
Why Health Insurers Don't Care About Big Bills - Deinos
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/05/25/613685732/why-your-health-insurer-doesnt-care-about-your-big-bills
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thisisit
Discussed yesterday:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17170195](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17170195)

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8bitsrule
Damn. What an _infuriating_ story.

Not so much for the subject of the story ... who could afford it ... but there
are people out there who worked and scrimped for 20 years, and get wiped out
by this _racket_.

"There were charges for physical therapy sessions that never took place and
drugs he never received."

This is complete bullshit. How in _hell_ does it survive the scrutiny of the
courts?

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kerkeslager
This is why we should have fixed the problem and instituted single-payer
healthcare.

If you keep letting insurers insert themselves into a process where they are
not needed, they're going to find a way around whatever rules you make to
drain common people of as much money as possible. Better to just remove them
from the process.

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influx
Is it true turning a terrible system over to the US government is going to
solve fraud, waste and a abuse?

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dplgk
Can it be worse than what we have now?

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influx
Yes? See Medicaid and the VA.

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kerkeslager
I dunno, how many people with medicaid or VA benefits go bankrupt due to
medical bills like people with regular medical insurance do?

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throw_away2
It's sad reading these stories makes me hope that I don't get old and instead
get mauled and eaten by wolves instead so I don't have to deal with this.

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pkaye
I've had slightly better experience with the Kaiser Permanente hospitals as
the insurer and hospital/doctors are all part of one system and most of the
costs are fixed. Even still there are incorrect billing issues at times that
can take a month or two to correct. And the copay on specialty drugs can still
be huge.

