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Scam Alert: Hospitals All Over America Are Wildly Inflating Medical Bills
TEC ^ | 09/20/2014 | Michael Snyder

Posted on 09/21/2014 7:24:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

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1 posted on 09/21/2014 7:24:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Part of the inflated costs is the need for hospitals to get payment from those who can pay to cover illegal immigrants, as well as under-payments for Medicare and Medicaid.


2 posted on 09/21/2014 7:25:56 PM PDT by tbw2
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To: SeekAndFind

And ... let me guess ... the solution is — Single Payer??


3 posted on 09/21/2014 7:26:19 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy ("Now is not the time for fear. That comes later.")
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s time to sue the hospitals over medical bills!


4 posted on 09/21/2014 7:27:37 PM PDT by CivilWarBrewing
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To: SeekAndFind
I recently had a procedure done. But first I went to three doctors and got three totally different prices for the procedure. The first was going to cost me $4,000. out of pocket. The second was going to cost $1,200. The third was going to cost $500.

I went with number three. It certainly paid for me to shop around.

5 posted on 09/21/2014 7:28:49 PM PDT by Slyfox (Satan's goal is to rub out the image of God he sees in the face of every human.)
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To: SeekAndFind

We have a relative who became a physician about six years ago. He hated it. He would have to attend weekly billing revision classes to correct missed billing opportunities. Each patient record would be explained by a clerk to the physicians to inform them of their missed opportunities to charge for services to maximize billing. He said it was like being called to the principals office in grade school. These correction classes took one complete day each week. The amended records would generate tens of thousands of dollars each week for services not necessarily given, but could not be disputed in customary billing guidelines.


6 posted on 09/21/2014 7:30:14 PM PDT by blackdog (There is no such thing as healing, only a balance between destructive and constructive forces.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Bills from ambulance companies owned by mysterious multinationals are also approaching $10,000.


7 posted on 09/21/2014 7:30:51 PM PDT by familyop (We Baby Boomers are croaking in an avalanche of corruption smelled around the planet.)
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To: SeekAndFind

It’s called “cost shifting”. I suggest the author of this tripe look into it.


8 posted on 09/21/2014 7:31:44 PM PDT by Lurker (Violence is rarely the answer. But when it is it is the only answer.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Because millions of illegals get of with out paying chit they show up in the ers all over the nation squat and drop citizen ship births 47
%of the population take take take no wonder its broken and Drs. today don;t make chit after all the regs insurance and such I have a few that have hung it up and said to hell with it and retired early


9 posted on 09/21/2014 7:32:15 PM PDT by al baby (Hi MomÂ…)
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To: SeekAndFind

Some time ago, I drove my then teen daughter to the hospital ER. She had bust and infected appedicts. She stayed for several days and did have the surgury.

After seeing all the bills, I accused the hospital of performing the surgury at the Civic Auditorium. They thought I was crazy until I explained their hospital wasn’t big enough to hold all the people who sent me an invoice.


10 posted on 09/21/2014 7:32:56 PM PDT by umgud (I couldn't understand why the ball kept getting bigger......... then it hit me.)
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To: Slyfox

bump

I have heard that paying cash will often get the price cut down pretty substantially.


11 posted on 09/21/2014 7:33:19 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: SeekAndFind

Think that’s bad? Over $200 for the fire department to send an ambulance and two guys to check for pulse, blood pressure and blood sugar and advise that the person needed to see a doctor.


12 posted on 09/21/2014 7:35:59 PM PDT by PAR35
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To: GeronL
"I have heard that paying cash will often get the price cut down pretty substantially."

Which is going to be against the law. Hillarycare specifically proposed making it illegal for physicians to accept fee for service patients, calling for prosecution of such physicians.

I expect Obamacare to go down the same path.

13 posted on 09/21/2014 7:38:42 PM PDT by blackdog (There is no such thing as healing, only a balance between destructive and constructive forces.)
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To: Lurker
I take you mean shifting costs from Medicare and Medicaid? If so do you have links? I'd like to forward them.
14 posted on 09/21/2014 7:39:03 PM PDT by Chgogal (Obama "hung the SEALs out to dry, basically exposed them like a set of dog balls..." CMH)
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To: SeekAndFind

I’d be more sympathetic to the viewpoint if it was also applied to the billing performed by our institutions of higher learning.


15 posted on 09/21/2014 7:41:10 PM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: Chgogal; Lurker

I think Lurker is referring to the often neglected fact that the costs incurred in treating underinsured individuals, including Medicare, are shifted to corporate and private insurers.


16 posted on 09/21/2014 7:44:22 PM PDT by the_Watchman
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To: PAR35

How about over 50K for a few cortisone shots?

I called the state medical board.

These shots weren’t even done in a hospital.


17 posted on 09/21/2014 7:44:33 PM PDT by Califreak (Hope and Che'nge is killing U.S.)
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To: SeekAndFind
first off, as a long time hospital nurse I have NO IDEA what things cost....we never see the bills...I doubt the hospitalists know what things cost either....

when your mission is to save lives, nothing is spared...

lately I notice the docs cutting down on the number of labs they order, to save on costs I think....

we try to discharge people in a quick orderly fashion so they don't run up big bills....

HAVING SAID ALL THAT, my lap choli cost the insurance company $12,000 and there were also costs associated with the dr, and his associates, meds, etc....

I went in at 8am as told, waited til nearly 1130, collecting charges I assume all along, and was out by 5....$12,000!!!!

18 posted on 09/21/2014 7:46:37 PM PDT by cherry
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To: tbw2

Exactly. Hospital emergency rooms must treat people who cannot and will not pay.


19 posted on 09/21/2014 7:47:45 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (The cure has become worse than the disease. Support an end to the WOD now.)
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To: blackdog
"utilization review" and "case managment"is all about the money you better believe it...

you can't blame them....most hospital patients are medicare or medicaid, and that is a big loser for hospitals...

20 posted on 09/21/2014 7:48:46 PM PDT by cherry
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