Re:The Company Behind Many Surprise Emergency Room Bills
by vkou on Monday July 24, 2017 @02:38PM
(#14841348)
My family lives in Canada. My grandfather had a heart attack when he was 84. My dad drove him to the ER, he got surgery, a stent implanted, a prescription, and follow-up appointments and care.
$0 out of pocket for the hospital work, a small co-pay for the prescription.
He also spent a few months on a waiting list for surgery. Cataracts surgery. They fixed him, he can now see better. Out of pocket cost? $0.
The system works. If the trade-off for free life-saving treatment is waiting on non-critical surgery, it's a good trade-off. When you're ill, the last thing you want to weigh is whether you will put pay the heating bill, or the ER bill, or whether you should go to some other hospital, because this one will gouge you, even though you're in-network.
The whole point of health insurance is that the healthy pay for the sick. We will all eventually be sick.
$0 out of pocket for the hospital work, a small co-pay for the prescription.
He also spent a few months on a waiting list for surgery. Cataracts surgery. They fixed him, he can now see better. Out of pocket cost? $0.
The system works. If the trade-off for free life-saving treatment is waiting on non-critical surgery, it's a good trade-off. When you're ill, the last thing you want to weigh is whether you will put pay the heating bill, or the ER bill, or whether you should go to some other hospital, because this one will gouge you, even though you're in-network.
The whole point of health insurance is that the healthy pay for the sick. We will all eventually be sick.