YES ….i do … I went into a bank today for an appointment….. the bank is like an wide open shop…… 2 tellers there …. just at a island counter ( not security type like most older banks ) .Anyway I walk in and there’s 2 people being served , so I go stand behind one of them waiting my turn …..next minute a fully clad women I mean scarf / long back robe ….walks up to me a says I was here before you ……she was nowhere in sight …. when I walked in and lined up …….she then steps in front of my saying …. , I was sitting waiting over there ….SO … Over there ….was prob 18 ~ 20 foot away from the island like counters , so then another lady chimes in saying yeah she was sitting over there …….so she’s before you ….i swiftly told the other person ……I don’t need your permission to stand in line …and I suggested she mind her own business ……so I stepped back in front of the ….Young very overweight Muslim….. I noticed she had a big clear plastic bag with quite allot of want appeared to be $2 and $1 coins ….we got called in for our appointment ..while the woman handed over the bag of coins ….and she swiftly left the shop ….next min we know ..we are getting hurriedly moved out of the bank …we was told it was emergency and they need to close the bank ….and it was something ….to do with coins a customer had handed over … So we had to leave the bank and they pulled over one of those steel looking doors security~ screen right across the wide open entrance area ……like I said the banks isn’t what you’d call a traditional bank ….the screen is that type your can you can see right through … So our 10.45 am appointment ended up being …12 .15 while they sorted out what ever the issue was in the meantime there’s about 15 people lined up at the big clunky screen waiting to go in the bank We was sitting on a bench seat in the middle of the mall waiting to get back in to do our business we’d arranged an appointment to do a week ago
Here's my rant for today. The claim info from Aetna for my foot x-ray. Can someone explain to me exactly how the insurance companies can "negotiate" a bill of $1475 down to $86.91?? Then they pay $68.14 and I pay $17.38. OK, fine. But why isn't the cost simply $86.91 for EVERYONE? So the poorest among us who are uninsured will be billed the entire $1475? What is wrong with this picture?
I have talked about this before. It is because of the Medicare pays. Medicare only pays a small fraction of what is billed, and it often depends on the region you are in as they do plug in some allowance for overhead differences in various areas, or they did when I dealt with it. The key is the Federal law that mandates that no facility can bill for a procedure, test, exam, etc. less than they bill Medicare, so everyone inflates the charges so Medicare will at least cover some of the cost of actually doing the "whatever". As a result, everybody gets billed the same exorbitant costs that Medicare does. The loophole is that they allow a two-tier billing system (it used to be three-tier); a "possible" reimbursement and a "guaranteed" reimbursement. Insurance companies try (and often succeed) to negotiate the amount they pay down to the "guaranteed" level. The same applies if you go in and pay cash for a medical procedure. You would pay a fraction of what is billed in most cases. The guaranteed price can apply in any case where there is no question a bill will be paid such as to a doctor's office or clinic if a hospital or larger clinic is billing. That may have changed since I left the field, but that is how it was. The exorbitant cost of healthcare in the U.S. is largely due to government interference in it and the insurance companies that support the politicians.
I have to say, I rather enjoyed Bernie Sanders taking the drug company CEO to task earlier this week. He was demanding to know why Americans are paying as much as 10X as much as other countries for the same medicines. Go Bernie!! https://www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-c...024-Novo-Nordisk-Untenable-Strategy-final.pdf
Bernie must not get money form them. Most of Congress on both sides of the aisle are well-paid by Big Pharma. George W. blocked Medicare from negotiating prices on drugs when he signed Part D Medicare. Biden (I think) remedied that somewhat. Probably the only good thing Biden did in 4 years.
We have a medicare Advantage plan, and it is an SNP (special needs plan) and is for low-income people. We show the same kind of thing as you posted, Beth, but we have the “special help” from Alabama that pays the $17.89 co-pay. So , low income people do not have to pay the whole price, and would pay the co-pay according to their income.
But what about people who have no insurance? There is just something wrong with this entire scam IMO.
This is precisely why we charged $25 for one micro-dose aspirin, although we had paid about 30 cents for a box of 200. Medicare approved the $25 charge, while they wouldn't approve or would greatly underpay on other things that we would have to do anyhow.
That is an excellent point, and I was just looking at it from a senior point of view, because seniors have medicare. Before I turned 65, I was low income, and had no insurance at all, so I simply could not even go see a doctor. When we moved to Huntsville, I made a friend here, Evelyn, and she told me about the free clinic, which a was for people like me with no insurance. We had to go in the afternoon, sign in, and then wait for the doctors who volunteered to come in after their day’s work was done, so it was often 7-8 at night before we had seen a doctor and went home. They could only give basic medicines, and never any kind of pain meds; but they did give me Coumadin for my heart. Evelyn’s daughter had a child, so she qualified for medicaid, but I was stuck in the area in-between.(No children, and not old enough for medicare.) Treeca was able to go in for any kind of sniffle or minor problem for her or her child, and it was all covered by medicaid. Why they have that gap for older people, I do not know, and it did not seem fair to me at the time, but that is how it worked.
Yes, it sure did. On top of having to pay for our medical care before becoming old enough for Medicare, we had to pay the fine for not enrolling in Obamacare.
@Beth Gallagher - part of it is where you live. I have been amazed at the prices here for medical services. It is the only really good thing I have found far in regards to medical charges. For instance a CBC blood work , they billed Medicare $120- we paid $19.20 I am waiting to see what the stress test will cost us from earlier this month. He goes in for CT chest scan tomorrow. Not sure what that will cost.Main point is ,,where we lived in Texas would of cost us a lot more - than here in Dinky Town BTW we had to get John Deere tractor mower completely overhauled along with new clutch. Neighbor does these things and he dismantled the entire system =, power washed, whole nine yards- labor $65 - good thing as parts were $235 .
Actual bank branches are getting harder and harder to find ….but if drive a further 20 km if I had to as I’d never ever enter that branch again …what I’m presuming is the manager who was walking around throwing orders ….at anyone she felt like dictating to ..no please thank ….she said to us after I’d confirmed the appointment…..GO SIT THETE ….when when we were ORDERED …..not asked to vacate the building ..she was treating people …like she was .Hitler…