aegyptos

I strongly doubt that one would actually save any money on a plan like this or get the level of care they presumably enjoy now, so is it simply for convenience sake?

donc

I’m not a mind reader but I have the idea in the back of my noggin that you equate the term single payer with socialized medicine. If I’m wrong…..well wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong. In my mind single payer refers to a single entity that is responsible for both collecting the funds, as well as paying the bills as they come in, most of the time it is the government that does this.

Now In my mind reading mode I detect a “Ahaa” moment coming from the direction of aegyptos with the stamp of socialized medicine firmly imprinted on the vibe.


Not so, think Medicare, single payer; socialized medicine is what they have in the U.K. where the government owns the healthcare system, at least that is what I have heard.
And the VA, of which I have had some experience with, most of them pretty good treatment, in contrast to some of the horror stories that I have heard.

Single payer is what pays the bills; it doesn’t have anything to do with delivering healthcare.


My main reason for single payer is economic, it will reduces administrative cost as apposed to the nightmare of the system we have now.

Using Medicare again as an example, when different insurances companies have different billing systems , that runs up the cost in several different directions, on every procedure that is done at a hospitable,or doctors office, it incurs cost all the way up the line, from multiple ways of collecting/paying for everything from blood test, to cat scans. If the cost of paper work is reduced the cost might be passed along to us poor peons and peonies.

That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it.

CaptainCourtesy

I don't think that was the point of her OP. She was questioning if anyone had experienced hospitals asking for payment first before the procedure. In the past, one would be bill after surgery, rather than prior to it.

Absolutely.

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missypea

Yes, you are correct CC. My understanding is that many hospitals have been putting this into practice for awhile now. I don't doubt that it's going to happen, because we'll be "going live" with this practice very soon.

I do expect push back from the community, although I don't think it will be significant enough to put the genie back into the bottle. Too much money, time, education and training has been spent to make this a reality.

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jallman

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and they collected my co-pay as usual. When the appointment was over and we were scheduling my procedure, the receptionist informed me that yes, I will probably have to pay my deductible at the time of admission. Granted, my procedure is not an emergency; she did state that they will bill out if the procedure is an emergency and one needs to be seen quickly.

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Stace

Around here, it seems to vary depending on the provider/hospital. When I take my son to the pediatrician, our co-pay is expected when we check in, and that seems to be pretty standard for every other doctor's visit we've had. But being at the tail end of my second pregnancy, I've had different experiences as far as deductibles and such are concerned. With the practice I was with during my first pregnancy, I had to pay my deductible plus the percentage of their total fees that I was responsible for (our insurance only covers 80% of maternity care) by a certain time. As far as the hospital stuff was concerned, I didn't pre-register, so I'm not sure how they handle things if you do, but we just got billed after it all went through insurance.

This time around, I paid a co-pay for my first visit to my new OB practice and we've received bills periodically for our percentage due of subsequent visits. We've not had to pay our deductible yet, though, so I assume that'll drive up what we end up having to pay once the hospital bills come around. I'm delivering at a different hospital this time, and I've heard from other mothers in the area that they'll send you a bill in advance if you pre-register, so I haven't bothered to do that this time, either. I don't like the idea of paying in advance for something like labor and delivery, since many variables can change and costs may end up being higher or lower than the amount they anticipate, in which case you'd either have to fight for a refund or deal with the headache of more bills afterwards. No thanks, I'd rather just get the correct amount once and be done with it.

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Redfactor

The emergency section of our local hospital does not require or even ask for a co-pay or deductible before or anytime during the treatment. I've always gotten my bills in the mail (I'm sort of accident prone haha).

The rest of the hospital does require the co-pay (i.e. scheduled surgeries/ post-ops/ consultations) before treatment in my experience.