Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform > The Seed Discussion Forum

Anyone for Socialized Medicine?

<< < (3/6) > >>

Anonymous:
double dipping so to speak is standard practice in the medical field. almost all hospitals do it as do most doctors offices.  now i believe some dr's offices try to do things correctly, but at the larger level of hospitals forget about it. acquiring money is the primary goal.
bill for almost everything twice.
insurance companies in most cases have a dept dedicated to finding double billing and of course not paying for it, but they only are looking for the larger of expenses. being double billed for something that costs $100 isnt even no their radar. but double billing surgeries. or you will see line items that will say 'surgical supplies -$1000"
but then  $guauze $50  - scalple $250  etc

so they have one mass catagory for these supplies but then throw them on individually also (no they arent a break down, they are additonal)

or wait 3 months and rebill for it.

usually they also bill for just a very large number knowing the company wont pay all of it but different companies pay at different rates, so ask for a lot and see what you get seems to be the guiding principle.

i live in southern floirda and i think medical care is attrocious. waiting, waiting and waiting...go see one dr, no i can't help you, I want you to see this kind, that will take 3 weeks to get into....nope i dont know what it is, go see this kind, 3 more weeks....waiting for an hour in the doctors office before being seen. oh we skipped you, well you have to reschedule...

so i know a person who workde for a dr at a fairly larger prestigious facility in north central florida. and the dr had a room full of patients...and he decides to go see titanic....do they tell the patients..no he orders the receptionist to tell no one anything...so its not like he even cancelled his schedule....

i'd rather go to health care in china. you want to see if somethigns wrong with you? go to a hospital. you'll be seen today. have your test results most likely today, or in some cases tomorrow.  you dont even need to schedule an appointment.

there is a definite problem for doctors though with isnurance premiums. a lot of doctors in a number of states cannot practice because of the cost. its not the heart drs and the expensive practices really. they charge so much they can aford it. but even for just a general family dr insurance premiums can run 70k. well for just checking if someone has a caugh, you cannot charge enough to recoup that kind of money and then actually make anythinhg (still paying your staff, and rent etc). its insane that premiums for that kind of dr run to those extremes. but since everyone litigates over everything and a jury will feel sorry for anyone who claims "he wronged me, he has money, give me!!"  premiums sky rocket.
oh and of course its not hard to find an attorney who would love to represent you and collect the most amount of money they possibly can.

people arent just expecting to recoup the money they lost, say broken legg, 2500 in med bills, i need 2500, they want 20k....its a ticket to the lotto in most people's eyes and they sue for as much as they can and jury's give it to them.

GregFL:
Here is a doctor story.  Early in my career, when I could scarcely afford to leave my office, I hurt my neck.  I ignored it and it got worse.  So I made an appointment to see a Doctor in New Port Richey, Florida who had operated on my friend's back.

He set the appointment in his modern, all glass HUGE office for 1:OO PM.  I told the nurse that if my appointment was for 1:oo, I needed to see the doctor at 1 because every hour out of my office was crucial (and it really was).  She said she "understood".

I got there at ten minutes till one.  There were many other people milling about the office.  at 1:30, I asked to see the doctor, and they said "he is still in surgery".  This went on until a quarter till 5.  by then I didn't two shits about my neck anymore, I was furious at the callous lack of concern.

When the doctor came in he said "how you doing" and I said 'horrible.  My time is very valuable.  You set an appointment for 1:00, and it is now 5.  Just why would you ask me to come in at 1:00 and not show up until 5:00.  If I did that, my customers would go somewhere else".

He said, "we set all our appointments for 1:00.

Let that sink in for a minute.  He set all his appointments for 1:00, with no intention of seeing anyone at that time.  Virtually everyone waiting had a 1:00 appointment.

I told him "never again.  If we are going to have a relationship, you will set an appointment when you can see me."  He then x-rayed and cat scanned my neck, and the follow up visit (4:45 appointment time) He told me I needed an operation on my neck, that in fact it was imperative.  This operation was approx 50% over the usual and customary Rule, meaning I would be out of pocket thousands of dollars over my insurance approved amount, not including deductibels and co-pay.

That was over 15 years ago.  My neck hurts from time to time, but other than that I have never had follow up treatment.  Needless to say, I never got the operation and have never been back to see this "doctor".  I have also heard many stories about him that are less than flatering, and he does not have admitting priviledges anymore at the local hospitals.

Last I heard he was being flown back and forth to his office in a helicopter.

Is this typical?  I don't think so...but it is illustrative of the outrageousness we put up with in the system.

BTW, I don't live in new port richey, but the doctors that do mostly live on Gulf Harbors beach, on a private Road, in multi million dollar waterfront mansions.   There 100 thousand dollar malpractice insurance bills are nothing but a nuisance whatwith the 7 figure incomes these guys are pulling in.





[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2006-05-27 10:47 ]

Anonymous:
VA insurance is cheap and they take care of everything and pay the bills. Actually they need patients for their paycheck. I've got doctors and social workers and case managers in and out of my house making sure everything is going smoothly. That's socialized healthcare. Don't be pissed either because I earned that right and am anhonorably discharged veteran. I am not on social security. I'm on 100% sevice-connected disability pension. Have bee for years.

Johnny G:
Lauderdale is two for two on hot topics!

Socialized medicine is what the rest of the world (with a few exceptions) has.  

Malpractice is unnecessary as you are in the system and if you got messed up, you would be taken care of anyway.  The medical system takes care of its own quality control because doctors are not profit centers, you lose the issue with the poor overworked soul in the remote area because he is paid the same as the city guy and has the same staff in proportion to the local population.



If you are sick, injured, etc. you show up and get treated.  If you have a "tough case" you get sent to the top names.  Here the top guys in particular field see those who can afford it or have the right insurance.  


I spoke with several of the top specialists in a given field in Canada - they reported that every self important big wheel wanted them to do their exam/procedure, but the way it is set up, patients get screened for the top guys so they aren't wasting thier time on routine stuff.

In this country we would rather choose our own doctors than have single payer healthcare - wait a second, my insurance does not cover this dentist, I thought I got to choose my own!

I have been in the medical device business for quite a few years in several specialties, and the common denominator is that there are so many different payers that cost control is impossible;  

The same is not true of Europe, the medical plan negociates for the whole country and gets a good price, for everyone.  You bet they dont pay as much for Lipitor as we do, neither does anyone else.  When one looks at the market price structure it is immediately obvious that the US subsidizez the worlds drug research, and we don't even get it first!  These companies are not US companies but they got a huge subsidy when Part D was enacted prohibiting Medicare from aggregate pricing.

The whole US healthcare sysem is designed to protect the AMA, Pharma and device makers, and the insurance industry.

Time to get off the soapbox

G

Anonymous:
Little G you are the one on the soapbox, and I have a deep belief you can't get something for nothing as the current government goes. Sso happy memorial day............asshole.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page