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Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by chmod775 on Thursday December 26, 2019 @09:23AM (#21883959)
In many countries public insurance can't deny anything.

Costs for various treatments are already negotiated ahead of time and hospitals/doctors bill insurers directly.

If the insurer thinks you received some kind of treatment you shouldn't have, it's between them and the hospital/doctor.

Of course there's always the odd/fancy treatment people insist on getting that is not covered. In that case you'll be billed by the hospital.

In neither case you'll be fighting any insurance company personally.

Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by Pigo on Thursday December 26, 2019 @09:31AM (#21884004)
Yeah, I have no idea what they're talking about. I'm no fan of the insurance companies, but they can't just deny everything. It's definitely not the predominate experience most people are having with insurance.
Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by ceejayoz on Thursday December 26, 2019 @10:50AM (#21884584)
You'll likely see a vast gulf in experiences between the "I go to the doc for a flu shot once a year" folks and the high acuity people.
Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by Pigo on Thursday December 26, 2019 @12:55PM (#21885470)
Well I know people who take ambulances to the hospital, and have the dr prescribe formula and diapers that way it can be covered by their medicare. But that's a different ballgame than employer insurance. I suppose there's a lot of different kinds of people out there.
Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by ceejayoz on Thursday December 26, 2019 @01:02PM (#21885519)
It's fairly unlikely many folks are managing to get Medicare to cover children's formula and diapers.
Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by Pigo on Thursday December 26, 2019 @01:19PM (#21885597)
They use CareSource to be exact but it provides public health care programs including Medicaid, Medicare, and Marketplace. My wife works with a few people who do these kinds of things. They use ambulances like a personal taxi service. If they can get a dr to say the kid has a rash, they will get "prescribed" a few boxes of special diapers.
Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by ceejayoz on Thursday December 26, 2019 @01:41PM (#21885750)
You're likely referring to Medicaid, then, not Medicare.

Can't say I'm too fussed about impoverished people getting a few boxes of diapers, and using ambulances for transit reveals an underlying societal problem more than individual greed.

Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by chmod775 on Thursday December 26, 2019 @02:24PM (#21886017)
Yup.

If people are willing to go through that much trouble just to get from A to B or to save a few dollars on diapers, there's something wrong.

They're investing hours and go through quite a hassle just to possibly save single digit amounts of dollars.

You don't do this if you don't think you have to.

Re:Dog insurer: 'jumping, running, slipping, tripping, playi... by Pigo on Friday December 27, 2019 @10:05AM (#21891696)
I don't really care as a whole, I'm glad there's a stop gap for the people who would genuinely need this. My complaint is mostly the people I know personally who are doing this. Both families are not broke, and could be doing better if the father actually worked.

The ambulance rides do tie up the system however. I have a cousin who is an EMT and between rescuing overdoses he has regulars they have to taxi because they have a cold, or something else trivial. There is public transportation, but even that would cost them personally and requires waiting. It's probably better to let a few selfish people take advantage of the system in the long run, but it amazes me how selfish some people can be when there's people in real need out there.