if you or your spouse are lower income you can ask the hospital for financial help
I’m confused. If you reached your max out of pocket, why are you coming out of pocket?
I don't think that'll work out in this case. My wife and I bring in a decent chunk. The reason it hurts is that we were already out $17.5k this year due to home repairs, vehicle repairs, and the amount we owed in taxes. This year is stinging pretty bad, and last year was no walk in the park either. Walking to the mailbox is a $3000 gamble lately.
My HDHSA is set up so that there is a minimum deductible, and an out of pocket max. This was the first thing that ever hit insurance, and it maxed it out. Meaning, my bills total my maximum out of pocket value. In one swipe. Insurance took care of 2x that amount.
What is your out of pocket maximum? Must be at least $7500 if not $10k I'd guess.
We just had a baby 18 days ago and between the 2 days in the hospital prior to his birth, a C-section and 4 days after that I know the bills are gonna be large and screwed up. I work for a small company that has a pre-ACA insurance plan though and the out of pocket max is $1500/person and $3000/family so I know I won't get destroyed by this. That is assuming that insurance covers everything that happened in the hospital.
What is your out of pocket maximum? Must be at
Remember also that you can have certain people in the same hospital that are "out of network" even though the hospital itself and most of the doctors and such are. There was just a big news story on our local channel about a couple who experienced this.
$5.5k deductible, $11k out of pocket max.
The way it is set up, it's:
You pay 100% up to your deductible
After your deductible, insurance pays 80%
Once you hit max out of pocket, insurance pays 100%
Remember also that you can have certain people in the same hospital that are "out of network" even though the hospital itself and most of the doctors and such are. There was just a big news story on our local channel about a couple who experienced this.
$5.5k deductible, $11k out of pocket max.
The way it is set up, it's:
You pay 100% up to your deductible
After your deductible, insurance pays 80%
Once you hit max out of pocket, insurance pays 100%
our healthcare is the biggest ****ing joke, I swear. My daughter was in the NICU for 2 weeks....my checkbook got hit HARD even with so called "great" coverage. **** these assholes.
Anyway ....my advise, just save up a chunk of money, and hit it as hard as you can. As long as you are paying SOMETHING they can't turn you over to collections.
My advice, call the hospital, and set up a payment plan. The people who did your home improvements you paid for, and certainly the irs are not at all flexible on you paying them, but sadly, hospitals are. This country has the best healthcare available, yet in general, we value health much less than other countries.
I see your point, and I agree, but there's also the markup factor. I worked in the medical device field for a while and know what those parts/components cost vs what the billing is for. If 9 people don't pay, the 10th does. Insurance paid their portion, which was about 2/3 of the total cost (Thankfully). I intend on paying the bills, but as others pointed out I may be able to negotiate a little. The hospital won't be losing money. Looking at it from a man-hours and materials cost, they're averaging $1500-$2000 per man-hour right now for this operation.
Update: The payment plan puts me at $700/mo. That's what I pay on the friggin Shelby.
working in the implant industry you know that implants are billed according to the R&D that went into designing the device. if a device cost $10 to make, but $10M went into the design of it, then its crazy to think you're getting billed $10. the bill is going to be $1000 at least, and likely more.
Try being "out of network" on a 300k open heart surgery. A kick to the nuts like no other.
Certainly you’re not referring to the doctors who saved your daughter’s life as assholes, just because they want to get paid, are you? Doctors get paid much less these days than previously and patient expectations are sky high. Everyone is an internet doctor too.
My advice, call the hospital, and set up a payment plan. The people who did your home improvements you paid for, and certainly the irs are not at all flexible on you paying them, but sadly, hospitals are. This country has the best healthcare available, yet in general, we value health much less than other countries.
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My father had something similar a few years back. Thanks to CT's Dan Malloy, a walking collection of festering fecal matter, the hospital my father worked for had cutbacks. They laid him off. The same week, he was diagnosed with 3 types of cancer. A year later, he had 4 strokes. I think his actual out of pocket for everything was around $65k. COBRA, or whatever it was, cost him somewhere on the order of $700/mo on top of the medical bills. There was something about "pre-existing conditions" and the insurance didn't cover a lot of it. He didn't share all the details, just sold his Corvettes and now sits around the house sad all the time. He could have retired 4 years ago, but he's still working to try to make up for those losses.
So yeah, Dan Malloy can go to hell. And all the people that get free healthcare because they don't pay, well, in a perfect world they simply wouldn't GET healthcare. I don't see it as a "right," personally.
you mean the Mexican illegals. Yeah, this healthcare system is PERFECT isn't it ....
our healthcare is the biggest ****ing joke, I swear. My daughter was in the NICU for 2 weeks....my checkbook got hit HARD even with so called "great" coverage. **** these assholes.