If there’s anything we can agree with our friends on the left about, it’s that the American healthcare system is out of control.
I recently had a small growth biopsied and removed. It was an office procedure, taking no more than 10 minutes. I ended up paying over a thousand dollars for that procedure and biopsy.
That was almost 2 months ago. A few days ago, I got this charge:
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Laboratory Pathological |
99.00 |
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HC BILL SURG SLIDE PREP – 88305 (CPT®)
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99.00
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Health Plan Payments and Adjustments |
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-79.15 |
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Hospital Services |
99.00 |
-79.15 |
0.00 |
19.85 |
The bold part specifies which procedure I’m actually getting billed for. Incidentally, it took several mouse clicks to reveal that the $99 charge was to place a specimen upon a slide. How generous of my insurance company to pay most of it – so that I must pay only $19.85 for this service. I should have volunteered to do it myself.
How might this messed-up system impact out struggle against the Corona virus? From Business Insider:
An American man and his daughter were quarantined over coronavirus fears for two weeks after they were evacuated from China, and now he says he’s facing more than $2,600 in medical bills for his government-mandated hospital stay, according to The New York Times…
They were met with bills adding up to $3,918 from hospital doctors, radiologists, and an ambulance company, according to The Times. Nearly $2,600 is from the ambulance company…
A spokesman for Rady Children’s Hospital told The Times that the hospital charged Wucinski for his stays in error, and removed the costs from his bills. The spokesman said the hospital is investigating the error and is working with the government regarding billing.
But Wucinski still owes $2,598 for the ambulance ride and $90 for radiology costs. He also has to cover the $2,200 cost of his flight to the US…
The CDC told CBS Sacramento that if patients have healthcare, bills will be submitted to their provider. If a patient does not have healthcare insurance, the government is expected to pay the bills, likely through Medicaid, CBS Sacramento reported.
It’s the last paragraph that worries me. Many of us do, indeed, have insurance – but our deductibles are so high that the insurance companies won’t pay any of it (in most cases). So, when the CDC says “the bills will be submitted to their provider,” it looks to me like the patient will be on the hook if his deductible hasn’t been met for that year.
With so many Americans living paycheck to paycheck, exposing oneself to such medical bills is simply not an option. We will continue to work, to mingle, and to infect others.
What is my solution to our outrageous healthcare costs?
All medical schools, including dentistry and other specialties, will accept new students based ONLY on merit.
All medical schools that receive any taxpayer subsidies will be required to dramatically reduce their tuition. This can be accomplished by laying off all of the high-paying clerical positions, ceasing all non-essential construction projects, putting a cap on professor salaries and eliminating costly textbooks. I’m sure there’s more that can be done to accomplish this. The goal is to prevent medical students from entering the workforce with large debts hanging over their heads.
Rescind the law that hospitals must treat all who enter; reserve that right for citizens only. If you’re a non-citizen who is visiting, on a valid visa, you may be treated, just as Americans are treated abroad.
We need to have a 2, or 3, tiered hospital system. The vast majority of treatments can be done cheaply, and with old equipment. We don’t need state of the art equipment for everything. That sort of expensive care should be reserved for tier-1 hospitals, where life-threatening diseases are treated.
Politicians whose ties are too close to the pharmaceutical industry should be purged from office. Healthy competition, among drug companies, should be encouraged, and Americans should be encouraged to purchase their prescription drugs from abroad, where prices are more reasonable. This is already happening to some extent.
With a system such as the one we have, I have little hope that we can effectively defend ourselves from this latest virus. It would be poetic justice if some big pharma, and insurance, executives got infected with the Corona virus.
Janet Christian: “I’m tired of the trumptards, and the xenophobia in the US… I know! I’ll move to a place that’s almost ALL WHITE to get away from all those RACISTS.” No, you can’t control who chooses to move there, but you CAN control where YOU choose to move – and you chose to move to a place that’s very white. Through your actions, you’ve proved the “Trumptards” right.