Doctor/Hospital/EMS bills & financial issues

[LinksEtc]

This is just a general thread on this topic.

For instance, I know that some people here had problems getting EMS bills covered by insurance. 

So, if you have any tips, links, issues, concerns ... feel free to post.


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"How Big Pharma Uses Charity Programs to Cover for Drug Price Hikes"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-19/the-real-reason-big-pharma-wants-to-help-pay-for-your-prescription

Having just made Daraprim much more costly, Turing was now offering to make it more affordable. But this is not a feel-good story. It's a story about why expensive drugs keep getting more expensive, and how U.S. taxpayers support a billion-dollar system in which charitable giving is, in effect, a very profitable form of investing for drug companies—one that may also be tax-deductible.

The contributions also provide public-relations cover for drug companies when they face criticism for price hikes.

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Tweeted by @charlesornstein

"Reform Update: Patients' cost sensitivity worries some doctors"
http://tinyurl.com/obkj8m2

But doctors also warn that too much cost sensitivity among patients can compromise their ability to do their job, with potential harmful consequences if patients delay or skip necessary treatment.

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The Soaring Cost of a Simple Breath

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Tweeted by @charlesornstein

Because they can... Sticking Point: The Price of an Old Insulin Skyrockets on.wsj.com/1nOKiSb via @WSJhealth

"Sticking Point: The Price of an Old Insulin Skyrockets"
http://blogs.wsj.com/pharmalot/2014/09/11/sticking-point-the-price-of-an-old-insulin-skyrockets/

Insulin is an old drug, but the price of one of its most concentrated formulations – known as Humulin U-500 – increased more than five times over the last seven years. In 2007, the wholesale cost for a one-month supply was about $220, but is now approximately $1,200, according to MedPage Today.

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Tweeted by @jayhancock1

"How Much Does That X-Ray Cost? You Can Find Out In New Hampshire"
http://tinyurl.com/l6q2llp

In most places, though, it's difficult, if not impossible to find out how much you will be charged for medical care. And with more people enrolled in high-deductible insurance plans, there is a growing demand for accurate price information.

[LinksEtc]

Tweeted by @GlassHospital

"After Surgery, Surprise $117,000 Medical Bill From Doctor He Didn't Know"
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/us/drive-by-doctoring-surprise-medical-bills.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

In recent years, unexpected out-of-network charges have become the top complaint to the New York State agency that regulates insurance companies.

"This has gotten really bad, and it's wrong," said James J. Donelon, the Republican insurance commissioner of Louisiana. "But when you try to address it as a policy maker, you run into a hornet's nest of financial interests."

[ajasfolks2]

I have a family member who carried his child (a couple blocks) from the emergicare to the ER -- they were there for asthma -- rather than be faced with a $600+ ambulance bill.

No insurance.

They left emergicare "against medical advice" and he pretty much told the emergicare folks, "Try and stop me."

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Tweeted by @ashishkjha

"What should the law do about out-of-network ER docs?"
http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/what-should-the-law-do-about-out-of-network-er-docs/

In any event, these sorts of abusive billing practices have got to end. Regulators have considerable latitude to act, even without legislative action. They should act, and soon.

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Tweeted by @Joyclee

"From the E.R. to the Courtroom: How Nonprofit Hospitals Are Seizing Patients' Wages"
http://www.propublica.org/article/how-nonprofit-hospitals-are-seizing-patients-wages?utm_content=bufferb9fe6&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Blue collar workers, Walmart cashiers, nursing home aides, clerical staffers—these types of patients have long been the most vulnerable to unexpected debt. They can't afford insurance, yet they're not poor enough for Medicaid.

On the weeks she works full-time, the garnishments bring her take-home pay below the minimum wage.

Nonprofits, which make up nearly 60 percent of U.S. hospitals, have a history of aggressive debt collection.

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Tweeted by @ElaineSchattner

"New Rules to Limit Tactics on Hospitals' Fee Collections"
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/12/us/politics/new-rules-to-limit-tactics-on-hospitals-fee-collections.html?smid=tw-share

The Obama administration has adopted sweeping new rules to discourage nonprofit hospitals from using aggressive tactics to collect payments from low-income patients.

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Tweeted by @rvaughnmd


"The Agony of Medical Bills"
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/05/the-agony-of-surprise-medical-bills/393785/

It shouldn't take a Harvard expert in health policy to understand a doctor's bill.

Our system is so convoluted that most providers don't even know how patients are billed.

Consumers Union recently released a tool to help with reporting surprise charges. Not everyone can be an Ivy League health wonk, but to get out of steep medical bills, more people are finding they have to fight like one.

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"Your Hospital Could Be Marking Up Costs 1,000 Percent"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kateashford/2015/06/29/hospital-markups/?linkId=15202756

"I cannot think of anything to justify such high markups by these 50 hospitals," says Gerard Anderson, Ph.D., of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and study co-author. "And there are no market forces and no regulations to monitor these charges."

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"For Nebraska's Poor, Get Sick and Get Sued"
Cheap court fees and looser rules make suing over medical debts as small as $60 easy. Every year Nebraska collection agencies file lawsuits by the tens of thousands.

https://www.propublica.org/article/for-nebraskas-poor-get-sick-and-get-sued

"The amount of stress this has brought into my life has been almost unbearable."

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"Health care's next big issue: Drug costs"
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/health-care-drug-costs-222588

The No. 1 health policy challenge facing the next administration — of either party — may well be the cost of drugs, according to a top administration health official.

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"Patient groups funded by drugmakers are largely mum on high drug prices"
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2016/01/21/patient-groups-drug-makers-high-drug-prices/79001722/

Drug companies provide so much of the funding for major patient groups that many critics say they've stifled a key voice in the policy debate over soaring drug prices, especially over those for cancer.

"BCAction's work as the watchdog for the breast cancer movement is credible and effective because of the organization's commitment to preventing real or perceived conflict of interest from our corporate donors and organizational leadership," says a statement on the group's website.