Planning on dropping Health Insurance. Change my mind.

[dougtrr2]

Just to keep things in perspective. When I was active duty Air Force I was away from the base and had to see an eye doctor on an urgent basis. I told him to just send the bill to the base, they would pay it since I am active duty. He insisted that I pay him at the time of service. His reasoning, He said my agreement is between me and the insurance company, not him and the insurance company. He said, you pay me, and then you get your money from your insurance company.

The whole industry has gotten more complex. But providers submitting to the insurance company is really a service they wouldn't have to provide. But what a mess it would be if they didn't.

Doug in SW IA

 

[tractortroof]

I had a medical bill go to collections too.. took my credit score from 825 to 603.!!!
When I called collections to pay the bill, she said, “ for an extra $30.00 I’ll take that off your credit report.”
I said, “hell yes.. do it”
When I got my quarterly report, the collections was off and my score was back to normal..

Just read a news article that said they are eliminating medical debt from credit reports (almost completely) like everything they’ll probably only hold responsible people accountable.

I let one go to collections because the Dr office would not work with me, it’ll roll off that report soon enough. They need to fix the system, I would have paid it, but oh well.

 

[Travelover]

........ His reasoning, He said my agreement is between me and the insurance company, not him and the insurance company. ..........

I believe for most medical providers, the insurance companies negotiate prices for different procedures in advance with the medical provider, so the agreement is indeed between the insurance company and the medical provider. That is why different people pay different prices for the same procedure depending on who they are insured with. This is aside from co-pays and deductibles.

 

[Jstpssng]

I let one go to collections because the Dr office would not work with me, it’ll roll off that report soon enough. They need to fix the system, I would have paid it, but oh well.

I let one go to collections because the Dr was a quack who didn't know his A from a hole in the ground, and I needed to spend the money I owed his office for somebody who knew what they were doing. I saw him three times for a problem and he told me 3 different things. The third time he told me that he had fixed my problem and that those blood clots I was passing were just "concentrated urine." Yeah, right.

 

[lman]

Around here they hound people who work, send the bill to collections, and drive them into medical bankruptcy.

If they work I assume they have insurance. So I guess there's not much sense in having insurance if you're going to go bankrupt anyway.

 

[Snobdds]

The entire point of Obamacare was to get people coverage. Now Obamacare traded low premiums for high out of pocket expense, but still, people should be signing up for this coverage if they don't have any other options.

Most states have high risk pool coverage that gives people subsidized health care coverage if they fall outside of income guidelines.

All states have Medicaid.

If it kills you to pay premium when you use very little of the benefits, self insure.

There should be zero reason to not be covered or at least have a self insured fund. Everyone gets sick at some point.

 

[lman]

Exactly, I would hope you wouldn't go bankrupt if you have insurance. I've been lucky, only had a broken nose(still got the horse), torn mcl and a herniated disk that healed, so I don't have much experience with insurance.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

If they work I assume they have insurance. So I guess there's not much sense in having insurance if you're going to go bankrupt anyway.

I'm in America. In this country, about 30 million working Americans have no health insurance. Small businesses are not required to provide health insurance to their employees, and low wage earners can't afford to buy insurance on the open market. I realize the US is the only developed country in the world without a national health care plan, but we're used to it.

60% of Americans are dealing with unpaid medical debt thanks to high "deductibles." 56% of Americans had medical debt sent to collections. Medical bankruptcies represent 66.5% of personal bankruptcies in the US.

 

[Snobdds]

I'm in America. In this country, about 30 million working Americans have no health insurance. Small businesses are not required to provide health insurance to their employees, and low wage earners can't afford to buy insurance on the open market. I realize the US is the only developed country in the world without a national health care plan, but we're used to it.

60% of Americans are dealing with unpaid medical debt thanks to high "deductibles." 56% of Americans had medical debt sent to collections. Medical bankruptcies represent 66.5% of personal bankruptcies in the US.

I think it says more about people that can't seem to budget for their own health needs. Paying a deductible amount should not be hard, especially in this economy.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Pre-obamacare I wanted the highest deductible I could find which ended up being $10K. Really good insurance but catastrophic insurance. $100/month.
$10,000 no big deal, not like $10 mil. The low premium meant I could save that difference which I paid out of pocket. So in say, 10 years saving $400/month=about $50K.
Most people don't figure it like that.