Obamacare rates shocker.

[75th]

Hey 75th, can you get me this spongebob, please?

Wish I could, but my wife took a new gig 3 weeks ago. Sorry boss.

 

[jdynasty]

How much is spent every year covering people without insurance via their use of ERs?

Thats probably a tad less sustainable.

Maybe they should pay their bill. There is no guarantee they will pay their bills if they have insurance.

And I am sure the hospitals can right off some of those ER loses or they just pass the cost on to those that do pay.

Regardless, we definitely need to get this fixed!

 

[gjohnson5]

How much is spent every year covering people without insurance via their use of ERs?

Thats probably a tad less sustainable.

Agreed , the emergency room is the most expensive place to get health care. If people could get preventative care before it ballons into am emergency , costs would definitely drop

 

[75th]

Regardless, we definitely need to get this fixed!

That we do. Not a fan of the ACA, but if the next president could work on some type of cost control legislation (or at least cost transparency) we will...still have a pretty shitty health care system. But itll be much improved compared to what it was just a year ago.

 

[gjohnson5]

Maybe they should pay their bill. There is no guarantee they will pay their bills if they have insurance.

And I am sure the hospitals can right off some of those ER loses or they just pass the cost on to those that do pay.

Regardless, we definitely need to get this fixed!

The whole reason they are going to the ER is because they CANNOT pay the bill and probably don't have insurance. The idea is to get these folks covered so that they can get regularly scheduled checkups. Much better (and cheaper) then waiting until an emergency and then needing to be ambulanced to the ER

 

[75th]

The whole reason they are going to the ER is because they CANNOT pay the bill and probably don't have insurance.

This. It is standard practice for most hospitals to attempt to get poor patients approved by Medicaid and have Medicaid pay for all or part of the expenses. If you're low-income with low assets you may qualify for charity care and not expected to pay all or a portion of your bill.

If patients are too poor for insurance but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid and suspected of having good incomes and assets hospitals will bill them at list price, they get charge-mastered. If they cannot pay, hospitals will pursue them through their bill collectors and the courts.

There is no such thing as a free market in healthcare, if one defines a free market as a place where there is some balance of power between the buyer and the seller. You cannot have a free market if no one knows the costs. You can not shop around for an emergency room or a hospital when you need one.

 

[gjohnson5]

This. It is standard practice for most hospitals to attempt to get poor patients approved by Medicaid and have Medicaid pay for all or part of the expenses. If you're low-income with low assets you may qualify for charity care and not expected to pay all or a portion of your bill.

Some hospitals have "indigent" status where one can receive care if they are deemed unable to pay. Usually the hospital will look into ones finances first. But alot of people simply don't have the money and are really "indigent". In those cases , the government is picking up the tab anyway since most ER's legally required to accept patients.

 

[jdynasty]

The whole reason they are going to the ER is because they CANNOT pay the bill and probably don't have insurance. The idea is to get these folks covered so that they can get regularly scheduled checkups. Much better (and cheaper) then waiting until an emergency and then needing to be ambulanced to the ER

Yea, that is a valid point, I thought about it, and I have never gone to the ER unless it is an emergency, but I have always had insurance.

I wonder though, how many people who have insurance get an annual physical.

 

[gjohnson5]

I wonder though, how many people who have insurance get an annual physical.

I fall into the guilty party here of not getting regular checkups despite having insurance. The main way to keep costs down is to not use the service. Most young people are similar in that they don't feel like they need to use the services, so they dont. If you feel healthy and fit , what's the point? If we could get all these people paying insurance , that would help pay for the ones who need coverage but can't afford it.

 

[Headholio]

There's gonna be a lot of people pissed off if obamacare is affordable.

Plunkey is furious right now.