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Patients Pay Before Seeing Doctor as Deductibles Spread

Maggie, My bank account is currently in the negatives, IE I owe money. My debit card would not pay for a 1 cent piece of candy much less a $30 up front cost to the local clinic. I'll be able to pay for it in 4 days. But if I had to take my kid to the doctors today I would have to go to the emergency room if I had to pay the $30 up front. Simply because I don't have it at this point in time. I could certainly pay it in 4 days. But today is not 4 days from now.

Then you really do need to manage your money better. Jesus. If you don't have a $30 emergency fund, that's just pathetic.
 
If the mother goes to the ER, she's still going to pay her deductible. But instead of a $30 co-pay at her doctor? She's on the hook for the $1,500 the ER charges until she's satisfied her deductible.

??

I mean, really. If you don't have a $30 co-pay for the doctor visit? You shouldn't be having kids. Right?
its not just the co-pay that is required up front by some doctors it is the deductible that is in the thousands come on people read the dam articles I post. am I just wasting my time posting them?

from the article you failed to read

Earlier in the year, another clinic insisted she pay her entire remaining insurance deductible for the year -- more than $1,000 -- before the doctor would even see her.
 
Then you really do need to manage your money better. Jesus. If you don't have a $30 emergency fund, that's just pathetic.

Well, Maggie, that's kind of harsh. To be fair, it's entirely possible that Kal'Stand had health insurance, but then she or someone in her family got sick and was subsequently dropped from their insurance and then --

Ohhhhh....right.
 
If the mother goes to the ER, she's still going to pay her deductible. But instead of a $30 co-pay at her doctor? She's on the hook for the $1,500 the ER charges until she's satisfied her deductible.

??

I mean, really. If you don't have a $30 co-pay for the doctor visit? You shouldn't be having kids. Right?
So what are parents to do when they were able to financially have kids but the the recession took their good jobs, replaced them with bad ones, their parents' retirement funds and real estate assets disappeared so they had to move in also... Sorry, but **** happens. I'm sort of fortunate that both my children were out of the house, educated, and on their way before I fell, but **** happens to young folk too, y'know.
 
So what are parents to do when they were able to financially have kids but the the recession took their good jobs, replaced them with bad ones, their parents' retirement funds and real estate assets disappeared so they had to move in also... Sorry, but **** happens. I'm sort of fortunate that both my children were out of the house, educated, and on their way before I fell, but **** happens to young folk too, y'know.

Wouldn't medicare kick in at that point? Genuinely curious.
 
its not just the co-pay that is required up front it is the deductible that is in the thousands come on people read the dam articles I post. am I just wasting my time posting them?

from the article you failed to read

Okay, based on the estimated service cost. I can see that. You're being admitted into the hospital and have a $1,500 deductible. Payable when you check in. What on earth do we expect hospitals to do? Write off all the bad debts that arise from people taking advantage of healthcare services when they have no money? It's time people started realizing that life necessarily has expenses. (This also applies to co-pays for doctor visits.)
 
Then you really do need to manage your money better. Jesus. If you don't have a $30 emergency fund, that's just pathetic.

I've never needed it. The local clinic allows us to pay after visiting them and they don't mind waiting a few days for a measly $30. This deal where clinics are starting to demand up front payment will no doubt change that. I'll have to find some way of coming up with that $30. No doubt doing the same thing that the couple in the video did, cutting TV and a car....and I only have one car. Guess that means I'll have to walk the mile to the grocery store with my kids in tow and all of us carrying grocery bags. Thank god I don't have a baby in the house anymore. And all so I, and those clinics, can "comply" with Obamacare.
 
Then please explain how one is going to control costs when we can't tax medical devices or employers and we can't limit the cost the government pays doctors? So you admit you're demanding things that are counter to each other and can't be both accomplished at the same time.

The costs on medicare already were tightly controlled. It's no longer a matter of cost control, but underpayment. Doctors can no longer afford to see medicare patients. It costs them to do so. This is what happens when you have "free" healthcare and the people actually paying the bill get riled, call their senator and the senator reacts with legislation lowering medicare payments. The same will happen with Obamacare. You end up where we are today - doctors, a smaller and smaller set of folks, refusing to take on medicare patients.
 
Wouldn't medicare kick in at that point? Genuinely curious.
No, Medicare is for the elderly. Medicaid is what you mean, and not all states have Medicaid for the poor. Idaho for example only has it for 18-65 if you're disabled.
 
No, Medicare is for the elderly. Medicaid is what you mean, and not all states have Medicaid for the poor. Idaho for example only has it for 18-65 if you're disabled.

Yup, Medicaid is what I meant. Thanks for the correction.

And I'm so happy I don't live in a red state. And I'm not even poor.
 
Patients Pay Before Seeing Doctor as Deductibles Spread - Bloomberg

wasn't Obama care supposed to keep the uninsured from flocking to the emergency rooms for any little illness?
Now it will be the insured and uninsured doing just that because they cant afford the deductibles and co-pay
so there goes another liberal talking point down the drain

From my perspective, this is simply sound business practice and I see nothing inherently wrong with it. It is particularly good practice if the business doesn't have a longstanding and good relationship with the client/customer.

Healthcare is a business like any other - there isn't a professional around who doesn't require a deposit against payment for services before they start the clock and take you as a client. Try getting a lawyer to start acting on your behalf without paying a retention of services fee.

I don't think deductibles are an invention of Obamacare.
 
The costs on medicare already were tightly controlled. It's no longer a matter of cost control, but underpayment. Doctors can no longer afford to see medicare patients. It costs them to do so. This is what happens when you have "free" healthcare and the people actually paying the bill get riled, call their senator and the senator reacts with legislation lowering medicare payments. The same will happen with Obamacare. You end up where we are today - doctors, a smaller and smaller set of folks, refusing to take on medicare patients.
Really all I have to do is repeat what I already posted. Nothing compelling here, same ol' proof that you don't want solutions, you just want to bitch, and do it completely inanely.
 
Okay, based on the estimated service cost. I can see that. You're being admitted into the hospital and have a $1,500 deductible. Payable when you check in. What on earth do we expect hospitals to do? Write off all the bad debts that arise from people taking advantage of healthcare services when they have no money? It's time people started realizing that life necessarily has expenses. (This also applies to co-pays for doctor visits.)

so we are back to a mother taking her child with a common cold to the emergency room because she cant afford to pay her deductible up front to her regular doctor that Obama care according to the liberals was supposed to keep from happening, but now the mother is out 100 or more dollars a month for insurance she cant afford to use
 
so we are back to a mother taking her child with a common cold to the emergency room because she cant afford to pay her deductible up front to her regular doctor that Obama care according to the liberals was supposed to keep from happening, but now the mother is out 100 or more dollars a month for insurance she cant afford to use

Sweet tap-dancing Jesus, this was only three paragraphs in, people!

The practice of upfront payment for non-emergency care has been spreading in the U.S. as deductibles rise. Now, the advent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is likely to accelerate that trend.

This was happening before Obamacare was even a thing!
 
From my perspective, this is simply sound business practice and I see nothing inherently wrong with it. It is particularly good practice if the business doesn't have a longstanding and good relationship with the client/customer.

Healthcare is a business like any other - there isn't a professional around who doesn't require a deposit against payment for services before they start the clock and take you as a client. Try getting a lawyer to start acting on your behalf without paying a retention of services fee.

I don't think deductibles are an invention of Obamacare.
I agree it is sound business practice to do just that. my point of the post was to show the liberals that Obama care will not solve the problem of people going to the emergency room for the common cold
 
Patients Pay Before Seeing Doctor as Deductibles Spread - Bloomberg

wasn't Obama care supposed to keep the uninsured from flocking to the emergency rooms for any little illness?
Now it will be the insured and uninsured doing just that because they cant afford the deductibles and co-pay
so there goes another liberal talking point down the drain

Wait, you mean that the law's been in effect for 2 weeks, during which time the government is shut down, and it hasn't had an effect yet?
 
Sweet tap-dancing Jesus, this was only three paragraphs in, people!



This was happening before Obamacare was even a thing!


and you want to scold others for not reading when you don't even read what you quoted
The practice of upfront payment for non-emergency care has been spreading in the U.S. as deductibles rise. Now, the advent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is likely to accelerate that trend.
 
I agree it is sound business practice to do just that. my point of the post was to show the liberals that Obama care will not solve the problem of people going to the emergency room for the common cold

This may be true, unless the system will require that a person's healthcare plan is registered somewhere accessible by hospitals who will then be able to charge people against their policies rather than as people without policies.

From what I understand, and correct me if I'm wrong, those most in need will become part of the medicaid system paid for out of "tax penalties" paid by those who don't buy insurance and "savings" to the medicaid/medicare systems currently in place. Clearly, if that is the case, those people will not be paying large deductibles and hospitals are more likely to get paid for services. It doesn't address, however, those who are able to pay for insurance but refuse to buy it and then go to ERs for "free" services.
 
Since Obamacare doesn't start till Jan 2014 it can't be the fault of the ACA or Obama.

Uh, so the President lied when he said:

Chuck Todd.
Q: Mr. President, thank you. Max Baucus, Democratic senator, referred to the implementation of your health-care as a potential train wreck...And why do you believe he's wrong?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: …The Affordable Care Act, "Obamacare," has now been with us for three years...A huge chunk of it's already been implemented…And for the 85 to 90 percent of Americans…they're already experiencing most of the benefits of the Affordable Care Act even if they don't know it. Their insurance is more secure. Insurance companies can't drop them for bad reasons. Their kids are able to stay on their health insurance until they're 26 years old. They're getting free preventive care.

…But I think the main message I want to give to the American people here is despite all the hue and cry and, you know, sky-is- falling predictions about this stuff, if you've already got health insurance, then that part of "Obamacare" that affects you, it's pretty much already in place. And that's about 85 percent of the country.
President Obama’s April 30, 2013, news conference (TRANSCRIPT) - The Washington Post

Or perhaps it was YOU who is lying...

It's a sad state of affairs that a post like this can actually be the post of reason.

a lie is a 'post of reason'...?
 
Wait, you mean that the law's been in effect for 2 weeks, during which time the government is shut down, and it hasn't had an effect yet?

do you wait for the last bite of a crap sandwich before you realize it taste like crap
 
I agree it is sound business practice to do just that. my point of the post was to show the liberals that Obama care will not solve the problem of people going to the emergency room for the common cold

Why won't it stop them? Would you rather pay $30 up front or $1,500?
 
Wait, you mean that the law's been in effect for 2 weeks, during which time the government is shut down, and it hasn't had an effect yet?

Are you really not paying attention? The only thing that happened two weeks ago was the opening of the exchanges...where folks can purchase insurance from PRIVATE insurance companies...that doesn't provide coverage until Jan 1...

But per the President the ACA has been 'active' for three years...
 
do you wait for the last bite of a crap sandwich before you realize it taste like crap

We haven't even had the first bite yet.

Life is like a **** sandwich - the more bread you've got, the less **** you have to eat.
 
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