yet another crooked hospital

[VitaMan]

Impossible to get the crooks out of our current healthcare system. Political bodies have no answers to reform it either. They have been trying since the time of Ted Kennedy, maybe even before that.


A woman was charged over $300,000 for spinal surgery after being quoted a fraction of the cost.

A woman won a year long lawsuit against a Colorado hospital that misquoted her surgery by more than $300,000.

Lisa Melody French, a 60-year-old clerk at a trucking company, was left in need of spinal fusion surgery after getting injured in a 2014 car accident. French's doctors told her that her spine injury was "so bad" that if she were to fall in another instance, she'd be paralyzed, French told Insider.

St. Anthony North Hospital, run by Centura Health, initially quoted her $57,601.77, a bill which her employer's insurance would primarily pay. She was told her out-of-pocket expenses would be $1,336.90.

The hospital later claimed that it "misread" her insurance card, according to court documents.

Centura Health then billed her $303,709. Her insurance and ELAP Services — a health insurance firm — paid approximately $74,000 for the surgery. But, she still owed $229,000 out of pocket when Centura decided to sue her.

"It's not unlike that of everyday Americans who go to hospitals with a medical need and sign paperwork placed in front of them to create contract about the medical treatment about to be rendered," Ted Lavender, French's attorney, told The Washington Post. "It was very telling in Ms. French's case."

Lavender told the outlet that $197,000 of the total $303,709 bill was allotted to 13 pieces of spinal equipment which originally cost approximately $31,000.

Centura Health argued that since French signed two contracts agreeing to pay "all charges of the hospital," she was required to pay "predetermined rates set by Centura's chargemaster."

The term "chargemaster" refers to a hospital's list of services and costs. French referred to the chargemaster as a "mysterious thing that we're not really allowed to see."

In a unanimous opinion, the court ruled that French would pay Centura Health $766.74 in damages, The Denver Post first reported.

"Because French had no knowledge of and did not clearly and knowingly assent to the terms of Centura's chargemaster, we conclude, under long-settled principles of contract law, that the chargemaster was not incorporated by reference into the HSAs that French signed," Justice Richard L. Gabriel wrote in the opinion.

Gabriel added that chargemasters "have become increasingly arbitrary" and instead represent "inflated rates set to produce a targeted amount of profit for the hospitals."

[reddog1951]

Our insurance system that largely keys access to insurance and therefore "covered" providers and services to employer provided options is fucked up and the source of many of it's problems. It is not a "free" market, but one controlled by the insurance companies, and to some extent the providers. Needs to be changed. I'll expound more as time permits and rant if any interest.

[Salty Again]

... Blimey! ... The perils of OBamaCare. ..

#### Salty

[Ripmany]

hospitals don't make you better to keep you coming for more and more pills. American medical is to have you die a slow death for milk you for all you got. I been to many mental hostile. I like to call them death pittles.

[reddog1951]

Somehow, Rips post rings true, especially the parts about many and pills.

[dilbert firestorm]

Originally Posted by Salty Again

... Blimey! ... The perils of OBamaCare. ..

#### Salty

nothing to with obamacare. this was going on long before obamacare.

the charge list is a list the public is not allowed to see.

there was movement to make that hospital list publicly available.

one of this issues with it is the hidden cost the patients are hit with.

and most often patients or patients of hysterical loved ones do not check hospital rates during an emergency, so the patient ends up going to the most expensive hospital thats nearest to them instead of the cheaper one thats a bit further.