No Healtcare for Cash !

[shooterg]

One and only grandson was with us the past weekend. Took him to Izaak Walton so he could chill in the kiddy pool. Coming back from the facilities he takes off running back to the kiddy pool, PopPop(me) trying to keep up - he tripped on a tree root and hit a rock(?), 1.5" gash through both skin layers. We did best we could and headed for an Emergency care place. The daughter has only been able to get part time work the last 2 years, and the 3 year old is on Medi-whatever, we had a copy of the paperwork(Mom's 140 miles away). The walk-in medical said they couldn't take that, so OK, I said I'll pay cash. They said no, that would be fraud ! Took us 30 minutes to the next such place, where a very nice lady doctor superglued him closed and bandaged him up and got him some oral anti-biotics. She thought about stitches or staples, but he was already so scared(shaking, never cried), we all opted for the superglue and trying to slow him down a couple days. He's back at his Mom's , it's healing fine, he'll have a scar, but he made it to his 1st day of pre-K so all's well now. But for a tenth of a second I wanted to ____(I was carrying, so you can imagine) convince those cretins into caring for that boy.

[DeanWinchester]

What the hell?

How is PAYING for services rendered fraud?


We live in a country full of idiot ghetto trash.


I have to wonder if maybe it had something to do with you not being his legal guardian.

[Mumblypeg]

Yeah..... I haven't been to a regular doctor in years and the one I used to see moved his practice 60 miles away but still lives here in town. He was a classmate of mine in HS and we played football together. Anyway.... I was trying to make an appointment and was told that they didn't take patience's that didn't have insurance..... WTH? I guess my cash wasn't good enough for them.....

[texassako]

After recently taking someone to a doc in the box, they probably did not want a cash customer because it is harder to run up the bill. They did scans and x-rays of body parts that had nothing to do with our problem. It was even more painful because the nurses were talking outside our curtain about the easiest scans for the dollar to do to everyone that came through the door to increase department income, and which doctors would sign any form put in front of them when insurance required a doctor's approval.

[farmerjim]

My Doctor will see you for about half of what the insurance company pays him if you pay cash. The discount is for not having to do the paperwork. Remember ( all you old farts like me) When you went to the doctor and the nurse took your $10 payment and then assisted the doctor. Now all the other people you see in the office are there for the paperwork. Insurance drives up the cost of healthcare. Health savings plans and catastrophic , $5,000 to $10,000 deductible is the best way to go. You pick which tests you will approve, with the doctors recommendation and explanation as to why you need it.

[nicholst55]

Wow! This reminds me of working in a state office where the "court appointed lawyers" were. As we were working in there raising ceiling tiles and pulling wire a coworker told me "you gotta hear this". Perhaps snooping, but their voices resonated. Several lawyers were telling war stories of letting their clients "burn". The most memorable was a lady lawyer who said here client was a young twit so she just "let here burn". They were all laughing and having a gay old time. Talking about ticked off. I asked one of the lawyers later, (not bringing up their loud conversation earlier), "Isn't it a conflict of interest when you are payed by the state to fight against the prosecuting attorneys who are paid by the same?" His response... "Well, it's a give and take, we don't want to make enemies with the prosecuting attorneys so we are careful in our veracity".

Just goes to show what happens when consolidation happens under the same umbrella. Competition keeps things healthy and equitable. (As for lawyers, I still think it should be mandatory to represent X number of clients per year (s), depending upon the amount of lawyers in the locale. The same goes for healthcare, you hurt your hand, well let's take some back, head, whatever x-rays. Been there done that.

As my son the lawyer readily admits, '99% of lawyers give the rest of us a bad name!'

[Garyshome]

Tell them he is a undocumented person! see what that does.

[Artful]

Old saying
"One lawyer in a small town will starve to death, two lawyers in a small town will prosper"

I pay $100 cash to my Doctor for each visit, as my insurance doesn't do much for "normal" checkup's to get scripts renewed.

[snowwolfe]

Wal Mart will take cash:)
Just watched a special show on medical care and it stated Wal Mart was moving into the medical arena. The show stated no appointment was needed and a visit would be a flat $40 fee. Of course blood work and or xrays could get the price up but Wal Mart just might turn the health industry upside down with its move into the area.

[dakotashooter2]

Tell them you are going to sue them for not accepting legal tender.........

Insurance really is a scam. You pay for someone to do the paperwork on the doctors end, pay for someone to do the paperwork on the insurance companies end, pay someone to review the claim and pay some one to pay or deny the claim and probably a few more I'm missing.................

[dtknowles]

I just started a payment plan for a denied medical insurance claim. The insurance originally paid the provider their negotiated rate of $233. 6 months later the insurance reviewed the claim and denied the coverage and got their money back. The provider now billed me for the service at a rate of $1,090. I called the billing company the doctor uses and offered to pay in full right then if they would settle for the same $233 the insurance company paid and they were happy with originally. The agent put me on hold to talk to a "manager" can back and offered a 20% discount and to set of a payment plan. I accepted the offer and made the first payment. There is a number of lesson in this story but the medical insurance, billing, providing care and payment negotiations situations are a mess. I have had insurance for myself and family for my whole adult life and the situation changes every year. We have paid tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket and it looks like the future is not going to get better. The insurance thing is a scam? Maybe?? Without insurance you either get screwed or free medical care depending on your financial situation.

Tim

[longhorn]

Illegal in most states to take cash from a Medicaid patient for Medicaid-covered services.

[Harter66]

I just took my granddaughter in for a broken arm. She fell off her bicycle. The 750 at time of services beat the wait for insurance to pay and be billed 3700 out of which I would have had to have paid 1500 to meet the deductable. Oh wait my bad it's 6500 on hers because on unemployment I made to much for her to qualify for medicaid.....

I know exactly what you mean.

[osteodoc08]

Illegal in most states to take cash from a Medicaid patient for Medicaid-covered services.
Unfortunately, this is true.

its also illegal to "down code" for cash paying patients, even though many do. There's the legally right thing to do and an ethically right thing to do. Unfortunately they don't always agree with each other.

I had a patient pay $400 cash (not run through insurance) for a CT orders by their GI doc because his insurance agrees amount was $750, which he would be responsible for. Makes no dang sense.

[MaryB]

When I got hurt at work and ran out my insurance I went 2 years without. MRI for my shoulder was $5k, Insurance would pay $500. I offered the same $500 or they could try to collect from someone with zero income(I went back to school until my back got to bad to tolerate classes so was living off student loans) and no job. Now that I am on SSDI it is exempt from bill collectors if you are under poverty level which I am. Medical bills are piling up from the car accident, I just ignore them and will wait for the lawsuit. Send my lawyer a stack every couple months to keep him up to date.