Arthur Dent wrote:docellis wrote:i don't understand why health care is a right.
This seems like an unproductive way to discuss the issue. Who do you think should not get health care?
I agree more with doc here. But, the system is so irrevocably [expletive] right now that it needs to be fixed before it's ignored or left alone.
Basically, the way it works as I understand it and from what I've seen, you go to a doctor. That doctor charges say $150 and you pay your $20 co pay or whatever. So the insurance is responsible for $130. Then, the insurance says "No. You can't charge that much, we'll pay you $50" and that is what the doctor gets. His options are to either not accept patients with that insurance (and they're all basically the same....so he'd/she'd have no patients) or accept what the insurance gives him. But, if you have no insurance, you get the entire bill for $150.
That might not be right, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. But, I just had my ACL replaced and seeing the statements from the doctors was outrageous. They charged something like $20K for the surgery. The insurance paid them ~$3K and wrote off 16.5K leaving me with ~$500. But, without it, from what I can tell, I would have had like $20K in bills to pay, and that's how it is for people without insurance. That's ridiculous, and there's something just insanely wrong in that picture. I guess the doctors have to charge that much since they only get a % of it as the insurance writes it down....but come on.