0
tdog

Why I hate health care

Recommended Posts

My Physical Therapist called me today:

"For your appointment on monday to work on your neck (stress from work).... You have a $2000 deductible. When we bill your health care company, after their contracted discounts, you will pay $190 per visit until you meet your deductable, then 80% after."

I said, "how much if I didn't have insurance and I had to pay cash?"

Oh, well, it would be $45 then.

No wonder why Americans can't afford health care anymore... I lied and told them I lost my job and am uninsured and going to save myself $145 a day for the next week!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I hear ya man, I really do... It's a f*cked up system and it'll probably break someday, but at least it is better than what Canada has... (no offense to Canadians and all, but your health care system stinks)

-the artist formerly known as sinker

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
well how about this, all I had to do was mail back a bill I received for an ambulance ride that I took when I got a breast infection from breast feeding and I didn't have insurance at the time so they were wanting over $900. Any ways, on the bill, since I know I will never pay it, I wrote "This is very racist, I am an illegal immagrent and I can not pay" They sent an apology letter and said that it will be washed....go figure! If I hadn't it would be on my TRW....ugh!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

well how about this, all I had to do was mail back a bill I received for an ambulance ride that I took when I got a breast infection from breast feeding and I didn't have insurance at the time so they were wanting over $900. Any ways, on the bill, since I know I will never pay it, I wrote "This is very racist, I am an illegal immagrent and I can not pay" They sent an apology letter and said that it will be washed....go figure! If I hadn't it would be on my TRW....ugh!




So should those paramedics/EMT's that work on that ambulance work for free? how do you think we get paid? you use a service you should pay for it or at least attempt to pay some of it. never ceases to amaze me. Another abuser of the EMS system....lovely.

In the future take a cab...oh that's right...you'd have to pay for that.:S:S

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Wow- that's really pathetic. I guess you're trying to make a statement about the healthcare system in this country AND illegal immigrants, but all I see is someone who lied to get out of paying a bill.

I realize how tough things can be without insurance, but couldn't you have at least tried to work out a settlement or payment plan?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
ya know I would have just driven myself, but I had a 104+ temp and was very incoherent and didn't ask to be put in the ambulance and I do pay my taxes that cover such costs for illegals to get free medical attention, not to mention they crowd ERs with runny noses and colds and actually harm others by being there that need quicker medical attention. I only wrote it on their because it is really unfair that illegals have way more rights than citizens do and well frankly I do think it is fair after all to not have to pay, when I pay taxes and that is what should cover EMTs and what not any ways. Besides it was just a joke any ways, and they are the ones who agreed to it, not me. They could have wrote back that I still need to pay and perhaps in another life I would, but really $900 for something I didn't ask for and was forced to take sure does seem a bit steep...I am sure if I was an insurance company I could have bardered for $50 just like the stupid hospital bill I got for it as well. I did not ask to get sick nor did I ask to be taken care of but being that if I hadn't I would have died then I guess the illegals have more of a right to live then....this is starting to sound like it needs to go to another forum...so I'll stop....I was just saying that it is such crap when you are caught without insurance is all

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
yep I did and it worked and well it is fair because I do pay taxes after all...

and I have called on lots of medical bills from that same one day need and none will settle...had I been an insurance company they would settle for just what medicare will pay for but they wouldn't I also tried to get medicad or what ever from the state and they said no. It wasn't my fault for getting sick and I am a stay at home mom, so no insurance there and being that I just got married and wasn't married when this happen hubby's insurance is only for legal marriages not common law, so I didn't have insurance....I really only wrote them to be funny and well it just so happend to work and since it did I am ain't going to go back and pay them when I wouldn't have to had I really been illegally here.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

I guess I'm in the dark with this topic, but what rights to illegals have exactly?



It is quite common for illegal aliens to be seen in a hospital, then get out of paying the bill.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

Quote

I guess I'm in the dark with this topic, but what rights to illegals have exactly?



It is quite common for illegal aliens to be seen in a hospital, then get out of paying the bill.



What makes this happen, ? Is there some law that protects them from having to pay, or is it just that they ignore the bill and we cant do anything about it?

FGF #???
I miss the sky...
There are 10 types of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Honestly, its not *just* illegal immigrants. There are times when someone who is considered indigent (including young, healthy employable people who are either unemployed or underemployed by choice) will get better healthcare for free than someone who does work and pay taxes but does not have sufficient health insurance. (That person will be wiped out financially before he can get any assistance whatsoever.) Its a screwed up system.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
In Cali...more than me I suppose, they can go to the hospital for free and get ambulance rides for free, they even are trying to let them have drivers licenses and such for free....they get jobs and since they accept less money for jobs they drive down the economy, they get all kinds of state aid and housing help and all kinds of stuff that we pay taxes for but we don't get to use....I was pretty sick and I probably could have died not getting help but since I had no insurance they stick in on my credit report which brings down my score and pervents me from buying homes getting credit cards, and getting apartments and such, but they can just say well I can not pay and nothing really happens to them. Infact when they commit other crimes (their first crime is being here illegally in the first place) they just get deported back to wherever they came from, most of the time. So they have a lot more rights than citizens...or perhaps I just listen to talk radio tooo much and have been seriously brain washed....


mmmmm.....probablly brainwashed.....;)


Seriously All that I said was just a big ol joke any ways....just to get some people steamed up cause it is fun!

BWhahahaha

edited to add: but I did go to the hospital and take an ambulance ride and yes my views are still pretty much the same as far as illegals getting free health care....but I was smart when I went into ambualnce and hospital and told them up front that they were not getting paid and I have no social and to kiss my Canadian butt....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

What makes this happen, ? Is there some law that protects them from having to pay, or is it just that they ignore the bill and we cant do anything about it?



Hospitals have to treat a patient in an emergency situation regardless of ability to pay. If it's an illegal alien, they sometimes provide false information or just "disappear" after being treated.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
they are trying and trying and trying to get the governator to sign saying that illegals can get drivers licesnse because supposablly it will allow them to get insurance on the cars they drive here...which is BS if they are visting they can get temp insurance, but in reality the DL will allow them to vote and get jobs and such and not to mention terrorists getting their hands on them and such....but it is "racist" to not let them....umm yeah ok...I don't see how protecting ones rights and country is racsist...but if so...damn I am going to hell proablly will cause I can't spell any ways...lol

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
So your a canadian then huh? why don't ya go back to canada if our health care system is so fucked up??

also just because you pay taxes does not mean you pay for an ambulance with them. I still think you abused the EMS system when someone else might have needed that "free ride" instead of you. if you were so incoherent that you needed an ambulance then I guess at least a thank you to the crew that took care of you would of been nice..but I'm sure you didn't do that either.


typical EMS abuser....see it every day.

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Marc....I know that you work your tail off to save people's sometimes-sorry asses, with nowhere near the pay you deserve for the work you do. People love to bitch and moan about what it costs....but honestly, I think that physical therapy should cost more than a parachute. Maybe my priorities are backwards, but that's my thinking. What really grates on my nerves are people who think they have some "right" to healthcare and don't want to pay their $20 copay, but have no problem paying $40 for a pedicure.

Obviously healthcare costs are high. But to think that people without health insurance get better care than people with health insurance is ludicrous. People without health insurance get emergency medical care....and they often get away without paying their bills....but they certainly don't get elective care. The situation with the cost being higher for someone with insurance is an anomoly. Typically that scenario is reversed. Insurance companines are billed at a much lower rate than an individual is billed for the same service. In fact, you CANNOT bill anyone lower than you bill Medicare. Medicare payments are the floor....

linz
--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I agree with you totaly lindsey!!!

funny people can have a rig laying around and all sorts of other skydiving gear but refuse to pay for health care....gotta love it.

I understand what it's like to go through serious medical problems with out insurance. but you can bet that I worked my tail off to pay for it. try having non hodgkins lymphoma with no insurance. not fun at all.

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
AND it's sickening to me that someone would see no problem with paying his physical therapist only $45 to keep him from having a permanent limp....or whatever it is he's trying to accomplish. I don't know how such a person can look that therapist in the face. All I can say is it's a very kind physical therapist who is saving him all of that money....

linz
--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Hey Marc,

I was in an ambulance 3 times in 1.5 year period recently. I have to say that in all cases the EMT's and Paramedics were incredibly professional and compassionate. At no time did they ever ask for my insurance card. They gave me excellent care without ever knowing if I was going to pay the bill. It wasn't until I received my first bill that I called the ambulance company and gave them my insurance information.

For someone to claim "it wasn't my fault I got sick" is a completely ridiculous statement! Whose fault is it? What illegal aliens have to do about an individual situation beats the shit out of me. It's people like this who send medical costs further up. Just because someone abuses the system does not give anyone the right to abuse it themselves. Two wrongs don't make a right. Suck it up cupcakes and work out a payment plan.>:(

Thanks for your great work Marc!



_________________________________________
Chris






Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

AND it's sickening to me that someone would see no problem with paying his physical therapist only $45 to keep him from having a permanent limp....or whatever it is he's trying to accomplish. I don't know how such a person can look that therapist in the face. All I can say is it's a very kind physical therapist who is saving him all of that money....



part of it is better than none of it....I can respect that. but taking an ambulance knowing full well your not going to pay is crap. take the freakin bus...the ambulance is not the "big red taxi service" regardless of the amount of people that use it that way.

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

I have to say that in all cases the EMT's and Paramedics were incredibly professional and compassionate. At no time did they ever ask for my insurance card. They gave me excellent care without ever knowing if I was going to pay the bill.


I second that.
I count my blessing for not having to ride the ambulance in the last thirty years, but working in my field I see the EMTs in action quiet often and I'm always amazed at their dedication, compassion and professionalism.
Everyone should be fully aware of healthcare costs, insurance or not. That way there will be no surprises!


"I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Quote

funny people can have a rig laying around and all sorts of other skydiving gear but refuse to pay for health care



[sarcasm]
Yeah, but skydiving is so much more fun! Who needs insurance anyway; if I get hurt, I'll just give a fake name and let the rest of society pay for it. After all, how am I supposed to pay for my jump tickets if I pay my bills :S. People with insurance have more money than me anyway, so it's only right that they pay my bills for me!
[/sarcasm]

Worked for FDNY as a paramedic a few years ago - sick call was the best. Most people don't own cars, so when the abusers get a cold, they call 911 and say they're having trouble breathing. Advanced life support is dispatched, patient meets us at the street, climbs in back, and we give them a ride to the hospital... not like we had anything important to do... :S

Jeff
Shhh... you hear that sound? That's the sound of nobody caring!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

0