Medical Cost

[tradosaurus]

They will come after you for everything you own and since you signed a personal liability form for the unpaid portion, they will likely collect.

I heard that if they know you don't have anything to go after the hospital will just write it off or you can pay $5/mo for the rest of your life to demonstrate the willingness to pay the debt.

 

[Jstpssng]

I heard that if they know you don't have anything to go after the hospital will just write it off or you can pay $5/mo for the rest of your life to demonstrate the willingness to pay the debt.

Is that the kind of person you want to be?

 

[Jstpssng]

While the idea of an HMO should be a good system, it was ultimately perverted by the profit takers, denying procedures and protecting profits

You can say that about a lot of things.

 

[tradosaurus]

Is that the kind of person you want to be?

If it keeps me from eating or paying my bills then yes.
Our country has no problem sending our tax dollars over seas or giving welfare benefits to those who shouldn't have it.
We should not be paying property tax in our retirement years, nor paying ANY income tax.
If I had a way to keep from paying tolls on roads that should be paid by the gas tax (or EV registration tax) then I would do that too.

 

[Eagle1]

Is that the kind of person you want to be?

Well once they get everything you own you are that type of person. Medical debt and others can accrue irregardless of your best intentions.
Sometimes lives change and a debt you could comfortably afford is now more than you can do. Injury, layoff, divorce, etc can make you poor in short order.
I never was or will be so wealthy that I can spend millions without a care.
I live within my means and am almost debt free, now come the medical problems associated with age, do I walk away from my dream property I live on? or protect it to live on until I die?

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

About 30 years ago a friend's Dad who was 55 at the time asked me about health insurance. My advice was shop for the highest deductible you can find because $10,000 isn't the end of the world but $1M would be for most. At the time my wife & I had Anthem Blue Cross & we still do & Medicare now.
He said good advice and "I'll think about it".
About a month later had a massive coronary and weeks in the hospital. Total bills about $500K. He owned land and sold it to pay the bills.

 

[Dftodd]

I heard that if they know you don't have anything to go after the hospital will just write it off or you can pay $5/mo for the rest of your life to demonstrate the willingness to pay the debt.

I thought the $5 was changed to $100

 

[Dftodd]

About 30 years ago a friend's Dad who was 55 at the time asked me about health insurance. My advice was shop for the highest deductible you can find because $10,000 isn't the end of the world but $1M would be for most. At the time my wife & I had Anthem Blue Cross & we still do & Medicare now.
He said good advice and "I'll think about it".
About a month later had a massive coronary and weeks in the hospital. Total bills about $500K. He owned land and sold it to pay the bills.

I just had to dip into my retirement fund to pay my wife's doctor bills.

 

[kenmbz]

• Total US Healthcare Spending: In 2023, the US spent $4.9 trillion on health care.
• Private Health Insurance: Private health insurance accounted for the largest share of this spending, representing 30% of total National Health Expenditures (NHE) in 2023, according to CMS. This amounts to $1,464.6 billion.

yes, it would cost 30% less if the insurance middlemen weren't; in the mix.
And I am sure that's number is probably low as people who don't have insurance get charged a higher rate, just to add insult to injury.

 

[JasperFrank]

Its so strange that we have been brain washed to think that doctors can solve anything. All these medical dramas we have seen on TV, are just bull crap. As I get older, I'm finding out just how little the medical establishment really knows. "We don't know what causes this or that. We have a prescriptive treatment, but we really don't know why that works either."