Post ASRnwS0nL9wpI8m6xU by freakazoid@retro.social
(DIR) More posts by freakazoid@retro.social
(DIR) Post #ASRVfFSqwKiuHKXwnY by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T17:13:32Z
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A familiar member recently had a medical emergency with approximately the same urgency and simplicity of treatment as acute appendicitis. We just got the bill:- Hospital charged insurance $60000.- Insurance said nah, that was worth $20000 tops.- Insurance paid the hospital $17000.- Because our insurance is “good”, we “only” owe the hospital about $3000 for the 6 hours we were there.Boy, sure glad we don’t have that socialism medicine. /s#murica
(DIR) Post #ASRVqtZY9x51rBEUTY by SolSoCoG@ieji.de
2023-02-07T17:15:25Z
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@tek that is truely mindboggling
(DIR) Post #ASRVtDH5sTsZXdhmhU by craigmaloney@octodon.social
2023-02-07T17:15:59Z
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@tek When we got the explanation of benefits for my cancer treatment JoDee said "how much do you want to live?"Seriously, getting sick is no joke here.Hoping they recover soon.
(DIR) Post #ASRW6KjDTcReQI7DuK by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T17:18:28Z
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@SolSoCoG Note that the insurance costs on the order of $40000 per year anyway.
(DIR) Post #ASRWIohXrb0OrFHolE by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T17:20:42Z
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@craigmaloney We already *have* the death panels, don’t we? And we have what counts as really good insurance, but still have to decide how much we really want to go to the doctor each time we might need to.Thanks. They were fully recovered from the 1 hour surgery a couple of weeks later. Kids bounce back, they do.
(DIR) Post #ASRY2MOHYPbcKRYaUC by SolSoCoG@ieji.de
2023-02-07T17:40:07Z
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@tek damn. you pay like around 15% of your gross salary in Germany, and you have to pay 10% of the sale price, at max 10€ per medication, no shenanigans like something costs you 500€ because you have a rare disease. Unless you want some crazy new methods that arent covered by insurance you pay nothing at a doctor and a daily 10€~ fee for hospital stay, at max 280€ per year. If you go beyond 2%(or 1% if chronically ill) your salary on meds, further meds are free of charge.
(DIR) Post #ASRY7XFsaUcJTL5uSG by SolSoCoG@ieji.de
2023-02-07T17:41:03Z
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@tek *is the insurance some kind of family insurance at least costing that much?
(DIR) Post #ASRYOYc0nOBQbUYyvI by tootymaskooty@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T17:44:10Z
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@tek that sucks, sorry to hear about that!! i hope everybody's okay!
(DIR) Post #ASReA1xxyVbz1cHxdg by steevmi1@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T18:48:47Z
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@tek Yeah, the EOBs are a real trip. “So, what happened to that other $40,000….?” Hardest thing to get “Obamacare is socialism death panels” set to understand. I see $40,000 just disappear, what about people that don’t have rhe class of insurance I do (or even have mo insurance at all)…?
(DIR) Post #ASRnJRNrk04i3BxsZs by freakazoid@retro.social
2023-02-07T20:31:19Z
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@tek I dunno, I'm not sure I'd trade it for the NHS right now where your family member probably would have just died.
(DIR) Post #ASRnSyZfi1gFax29Wy by freakazoid@retro.social
2023-02-07T20:31:56Z
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@tek And if you think the NHS is bad, imagine how badly Congress would fuck up socialized medicine.
(DIR) Post #ASRnSzZ020jkf9j87c by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T20:32:59Z
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@freakazoid Is Medicare that bad? (I’ll answer for you: no, it’s not as bad as our private healthcare is.)
(DIR) Post #ASRnT04u7OG2G6ebqq by freakazoid@retro.social
2023-02-07T20:32:40Z
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@tek The problem isn't really socialized vs not; the problem is America.
(DIR) Post #ASRniNdwmlXpglNYHY by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T20:35:49Z
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@steevmi1 Yeah, everyone except the out-of-pocket patient is allowed to negotiate.
(DIR) Post #ASRnwS0nL9wpI8m6xU by freakazoid@retro.social
2023-02-07T20:38:20Z
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@tek Not as bad as the NHS at the moment, as I understand it. But it sort of piggybacks on the existing system, and highly politicized issues like birth control and abortion aren't really an issue for the people on Medicare. Though honestly I have no idea how Medicaid deals with those.I am not sure Medicare is a good predictor of what the system would be like if there were only a public option, or even if the public option were made available to everyone. Medicare already has a lot of power over what sort of treatments are available, because sometimes it's not even economic to provide a treatment if Medicare won't cover it. Expanding that power can only cause the system to become even more politicized than it already is.I don't think there's any shortcut to fixing health care that doesn't involve fixing our system of government.
(DIR) Post #ASRobnI783gvA3adHs by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T20:45:51Z
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@freakazoid It’s exactly the same for prviate insurance: if they don't pay for a treatment, you're out of luck. You can't even call your senator to gripe about it. They're unaccountable.Having managed medical offices for the last 20 years or so, I'd infinitely rather deal with Medicare than any other insuror. They're much easier to work with.
(DIR) Post #ASRqWs8prs7QfH1yLI by freakazoid@retro.social
2023-02-07T21:07:20Z
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@tek It is the same for private insurance, but at least they have to actually compete with one another to some extent.But our third party payer system is completely broken to begin with. Having someone pay who's neither the provider nor the recipient of the care is a recipe for high prices. A Medicare-based system that still has private providers still has a version of this problem, though it's different: the payer has 100% of the pricing power. And if they set a price that's too low, it will cause long waiting lists if the treatment is available at all. And if it's too high people might get it when they don't really need it, because the providers will push it due to its being profitable. And of course the taxpayers will be overpaying.A two party system like the NHS or Kaiser works better from a price/cost standpoint, though in the case of the NHS where budgets are determined through the political process, the problem is chronic underfunding and the fact that the health care system is a monopoly employer, which is why the UK is seeing massive strikes right now.
(DIR) Post #ASRs4A9q0NLo3EwC8m by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T21:24:34Z
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@freakazoid I think I'd still take NHS over our hopelessly broken system. At least NHS *could* be fixed.Also, I'd rather have either of them than Kaiser. They're great, as long as you're healthy.
(DIR) Post #ASRs9GAp47ts9npRY0 by freakazoid@retro.social
2023-02-07T21:12:11Z
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@tek One minor correction: what we have in the US right now isn't actually "insurance" in any meaningful sense; the point of insurance is to cover costs you can't afford. What we call "health insurance" in the US is actually a form of money laundering caused by the fact that health care costs are only deductible from your taxes above a certain percentage of your income, while health "insurance" is completely deductible. Why either is deductible is beyond me. I can think of thousands of other expenses that aren't really within someone's control that should also be deductible by the same philosophy.
(DIR) Post #ASRs9GbPTHARUGGfzM by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T21:25:26Z
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@freakazoid Good point. Our current system seems to be the worst possible combination of anti-features.
(DIR) Post #ASRsGgyhnz7rJihmAC by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T21:26:49Z
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@SolSoCoG It is, fortunately. I have no idea how my grown kids would be able to afford insurance on their own.
(DIR) Post #ASRsNi9NqT8Wyo2whU by freakazoid@retro.social
2023-02-07T21:28:06Z
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@tek My mom has had Kaiser for years and loves it. She just went through breast cancer treatment with them and they did a great job.
(DIR) Post #ASRsQwX2patqS6efLc by freakazoid@retro.social
2023-02-07T21:28:42Z
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@tek This is fairly typical of the US. We're like the epitome of the middle ground fallacy or something.
(DIR) Post #ASRtUpNNTjP1N4Y7v6 by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T21:40:35Z
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@freakazoid I'm very glad to hear that! I've know of a handful of happy outcomes with them.
(DIR) Post #ASRtYt3viNa1xjO9aq by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T21:41:20Z
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@tootymaskooty Thanks! All came out well in the end. It was an urgent situation, but nothing very complex or challenging.
(DIR) Post #ASRtcwEDsxxAwL8Pz6 by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T21:42:03Z
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@SolSoCoG "But that would be socialism!"(Unlike what we have now, which is a Lovecraftian abomination.)
(DIR) Post #ASRtpEMkHDXOfQyz3o by panegyr@meow.social
2023-02-07T21:44:12Z
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@tek relate, I’m still slowly paying off $2000 for an emergency room visit last year and our insurance is a classic ppo plan that costs us about $12k per year for me and my spouse, the $2000 was essentially one of our individual deductibles for the year
(DIR) Post #ASRuecYG79oSRksAKm by ekaitz_zarraga@mastodon.social
2023-02-07T21:53:28Z
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@tek I had acute appendicitis when I was 20 or so and I payed 0€ for it.Until recently, I considered that a normal thing... 😮
(DIR) Post #ASRxKOCK4VH203em5Q by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T22:23:30Z
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@panegyr What a mess. :-/
(DIR) Post #ASRxNVuzp6gYoV2g0u by tek@freeradical.zone
2023-02-07T22:24:08Z
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@ekaitz_zarraga That should absolutely be a normal thing. In the US, it’s not even close.