Please go over to Daily Kos and read the diary posting entitled "How I lost my health insurance at the hairstylist's". It is very, very illuminating. And terrifying.
I had no idea employers were made to pay an astronomical "surcharge" to insurance companies when an employer gets a serious illness. I doubt very seriously if most people know about it either.
This posting really, really needs to go viral. Please. Do your bit to make that happen.
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And again, early in her story, the word "pre-approved" came up. Pre-approved means nothing. It means they might pay and they might not pay. They can even change their mind after they have paid and hospitals have to refund the money. Then guess who get billed? You do. Our system is so very, very broken.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn L.
I am terrified! I have forwarded the article to everyone whose email address I have... and I am terrified.
ReplyDeleteClassof65
Yeah, me too, Classof65.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't know why this hasn't been brought to the public's attention.
Another Classof65 whose father, was a physician and lectured me most of my life about the horrors of "socialized medicine." Shortly before his death he finally said to me that our medical system was so horrific that the only ones getting anything out of it were the drug companies and the insurance companies and that we desperately needed one-payer health care in this country.
ReplyDeleteThis man was "old school," from the days before Medicare and Medicaid when almost half of his family practice was pro bono. He never turned anyone away and if those he treated needed drugs they could not afford he made sure they got them anyway. He practiced for the love of it and never got rich, and even though our family often had iffy financial times, fresh vegetables, game (in season), a smoked ham, freshly killed chicken, or an iced-down string of fish often appeared at our door from those he helped, so he was paid in-kind.
It made him very sad to see what had happened to the practice of medicine.