Debt collector question.

[texansfan]

Don't remind me. Cost went up and coverage went down. That's always good for the blue collar working man.

Blame your employer.
They control that.
Your employer decided not to eat that insurance bill and pass it on to you.
Your employer could give you 100% paid for health insurance if they wanted to.
But they don't want to so they make you pay for a portion to keep their profits high.

Again, part of my job is to design health care cost ratios for payers.
There are hundreds of moving parts in the cost of care.
Drug companies need to look at the patient out of pocket expenses because you can charge a million dollars per pill but no one will buy it
Charge a dollar per pill and you won't be able to pay your staff.
Find a middle ground.
If the insurance company will foot the entire bill for the drug the charge as much as possible.

If the patient has a thousand dollar copay what percentage of the public can eat that cost?
Not many so you begin to slide down the scale and play with the ratios until you find an optimal amount that the insurance will pay and a good percentage of the patient base CAN pay then that is the amount you charge.

Many prescriptions go unfilled because the copay are too expensive.
So many drug companies have drug assistance programs where they will pay the patients copay (or give them hefty discount coupons) just so the script will be filled (they just charge more to the insurance company so they have profits embedded)


Obamacare has nothing to do with this.
This is purely biz 101.
Shall I say Obamacare has VERY LITTLE to do with this.
I've been doing these analyses for over twenty years.

[Pushbutton2]

I thought this thread was about offering Goldeneagle some advice on how to deal with a debt collector.



I swear some of you guys would argue with a stump.

Kinda what I was thinking.....

[Goldeneagle]

Kinda what I was thinking.....

I'm trying my best to ignore it now.

[Tmag]

I'm tired of quoting
This is exactly the reason why we need Obama care
Some people in our society can't afford to pay a $2800 medical bill so they stiff the medical provider until they feel like paying them
Often times, as evidenced by this thread, they only want to pay 40% off what the doctor charges for his services.

Bottom line is, if you can't afford to pay or don't want to pay the rate that doctor is charging, don't get the service or find another doctor.

See, this is one of those "hypothetical" y'all talk about.
Y'all don't want to admit it's not just illegal aliens that are running out on $2800 medical bills
It's the guy you share a campfire with too.

Thank you texanfan for shedding light on the real truth of this thread. I had no idea Randy was that bad of a guy, shame on you Randy. I thought you were actually a hard working middle class blue collar guy living paycheck to paycheck like a good majority of Americans. You ought not be skipping out on your medical bills like that, pay up sucka!

If you don't know Randy or his financial situation, how in the world are you able to post garbage like this?

[Traildust]

I'm trying my best to ignore it now.

Here you go Bro....silence the drivel
Only takes a second......my list has grown by leaps and bounds....Life is Good!

[locolobo]

you gota be OLD

AARP old or will being a member of the wheelchair racing club do?

[RiverRat1]

I'm trying my best to ignore it now.

I've heard a lot of really deep bullcrap on TBH but nothing beats this guy saying Obamacare didn't negatively affect health insurance. And somehow the rates going up are now the working mans fault.

Let us know what they say when you ask for an itemized list.

[Pushbutton2]

Are you grumpy and old?? If so, I can swear you in. Or swear at you, whatever works...

Lol
Grumpy? Always
Old? I'm closer to 50 than 40

After get sworn will I get an ID of some kind I can flaunt :-)

[CaptainDave]

Is the OP activity participating in a 401k plan? Some plans allow you to take out a loan and repay through payroll. Assuming the debt is $2,800, perhaps consider something like this to payoff the med bill and consolidate into a manageable loan and repayment plan.

Maybe I missed something on the actual size of the debt.

[12RingKing]

This has become a lengthy thread.... first, please please please examine your EOB from the operation. Insurance companies screw up all the time on billing. Never accept that their word is gospel. Fight and appeal ALL charges that are out of network.

You set up a surgery or visit with in network providers, you should ONLY get in network providers. A co worker of mine had a problem where a "specialist" came in his room after knee surgery when he was loopy, put his eyes on him for 2 minutes, walked out and it almost cost him $2k out of pocket.

VET ALL YOUR DOCTORS. Ask questions.... I'm passionate about this topic because it seems like the medical field as a whole is trying to screw us over.

My local Hospital has an ER full of doctors. Some are preferred by BCBS, some aren't. My wife went in with an obstruction in her ear and just so happened to get a non preferred doctor and they tried to stick us with $600 bill to pull a ball of wax out of her ear.

I sent in an appeal letter, 2 weeks later the insurance company re ran the charge as in network. Had to meet my deductible and pay a co pay, saved $300.

Had a crown out on by my dentist, he charged me $850 to do it, I got my EOB and it said I was only responsible for $390. I had to go back and get the permanent crown installed and when I went to the front desk the lady NEVER offered up the excess balance on my account. Didn't mention it once. I had to bring it up. She was looking right at it!!! So, I ask her about the extra $460 in my account, and she wrote me a check. She said, " Good for you on reading your EOB. Most people don't."

Screwing people left and right.

[texansfan]

Thank you texanfan for shedding light on the real truth of this thread. I had no idea Randy was that bad of a guy, shame on you Randy. I thought you were actually a hard working middle class blue collar guy living paycheck to paycheck like a good majority of Americans. You ought not be skipping out on your medical bills like that, pay up sucka!

If you don't know Randy or his financial situation, how in the world are you able to post garbage like this?

This is the face if Obamacare.
Randy is the guy Obamacare is trying to protect.
But you all have your head stuck in the sand so you don't see that.
Bottom line is, if you can't pay for services that you receive SOMEONE has to eat that cost.
Who will it be???
The doctor doesn't want to eat it so he charges mite for his services so the others that do pay their bills absorb the cost.

It's business!

Get your feelings out of it and look at it from a pure accounting perspective.
Being a "good hard working American" doesn't pay the surgeons malpractice insurance premiums.
Cash does!

[texansfan]

Your something else ain't ya. That doc was NOT checking my incisions! She was showing the interns where this procedure was performed. Nothing else. The nurse was the one keeping an eye on it. SMDH.

She couldn't also assess the health of your wound as she showed them where the stitches were?
If you had green fungus growing on your stitches it would be a different story because she would have went into action.

[Goldeneagle]

Is the OP activity participating in a 401k plan? Some plans allow you to take out a loan and repay through payroll. Assuming the debt is $2,800, perhaps consider something like this to payoff the med bill and consolidate into a manageable loan and repayment plan.

Maybe I missed something on the actual size of the debt.

I have 2 loans on my 401k already. One was when my a/c was replaced in my house and the other for a vehicle. The $2800 is just one of the medical debt. There's a total of right at $10,000. Two hospitals, two surgeons, 2 anesthesia guy's, four or five docs, you get the message. I'm actually having to pay for this twice because the first surgeon was evidently an idiot. Thanks for trying to help though.

Traildust, how does that ignore thingy work?

[texansfan]

I've heard a lot of really deep bullcrap on TBH but nothing beats this guy saying Obamacare didn't negatively affect health insurance. And somehow the rates going up are now the working mans fault.

Let us know what they say when you ask for an itemized list.

Never said Obamacare didn't add to it
But y'all are making it seem like Obamacare is the sole and ONLY cause.

Check healthcare costs since Reagan was in office.
Actually, go back to JFK.

Medical technological advancements have exponentially grown since then as has the cost to develop these treatments.

Before Reagan we didn't have to worry about treating AIDS patients.
Have any idea how much it costs to treat an AIDS patient every year?

Before Reagan what cancer treatments were available, what were the annual costs and how long was a person expected to live after diagnosis?

Can you tell me the life expectancy of a stage 1 prostate cancer patient today?
But what is the cost of treating them?
Would you pay $100k to live another 20 years?
I would.

[texansfan]

Can anyone explain why our REPUBLICAN politicians are now not ready to repeal Obamacare???

If it was soooo bad, then why are they figthing to keep any shred of it?

Can anyone review the profit margins of the top 5 health insurance companies?
Since Obamacare has their profit margins dropped?

Follow the money!!!