Medical Costs

[RayH]

My retired mother has excellent health insurance. Her former employer had to change plans, but decided to give its oldest former employees a very generous health plan. My mother has Medicare and a supplement that essentially has no copayments.

The billings are quite interesting. Actually, I don't understand them at all. I understand that Medicare and the insurance companies enter into contracts for discounts. But the price differential between those with insurance and those without is outrageous.

I understand the bills that are around $150 dollars, and between Medicare and the supplement, the providers accept about $90-100 as total payment, with nothing being owed by the patient. That amount of discount I understand.

But I am sitting on an emergency room bill for "retail" $1872.84 and $395.79 was accepted as payment in full from a combination of Medicare and supplement. If my mother did not have the supplement insurance, she would be on the hook for $1497.08.

Maybe the supplement premiums run about $7000 annually or something.

[CERuppel]

Welcome to the world of health care.

I am a Crohns patient. My wife has diabetes. Without insurance our normal, needed health care would come to about $4,000.00 per month. With insurance those same providers of care accept less than $500.00 per month as total paid in full.

Now factor in the national job loss, and the number of companies that are dropping or lessening coverage... The cost of needed medical care becomes "Do I eat and pay mortgage or have my meds?" Not much of a choice, is it? Either live or live, but not both?

We, the USA, need to establish a basic health care program. Not necessarily insurance, but a base line of service costs and availability. Something that makes these insurance only discounts available to the massive number of uninsured.

Can anyone point out the numbers of people that need ongoing care in a insured vs uninsured basis? Would be very interested in those numbers. Would be a lot more telling to know than the bland "Number of insured full time workers...".

My spelling still sucks

[Bovon]

Until our courts have a way to deal with hundreds of malpractice law suits its only going to get worse. The cost of medications in the U.S. only has snowballed all out of reason and it is only because a few people have sued the pants off of the pharmaceuticals. The same applies to physicians and hospitals..to some people they are only there to make them rich.

You have noticed that Canada has stopped (or will soon) sales of medications across the border to US citizens?...that is because the pharmaceuticals are telling Canada that they will be cut off themselves if they do not stop.

Doctors and hospitals have long agreed to accept a fraction of their normal charges for Medicare patients..but today, the increased cost of services are getting to them...and I suspect that at some point in time, individuals will have to come up with some extra after Medicare and the supplemental insurance has paid all they will pay.

When I retired 15 years ago.. my package had a medical plan that should have never even needed any Medicare or supplemental insurance pay...all free. Today, that plan has been reduced (by cost to the retiree) so much that now its only a co-pay medical plan for prescription medications...the cost is $100.00/month (plus co-pay for prescriptions). Then there is Medicare, that has a cost too...but I don't have the exact amount here...now. Then, I have a supplemental AARP insurance to pay whatever Medicare does not..that little policy costs $135.00/month.

All together my medical "cost of living" is around $350/month +. Most of that is because some person sued the hospital, doctor and pharmacy somewhere for 100 million.