your health care premiums

[VitaMan]

Recently your health care premiums went to pay:


Back surgery
Cost $ 110,000
plus $ 94,000 not covered by insurance for neuro monitoring


Possible snake bite
$ 45,000 for 4 vials of anti venom
(standard cost $ 3,200 per vial)
extra for having it on hand for emergency
plus $ 52,000 for the helicopter transport




No hope to control costs with advancing high tech medicine

[instfixer]

Lantus brand name insulin
Available in Mexico for $30 per vial
In the USA the full retail is $230 to $250. Out of pocket cost on Medicare is $40 UNLESS you hit the 'donut hole' then it jumps up to $90
I would be happy to explain more via private PM

Back around the year 2000 I made three business trips to Australia and ALL the snakes are poisonous, some more so than others, then there is the " two stepper" get bit, and you get to take two steps before you die. I was ever so careful walking in the forest.

[tbone2u]

By buying my meds in Thailand....I save enough on the costs of my scripts to pay my airfare on a round trip to Bangkok

So VM....it was a snake bite?

[FrankZappa]

Originally Posted by tbone2u

By buying my meds in Thailand....I save enough on the costs of my scripts to pay my airfare on a round trip to Bangkok

So VM....it was a snake bite?

Is it easy to buy meds in Thailand? I travel there and I was wondering how you get them back in the country and through customs. Looking for some info.

[tbone2u]

The first time I tried to buy meds there I just walked into a large hospital on Rama 4. I showed my passport and filled out a short form.
15 minutes after walking in I was setting in a waiting room. Another 15 minutes later a nurse called my name and took me to the back and took my vitals. 10 minutes after that I was sitting in front of a young Thai Doctor. He asked me why I was there. I told him to re-new my scripts.
He asked me a few questions and wrote the scripts and he handed the nurse the scripts to take to the hospital pharmacy. Then the doctor chatted with me for about another 10 minutes practicing his English. He had gone to Berkeley. I go to the pharmacy and wait for them to call my name.
That took another 15 minutes. The hospital visit with Doctor's fees and scripts were under $120.

Thailand has some of the best medical facilities in Asia.
I also stock up on antibiotics while there. You can buy them in any pharmacy without a script.

Painless

[boardman]

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcar...th-care-prices


I've got a horror story where a facility ran up a ridiculous bill for an ER visit that I walked into and walked out of without a resolution. After months of asking for an explanation via certified letters they just wrote off the whole amount.

I'd have paid the bill if they would have billed something reasonable. Due to an uninsured family member making a similar visit to the same facility for an injury about a month later I found out what the cash pay price was. It was about 1/10th of mine.

And of course the insurance companies are no help. They won't get involved because they have to admit they're in on the scam.

That EO that Trump signed this morning is supposed to make costs more transparent and put an end to some of this fuckery but I doubt it. That's a whole other swamp that needs to be drained.

What I learned is that if I have to visit an ER again my response to the insurance question will be "I'm uninsured, send me a bill"

[Warptcuck]

I had to go to the hospital in Czechoslovakia for a disease not found in the USA. Overnight stay and meds plus doctor cost me $120.



I have been bitten by a Cottonmouth, I just suffered a few days, no meds. But it was some serious suffering.

I was a kid. I wasn't supposed to be outside after dark. Got bit, suffered so I didn't get my ass beat for being outside after dark.

[VitaMan]

Whenever there is access to piles of money that is endless, this is what you get. Other examples:


- college tuition and student loans
- the housing debacle of 2008
- government spending

[boardman]

Originally Posted by VitaMan

Whenever there is access to piles of money that is endless, this is what you get. Other examples:


- college tuition and student loans
- the housing debacle of 2008
- government spending

Tuition is totally out of hand.
Student debt is the single biggest asset on the Federal Government's balance sheet. In the business world, if receivables is your single biggest asset you're not on very stable ground.
If today's students, the same kids who watched their parents walk away from all those underwater mortgages in 2008 and the aftermath, start walking away from their worthless degrees and the debt associated with them it will make 2008 look like rough day on Wall Street.

Giving everyone a free college education, as many want to do, will further dilute the value of the education. When the world is full of doctors and lawyers the only millionaires will be the garbage men.

We're short tradesmen of all kinds. Plumbers, electricians, welders, mechanics, you name it. If a person can work with their hands and do a professional job they can earn 6 figures. IMHO trade unions are missing the boat right now. They need to be recruiting hard and expanding their apprenticeship programs.

[VitaMan]

As far as I know, student loans are still one of the few debts you can never discharge in bankruptcy. This means the government is assured of getting paid (via taxes on money these students will earn, or other methods).


What is it about the health care industry that they don't want to provide prices/costs for their services upfront ? They were defending it, saying they have negotiated contracts, can't reveal or prices will go up, blah, blah, blah.


All bs ?

[boardman]

Originally Posted by VitaMan

As far as I know, student loans are still one of the few debts you can never discharge in bankruptcy. This means the government is assured of getting paid (via taxes on money these students will earn, or other methods).


What is it about the health care industry that they don't want to provide prices/costs for their services upfront ? They were defending it, saying they have negotiated contracts, can't reveal or prices will go up, blah, blah, blah.


All bs ?

Currently it's rare but student loans can be discharged in bankruptcy if the court determines that repayment of the loan would cause undue hardship. The way the political and judicial climate is trending I don't think it would be unexpected for a bankruptcy judge to find undue hardship for someone who is flipping burgers or waiting tables and has a $100k student debt for a degree in Victorian History. That's an extreme example but I think you get the point. The more it happens the less extreme the cases become.


As far as the health care industry goes this is something that has been created by the health care industry and the insurance companies so no, they don't want to reveal what's going on.


Health insurance as we know it today consists of HMOs or PPOs both of which have pre-negotiated services. What you end up with is a convoluted mess that no one can understand or navigate. The winners are the providers and insurance companies. Providers charge more for services, insurance pays less and the consumer is left in the middle.



It really began with the Health Maintenance Organization act of 1973. Before that a simple indemnity plan was the standard. You sought care. You paid the bill and You submitted receipts for reimbursement over your deductible. You were in control. Once again, our federal government thought they knew what was best for us and fucked it all up. That's what started this snowball rolling downhill.



Now, insurance is so expensive it's unaffordable for many and if they can afford the premiums they can't afford the deductibles if they need treatment so those don't get paid along with the free services they are required to render. Providers jack their rates up to recover some of their losses and that perpetuates, even magnifies, the problem.



The EO that Trump signed is supposed to add some transparency by requiring providers to disclose what costs are beforehand. Problem is I don't know how you provide that information to and get consent to treat from a patient lying unconscious on a gurney.
That's something they'll have to figure out I guess. I suspect it won't help the consumer all that much and will just add another layer of red tape for providers to navigate.

[Russ38]

Originally Posted by boardman

We're short tradesmen of all kinds. Plumbers, electricians, welders, mechanics, you name it. If a person can work with their hands and do a professional job they can earn 6 figures. IMHO trade unions are missing the boat right now.

Very true bm.....working in the oil and gas industry, I know many electricians, welders, pipe fitters ect...and hardly any of them earn less than 6 figures a year (and they’re all non-union)....as far as healthcare premiums, I’m fortunate because I pay next to nothing for very good health insurance....A few years back, I actually used to pay nothing until Obamacare fucked that shit up....