance agent and my suggestion for you is Aetna. Secure an Aetna catastrophic plan to cover major incidents as you described, coverage is affordable and there when you’ll need it.

Enjoy your visit and be safe!

By: tina

tina — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 08:10:18 +0000

Hi everyone,
I’ll be visiting the US for a year to do some research.
After reading the stories on high expenses of med care I’m not sure which coverage to choose for my health insurance in the US for this time. I am thinking about 50 000 and 200 000 coverage. I’m a physician myself so I probably won’t need much unless something serious happens requiring hospital care. In any case if I got sick I would try to get back to Europe (where I am insured through my work and it covers ALL the med costs). However, I am aware that transport is sometimes not possible for a long time (for example in case of ICU treatment or serious wounds from gun shots, violent attacks ect…).
What would you recommend?
Thanks very much for any suggestions!

By: medbillerccmbc

medbillerccmbc — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 09:50:16 +0000

I have been a medical biller for 10 years now. Yes, the person ripping you off is the insurance company, its not the providers. The insurance company gets to charge for every little aspirin, bed sheet, nasal canula, etc. While the provider gets a small percentage, has to agree to become contracted just to attract patients to his/her practice and allow the insurance company to make excuses on why they don’t want to pay.

By: susan

susan — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:01:56 +0000

We’re self-insured with high deductibles & healthy. We pay $1200/month for very few services. We have the insurance “in case.”

My question is: WHEN are Americans going to wake up and yell UNCLE!
One-third of every dollar in health care goes to the insurance companies.
Insurance companies & hospitals are FOR PROFIT.
and they are profiting from our illness.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:44:42 +0000

A few years ago my wife was diagnosed with cancer and remained the ICU for 2-months, 3-months total in the hospital. Let me tell you that there are a number of obscene things that should not be going on within the healthcare industry, insurance, costs, etc. My family has been through a lot, but the BIGGEST jeopardy to our economy and country is our health. Neither our gov. nor the healthcare industry is doing what it needs to make health affordable for all! I didn’t say, FREE, I said affordable. I ticks me off, for example, that I go to the red cross and give a pint of my blood for $5 or FREE and the hospital charges me over $1500 for just a portion of that whole blood I gave! There is no reason that healthcare should cost that much and please spare me the “market” dictates crap! With so little competition in the industry, the market is heavily controlled by the corporate interests…

By: CLE

CLE — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 05:45:43 +0000

I went to ER for headache (very severe) one night. They did CAT scan, then said I had to have an MRI. At 2am, they said the MRI machine wasn’t available and I’d have to wait until morning. They said I had to check into a room – couldn’t stay in ER b/c it was full (I was in hallway of ER entire time – the little rooms there were full of drunk people – not kidding – and cops checking on them while I guess they sobered up. This is in a “best” hospital in Washington, DC). I said I’d come back in morning for MRI, they said I had to stay, perhaps I had an emergency condition of brain and could suddenly die. Also said – head of ER said this – that it would take 2-3 weeks to get an MRI appt unless I “had a friend who is a neurosurgeon and could get you in earlier.”(?!)

With his threat of sudden death hanging over me, I walked to the shared room at 3am, laid in the bed fully clothed, never was served any food, never slept b/c the other patient was yelling and groaning very loudly in her sleep all night. No medications at all, no IVs, nothing – basically sitting there waiting for the MRI. In morning, they told me MRI was scheduled all day and I’d have to wait another night for MRI b/c one of the machines had “broken”. I refused to stay and said I was checking myself out, and if I died suddenly of this, they’d be in trouble. They miraculously found time for me to get an MRI 10 minutes later. After MRI, I left. No diagnosis from them, no talk with dr – they just said to schedule an appt with a neurosurgeon later in the next week.

Charge for the 1/2 night in the room that I didn’t want & didn’t need & didn’t include any meds or food? $2,000.

Total bill for this visit? $10,000. And I’m insured (Blue Cross “Care First” PPO). Somehow, insurance says I now owe over $2,000 of this bill and says I haven’t even met my $1,200 annual deductible. (How this makes sense is beyond me).

That’s it – no treatment for anything, no meds, nothing but a CAT scan, an MRI and part of one night in a room that I didn’t want.

I believe this is bordering on criminal on the part of Washington Hospital Center. Health care system in the US is totally broken.