Thursday, December 9, 2010

Outrageous Medical bills and Insurance

My daughter had a little accident at the school and she broke her elbow and it has been two months since it happened but even with insurance I am still paying little by little because of the deductible and co pays to the doctors and hospitals. When I see the explanation of the amounts billed by the providers and how much the insurance company decided to pay (based on their own formula and negotiated deals with the providers) it is really outrageous. For example, the recovery stage after the operation was a little over an hour, but the hospital billed the insurance company almost eleven hundred dollars. I shudder to think how much people without insurance pay to get them treated.

I guess with all the Medicaid cuts and the lack of insurance and how much they get paid ultimately, the providers have no choice but to bill at three times the rate they will get reimbursed. And I don’t see any reason to believe that the insurance premiums and health costs are going to come down anytime soon, even the massive health care bill. There is no way that the insurance companies will lose money by insuring more people. Since the cost of the uninsured when they are treated is ultimately borne or spread over the insured people. Expect to pay much more out of pocket in the coming years as the number of people getting governmental insurance increases and the insured get soaked into paying more.

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