Healthcare Insurance Fail
Maybe I’m a little slow on the uptake about healthcare insurance, but thankfully I’ve been relatively free of health issues for quite some time. That being said…
I had an ultrasound on my thyroid about a month ago (everything’s fine btw…that’s not the point here). Eventually I got a bill from the hospital. The hospital bill was for ~$800, and it showed that insurance was responsible for ~$600, leaving the remaining ~$200 for me to pay out of pocket.
So, I call my health insurance just to see what’s up, because like you, I love getting unexpected bills for $200.
After talking with the rep, I find out the deal:
The hospital sets an arbitrary price ($800).
The insurance company negotiates how much the procedure actually costs, and claims they “paid” the difference ($600), but no money changes hands.
I get stuck with the bill ($200) as part of my “deductible” – the only cash the hospital actually receives for the procedure.
Here I thought the money I spent on health insurance actually went to paying medical costs. I can’t possibly imagine how much debt you would rack up if you had medical issues while being uninsured.
Health insurance is a scam. Here’s an idea – hospitals charge the end game amount up front, and I’ll set up a pre-tax health care savings account (unless Obama wants to tax that too…). Then I’ll just pay for all health care expenses from the health care savings account. Add in a small “in case of cancer” insurance policy, and we’ll call it a day. Is that too much to ask?
There’s no way anyone would go for that, it makes too much sense.
The beauty in this system for the hospitals and insurance companies is that the higher the hospital sets the arbitrary price, the more the insurance companies get to claim they “paid” against your policy, and the more “losses” the hospital gets to claim on their balance sheets (and whine about profitability).