suspicious Hilo Medical Center billing problems

[shockwave rider]

quote:

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Originally posted by randomq

Most medical purchases are made under duress, with no competition, no negotiation, and no guarantees whatsoever. You have better consumer protections from your cellphone company than you do from your doctor. But be sure to shop around and get pre-approval when you are having a heart attack, or your insurance company won't cover you either.

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My Hanai son was working in Mexico when his wife had their first child, they had good insurance but wanted to use a private clinic instead of the public hospital. Every place they checked out gave them a "menu" with all the prices for each person and procedure: doctors, nurses, private room, delivery room, nursery, and so on were all listed with very reasonable set prices. His employer paid insurance covered 80% of all of the costs and there were no expensive surprises.

[punaticbychoice]

kalakoa:
Not just a scam, but a government enforced extortion racket.
You don't buy private health insurance,or get it from an employer, the IRS extorts penalties.
And taxpayer money is given to private insurance companies for subsidies for profit margins, and it's
still not enough for them.
Congress also subsidizes private "Medicare" plans ("Medicare" Advantage) to try and keep their premiums competitive
with Original Medicare. Some of the horror stories I have witnessed and read about sure are indicative of the corruption and decay in our medical delivery and administration "system" in private hands. We obviously have the same problems in Hawaii as the mainland.

[kalakoa]

You don't buy private health insurance,or get it from an employer, the IRS extorts penalties.

...and you still don't get any healthcare out of the deal.

[punaticbychoice]

kalakoa:
LOL.

[Natasha]

I WAS totally gung-ho for the Affordable Care Act. My first year of private practice in 2014, I qualified for "help" from the feds but didn't realize until the next tax reporting period of 2015 that I had to "pay back" the offset (the portion that the gov't covered me because I was earning at or below the poverty level during 2014). PLUS, because I was un-insured for 90 days, I was penalized 2,500k. I got wise and succumbed in 2016, but as fate would have it, I earned (a.k.a. WORKED MY ASS OFF)double what I did in 2015 so now I get no help in paying for premiums. So for 2016 I pay $500 per month for my health care insurance with a $6k deductible. This means I delayed an annual mammogram and a colonoscopy and never bothered to have a questionable mole on my nose looked at. Now, in January, 2017, my premiums have doubled. I'm now paying $800 per month with the same deductible. I did discover that the "screening" procedures such as mammogram, colonoscopy, and PAP smear are covered without meeting the deductible, so I'm going to do all those "tune-ups" and get my money's worth. But still . . . $800 a month for a sole proprietor, small business owner?! No wonder I can't afford to hire a secretary! And God forbid I want to expand my practice and heal more people, but I can't afford to hire another therapist unless they're willing to be a private contractor and/or covered under their own partner's medical insurance.

Small business is the backbone of this nation. Providing supportive services to the less fortunate is what I do. I'm not saying I deserve a medal - I chose this profession. It just chaps my ass that Congress gets top-notch policies and we - the guys in the trenches healing the results of their crappy legislation - have to pay more. The whole system needs an enema.

Natasha Ufema

[HI_Someday]

Well buckle up, the ACA is going away and your healthcare options will likely be none. It sounds like you didn't investigate the coverage of the policies you were paying for and, while understandably upset, is no one else's fault. I absolutely agree that it's ridiculous that the politicians who aren't working on healthcare for everybody get lifetime, top shelf coverage for themselves. Like fire and police services healthcare should be for everybody. But you would need to take all the for-profit middlemen out of the process, and that's just not going to happen.

[Natasha]

Believe me, I conducted an exhaustive search. I only had 4 policies to choose from and the one I picked was the cheapest. Which companies do you Punatics use?

Natasha Ufema

[kalakoa]

The most dangerous thing I do is operate a motor vehicle, so I added an "injury rider" to my auto policy.

Claim "religious exemption" on the IRS paperwork.

IRS has no authority to extort penalties; if you're self-employed, simply don't pay them. If you're W2, then IRS will keep the penalty and you'll never get it back.

I've discovered that providers are often more than happy to give a hefty cash discount because this is cheaper/less work than dealing with the insurance companies.

[Bullwinkle]

Same has happened to me - kind of .....I had to use Hilo medical E.R. for a medical emergency when kaiser was closed on a weekend

Kaiser paid the bill ...Hilo medical billed them a second time ....kaiser denied the claim as being paid and commented they had been billed 3 times after they had paid the bill paid (duplicate billing )

I called Hilo medical they admitted they had had issues - told me they would stop billing

then they turned it over to a bill collector

[dayna]

Well I recently had another ER visit so terracore and I will be watching to see how this one is handled. So far, after proving we paid our co-pay, they've not sent us any more bills on the last one. yet. Nor have we seen anything from a bill collector.



Dayna

www.E-Z-Caps.com