just so sorry you had to go through that on top of everything else!
I got though it a wiser man. Now that I know what the rules are, I know how to play the game.
CD
The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)
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I got though it a wiser man. Now that I know what the rules are, I know how to play the game.
CD
Windigo
Kitchen Witch
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Very applicable lyrics for this year.
Lullabelle
Midlands, England
We are done 
Weirdly enough, we made it through that ok, in large part because it was before the elimination of all those so-called "Cadillac" insurance plans, and she had top-notch insurance through her employer at the time.
She had her stroke, and less than 24 hours later, I met with someone from the hospital, who gave me the estimated hospital charges (there were still plenty of other charges, this was just what the hospital anticipated their charges would be), ran the insurance, told me what we owed, and gave us a discount if we paid that day. The total was just under $900, so I paid that on the spot.
That did leave a bad taste in my mouth, just because that was the first thing the hospital wanted addressed, after stabilizing MrsT. Very mercenary of them, I thought.
Sometime in March, I think it was even her first meal out, we went to a retirement dinner for a friend, and he was someone who's wife also consumed a lot of medical care.
Now, as those with US health insurance know, it can take a few, to several, months for all the bills to roll in, and we'd really not seen very many bills. I got to talking with this gentleman, and he told me horror story after horror story of dealing with hospitals, doctors, billing departments, collections agencies, lawyers, etc over his wife's bills, and that I better do my homework and get a lawyer lined up, because the storm was coming.
The following month, we got a bill for...$84,000! It was stamped with "due immediately" and "pay promptly on receipt" and other such things, and I thought, "Here we go..."
First thing I did was call the billing department, and they confirmed that insurance hadn't paid it.
Called insurance, and they assured me that yes, they hadn't paid it, but they would pay it, so ignore that bill and to just wait and see if we get another one the following month, and we never did, so it eventually got paid.
For someone like me, though, that's a nerve-wracking process, but other than that, we've had pretty good luck, except with the one I was just talking about, where the local hospital overbilled me by about $5,000.
I've had someone from the billing department at hospitals come up to me while I'm laying on a gurney in the Emergency Room. I always just tell them I want to pay later on a payment plan for my share of the bill. They have to do that... interest free. That way, the 643 individual bills can come in, be handled by BCBS (Insurance). Then I get to match all those bills up with EOB statements from BCBS, and see what I REALLY owe all those vultures.
The worse thing is all those bills for individual services, doctors and who knows what. I'm surprised that the person who empties the trash can in your room doesn't send a bill.
CD
I know. I personally think that's purposely designed to confuse, so the patient just pays whatever they get bills for.
I know I mentioned this before, but when we were with a previous insurance company, I'd constantly get bills for, say, $700 for routine office visits, or a simple x-ray, so I'd call and challenge it and in every single case, they'd say, "Yeah, looks like we didn't process that correctly, we're sending a new bill," and then I'd get the expected $25 bill a month later.
I used to wonder, how many overwhelmed people were just paying whatever bills they were being handed, without checking them to be sure? Believe me, as soon as I could, I switched from that insurer, and I'd never go back again.
You really don't know how much I'm thankful for the wonderful National Health Service in this country when I read your posts. Its all free here (we pay through taxes but its free for all) and its brilliant. Its the one thing I don't have to worry about. The last thing you need if you or one of your family is ill is to be worrying about costs.
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Well today got off to a great start...
Needed fresh coffee ground for morning coffee and needed to grind some sugar to make icing sugar because I forgot to add it to the list it things to buy....
And the coffee grinder when WHIzzzz$$$$$$###### and issued a few other expletives and does nothing except whine.
At least the Boxing day sales started yesterday. Looks like it's time for a new one.
I wonder if he did buy me that pestle & mortar I asked for?
Needed fresh coffee ground for morning coffee and needed to grind some sugar to make icing sugar because I forgot to add it to the list it things to buy....
And the coffee grinder when WHIzzzz$$$$$$###### and issued a few other expletives and does nothing except whine.
At least the Boxing day sales started yesterday. Looks like it's time for a new one.
I wonder if he did buy me that pestle & mortar I asked for?
Canada has a single payer system where the insurance part of health care is run by the government, and paid for with taxes, but the doctors and hospitals are still independent. That is what "Single Payer" advocates (including me) are wanting in the US. But, the opposition calls that "socialized medicine," and scares people with death panels that decide to let you die if you are too old or too sick, or waiting for 6 years to get a minor surgery done.
Our doctors and hospitals are excellent, except in remote, rural areas. It is our health insurance system that still needs a lot of changes (beyond what the ACA/Obamacare did).
CD
Boxing Day is not celebrated in the US. Most Americans probably don't know what it is -- or have even heard of it.
CD
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Sadly, having lived in both the north and the South of England, I've seen both sides of the NHS and the so called postcode lottery. And I'm afraid it is very valid. I had excellent healthcare from the NHS when we lived in Haslemere. It was OK in Preston (Lancashire). The least said about it in Crewe it between Crewe & Warrington the better. Crewe hospital nearly killed me from neglect (carbon monoxide poisoning). It is also the same hospital that left my step father permanently disabled, and in top of that, they are the ones who after 5 weeks of my right leg being paralyzed and my back in extreme pain hadn't actually even scheduled an MRI to see what was wrong.
Wythenshawe and Wigan hospitals were also both excellent. It really depended entirely on where you lived (for those not in the UK, it is for thay reason it was called the postcode lottery). Occasionally we could wrangle being referred to Warrington instead of Crewe, it was very definitely preferred. Staff there actually issued me with the staff bike park code so that I could safely lock my bike up. One saw me kicking my bike up outside and told nee to follow him (with his bike) to the cycle lockup area and watch the code he put in...
Giving a small gift to those people who perform a service for you isn't uncommon here, but doing so on the 26th and calling it Boxing Day is, that's for sure.
I inherited the habit from my Mom, of all people. She'd sneak us kids a little gift, like cheap perfume or aftershave, to give to our schoolteachers and the bus driver. She'd do the same for the mailman and the trash collector.
We give gifts to the mail carrier and trash collector (gift cards for Kroger), the pharmacy (we're high-maintenance customers
), our hair stylists, and this year, our mechanic.My hair stylist gets booze, I don't know what MrsT's gets, and this year, the pharmacy and the mechanic got premium baked goods. We also gave a gift card to the guy who maintains our furnace.
All of that already happened, we always do it just before Christmas.
We have a hard time getting doctors and hospitals to serve sparsely populated rural areas. People in some of these areas may have to drive for hours to get to a hospital. At best, they may have a PCP (Primary Care Physician) near them, but no specialists. Hospitals can't make money in these areas, so the few that are around, end up closing. Doctors in these areas don't make much money, either, so it is hard to recruit good doctors to these areas.
It is actually hard to find really good PCPs in cities and suburbs. The choices on my health plan are mostly doctors who got their medical school educations in India. Your'e not going to find a graduate of Harvard or Johns Hopkins working for PCP pay.
CD
Giving a small gift to those people who perform a service for you isn't uncommon here, but doing so on the 26th and calling it Boxing Day is, that's for sure.
I inherited the habit from my Mom, of all people. She'd sneak us kids a little gift, like cheap perfume or aftershave, to give to our schoolteachers and the bus driver. She'd do the same for the mailman and the trash collector.
We give gifts to the mail carrier and trash collector (gift cards for Kroger), the pharmacy (we're high-maintenance customers
My hair stylist gets booze, I don't know what MrsT's gets, and this year, the pharmacy and the mechanic got premium baked goods. We also gave a gift card to the guy who maintains our furnace.
All of that already happened, we always do it just before Christmas.
From what I understand, Boxing Day in commonwealth countries has become more of a shopping day than the gifts for the poor that it used to be.
I do give a bottle of Fireball whiskey to my mailman every year. Nasty stuff, if you ask me, but he loves it.
CD
I'm sure the shopping aspect has increased, because that seems to happen everywhere.
When we lived there, there was definitely a token gift-giving tradition. Of course, no one had servants, but when we'd go around and drop off gifts here and there, we certainly weren't the only ones.
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