More than one way to ration health care. Disgusting.
In todays episode of āour healthcare system fucking sucksā I present to you just a slight HIPAA violation.
My second insurance related task of today was to fill out a form for the DME company that my insurance used in order to lower my out of pocket expense. The first page they sent me has all of my info (name, address, patient number, invoice number, date of service, charge amount). The second page, the one I need to fill out and return, has all of the same info at the topā¦FOR ANOTHER PATIENT THAT IS NOT ME.
I now know where this person lives, when they had a service provided and how much it cost, their patient number, etc. And Iām assuming somebody else had all of my info sent to them. Of course this is a time sensitive form that needs to be returned, and after calling the company and weaving my way through the automated prompts for 10 minutes Iām told they are not open until Monday. Fuck this shit man.
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This is 100% by design. Insurance companies bet on the majority of people paying these bills without fighting at all, or giving up and paying over fears of collection. Itās nauseating, and as Iāve said itt before it is a part time job just to deal with stuff if you are sick.
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Cliffs: Pharmaceutical companies make a shitload of money, even compared to other companies who make a shitload of money.
Checking my credit card statement today I saw a line item from my doctorās office for $15. This was surprising as I hadnāt been there since last June so I call to complain. It was a credit of $15. In my haste I didnāt even consider the insurance company would be giving me back money. Yay for the credit but wtf at us having a system where it takes 9 months to figure out I overpaid for a routine physical last year.
In Costa Rica they make you pay more than your surgery amount in case thereās a complication - then most patients get money back.
I talked to a couple of Americans who were flabbergasted when they got $2k back. They were just so used to the idea that the hospital is going to find a way to drain you of everything they can, and LOLOLOL at the idea of giving a hospital money and expecting to get some back under any circumstances.
We just kinda take if for granted but man is our system predatory.
I walked into one of the best hospitals in Mexico, no appointment - got an x-ray and doctor consultation within a couple hours - $100.
I was diagnosed with stage IV papillary thyroid cancer on Monday. This is the second time Iāve been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, the earlier bout was in 2015. I had to declare bankruptcy after my treatment, as I was uninsured living in Texas, couldnāt afford $400 monthly premiums for a 5k deductible but made more than 12k a year, so apparently Im not poor and donāt qualify for assistance. I settled just under 100k in debt when I filed.
This dudeās going to be dead in a year (as far as he knows) because you canāt get assistance paying for insurance unless itās 40+% of your pretax income and you make next to nothing. USA #1.
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Delta Dental has some bizzaro flow where they send you a check and then you have to pay your provider. Because healthcare billing isnāt FUBAR enough.
And Iām trying to pay another $14.04 bill from some pathologists group that I have no idea what itās for nor do I care Iām not fighting over $14. Thereās a code id, an access # and an account # that looks like this: 00600000001472436
Soooo much fun to try to read that in small print on a bill and figure out how many zeros there are so you can type it into the website. Iām sure thatās a blast for older people.
Thereās no phone number to even call of course. This is the one time I like talking on the phone because I know Iām costing them money to do it.
Just another way for the healthcare billing industry to say FU to the constituents.
And to top it all off they have a hard-ass captcha on the freaking credit card submit (which is the latest in 2003 web technology). You know - just to make sure a bot doesnāt pay my bill for me.
(the first one was harder)
Capitalism working hard thank you
You and your apple news links. Turrible.
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Yup, that just happened to us. Got a check for $170 or something out of the blue. Realized it was to pay the dentist and sure enough, recently got a bill from the dentist for the same amount.
EDIT: We have a good dentist, so Iām not concerned about that end. Insurance is just dumb.
Itās kind of a way to launder money out of your HSA. I checked and dental cleaning is covered. So I paid it out of the HSA - but got $217 cash in hand. Gonna rub on my tittays.
You should never pay for anything with your HSA if you can pay cash, itās the literal best account possible and the only vehicle for tax deductible contributions, tax free growth and tax free withdrawals.
Oh shit. But withdrawals always have to go to health care right? So just let it grow until youāre old? Also mine doesnāt grow it just sits there. Maybe I need to change my investment or something.
You may have to do some work but you can probably get it invested (itās sometimes hard because nobody does this). Yes, you have to eventually use it for medical expenses but youāre likely to have plenty of those during retirement.
Riverman is correct.
First of all, Iām assuming youāre talking about an HSA and not an FSA. You can only have the former with certain high-deductible plans.
But if itās an HSA it doesnāt matter when you incur the health care expense. As long as it occured after the account was set up. Imagine that you pay a $1000 dollar doctor bill today with cash out of your checking account. As long as you save the receipt, you can withdraw that $1000 dollars whenever you want.
For example, 30 yrs from now you can withdraw $1000 tax free out of your HSA and say that it is for the $1000 charge from today. Totally legal. And by keeping that $1000 in the HSA you got 30yrs of tax free growth on it.
My dad is applying for a Medigap policy now that my mom is aging into Medicare and they can drop their insanely overpriced employer insurance (would have saved them $10k/yr last two years). He applies through Humana, but they want a letter from employer insurer (BCBS) for proof that the policy is ending. Call BCBS, they wonāt issue a letter unless the plan is canceled (no backsies either). Parents call financial advisor facilitating this sale (I know, donāt @ me) and he advises to cancel to get the letter. They cancel, get the letter, upload it, Humana says itās not good enough, they want a better letter. BCBS says they are done issuing letters. Iāve wasted so much fucking time on this and my parents are about to have a nervous breakdown. If you cast a vote for somebody trying to keep this shit alive then fuck you.
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What state are you in? I know someone who works for BCBS in Missouri. Itās possible he could have some advice even if a different state. He hates the for-profit incarnations of BCBS.
Theyāre in Ohio. The letter Humana is asking for makes no fucking sense and Iām almost positive it doesnāt exist. It basically needs to say they are involuntarily losing coverage because the wife is aging into Medicare and thus they are voluntarily terminating the coverage. Maybe your dude will know if theyāve ever sent out a letter like that. Sweet game of Catch-22 phone tag where you have to cancel your insurance to apply for insurance that you canāt apply for if you cancel your insurance.