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Healthcare industry behaving badly

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raison de arizona
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Healthcare industry behaving badly

#1

Post by raison de arizona »

And not just because I'm beginning to suffer crippling arthritis due to having to go through a whole preauth process again again again just because a) I switched jobs, and then b) they switched health insurance companies just when I was making headway against insurance company (a). Anyway, at least they are able to take advantage of the pandemic.
Wendell Potter @wendellpotter wrote: JUST IN: UnitedHealth Group’s 2021 earnings report is the biggest in health insurance history with $24 Billion in profits.

This was announced just days after the Commonwealth Fund's report that showed deductibles are skyrocketing for Americans.
I mean, at least they are sharing their record profits with burnt out doctors, nurses, and other health care staff, right? RIGHT?!? :roll:
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#2

Post by sugar magnolia »

Don't even get me started. My 4 day hospital stay was a direct result of my insurance declining a Neulasta shot during my chemo 3 weeks ago. The nurse said they were told it would only be approved if I actually got an infection, which I did. She also said she'd never heard of a cancer patient being denied the drug when they were on the Red Devil. Even she was confused about it. At my chemo appt this morning, The Fabulous Dr Baker said that they didn't want to scare me when they admitted me so quickly but I was 6 hours from raging sepsis and less than 12 hours from being on a ventilator, possibly to never come off. Not something you want to hear from your doctor. So the insurance is on the hook for 4 days of hospitalization with every infectious disease specialist on staff checking on me and 9 different antibiotic IVs, instead of ONE shot, which is covered under a program through Neulasta anyway, with only a co-pay required. Yeah, they really showed me how to save money, didn't they?

The official diagnosis was febrile neutropenia, and I have never felt so bad in my entire life, nor apparently, been that sick. It could have all been avoided. The motherfuckers almost killed me in the name of saving money, then had to spend more in the end anyway. I got the fancy Neulasta OnPro today and it's blinking away happily on my stomach as we speak.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#3

Post by AndyinPA »

I'm so sorry, Sugar. :crying: :bighug: But a hug's probably not much help.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#4

Post by Fiascoist »

Yep, same here. Couldn't get neulasta until I was a guest of the hospital for 4 days after my first chemo round. No problem getting after that session, though. Oh, and this was over 10 years ago. So, INSURANCE COMPANIES don't learn. No surprise.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#5

Post by Estiveo »

The initial refusal must kill off enough people to keep the actuaries happy.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#6

Post by Uninformed »

What Andy said.

And, Raison hope you get things sorted out soon.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#7

Post by raison de arizona »

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#8

Post by raison de arizona »

This is an old school hardcore punk rock photographer from NYC. It shouldn’t be like this here.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#9

Post by Frater I*I »

raison de arizona wrote: Mon Feb 28, 2022 7:48 pm This is an old school hardcore punk rock photographer from NYC. It shouldn’t be like this here.
I feel for her, I've got 6 rotten teeth in my skull...
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#10

Post by raison de arizona »

Drug companies suck too. Also.
https://twitter.com/DanPriceSeattle/sta ... 99341?s=20
Dan Price @DanPriceSeattle wrote: A drug company used its monopoly power to raise the price up EpiPens from $100 to $608.

Since then it has made $71 billion in revenue.

Its punishment? A settlement of $264 million, or 0.4% of the money it made since the price increase.
:snippity:
In the lawsuit, a group of plaintiffs made up of consumers, health insurance companies and other third-party payers alleged that by drastically raising the price of EpiPens, the drugmaker was “unlawfully exercising its monopoly power,” according to a complaint.

“Were the price increases attributable to market conditions, increases in manufacturing costs or shortages in the supply of epinephrine?” the complaint said. “Absolutely not. They were driven solely by unaccountable executives and companies who sought to profit off of human misery and fear.”
:snippity:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/busi ... ement.html
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#11

Post by Lani »

raison de arizona wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 2:01 pm Drug companies suck too. Also.
https://twitter.com/DanPriceSeattle/sta ... 99341?s=20
Dan Price @DanPriceSeattle wrote: A drug company used its monopoly power to raise the price up EpiPens from $100 to $608.

Since then it has made $71 billion in revenue.

Its punishment? A settlement of $264 million, or 0.4% of the money it made since the price increase.
:snippity:

I remember when schools were required to epipens. The price jumped hundreds of dollars. People died because they couldn't afford the price.

For many, the price remains high, but not nearly as much. I got my 1st covid shot at a hospital that had special appointments for people who had bad reactions in the past. Most of us in the waiting area had epipens in hand. We compared prices. A set of 2 ranged from $20 to over $80. Epipens don't have a long shelf life - under a year. I got mine in 3/21. It expired 12/21.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#12

Post by Phoenix520 »

At one point, refills for a pack of two were $750. Sprout’s pediatrician taught all his patients how to tell when it was so gone it had degraded into a hallucinogen and told us it was safe until then. Even then it wouldn’t kill them, just send them on one hell of a trip.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#13

Post by Foggy »

I am not going to defend health insurance companies, but the makers of Epipen were not health insurance companies.
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#14

Post by raison de arizona »

Foggy wrote: Tue Mar 01, 2022 6:16 pm I am not going to defend health insurance companies, but the makers of Epipen were not health insurance companies.
Yeah, I was too lazy to start another thread so I lumped the drug companies in with them. And government healthcare. It's all bad. Mostly.
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#15

Post by raison de arizona »

Hari Kunzru @harikunzru wrote: In line at pharmacy. Woman in front of me picking up a prescription for her kid. "That'll be $819" says the pharmacist. She looks stunned. "For one month?" "Sixty pills," he tells her. They leave without the medicine.
Trisha_F @Trisha_F_2579 wrote: My grandson had an emergency appendectomy in October. He's on Georgia Medicaid until August. They declined to cover his bill. At the age of 18, he is now $77,000 in debt due to having a life saving procedure. He's not even out of high school yet, FFS.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#16

Post by Foggy »

Just for the record, that's what agents do.

A small part of the year we sell heallth insurance. The rest of the year we are available to help fight adverse coverage decisions. Ol' Wifehorn knows people at every company now, after all these years. She will go to WAR to get your kid covered. If it's possible, she will get it.

When these people are telling their stories, which I believe 100%, I wonder, what did their agent do to help? 'Course, a lot of people are so smart they don't need agents to help, they can sign themselves up for ACA perfectly well. They may not choose the right policy, but that's Dunning-Krueger in action.

Here, sonny, help me down from this soapbox, I'm gettin' dizzy.
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#17

Post by raison de arizona »

The doctors I go to have dedicated personnel whose job it is to deal with insurance companies and get necessary care approved. Because that's a job now.

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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#18

Post by AndyinPA »

Six years ago, my nephew, age 27, died in front of his parents' eyes from an asthma attack. He liked working outside, here in the summer, in Texas in the winter (family there), so he had no insurance. My sister-in-law has really never recovered.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#19

Post by raison de arizona »

I'm so sorry, that is so horrible.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#20

Post by Foggy »

Yes, I'm sorry you and your family had to go through that, Andy.
Out from under. :thumbsup:
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#21

Post by MsDaisy »

And the good news is...... I was notified today that in two weeks my Medicare card will arrive and I can finally cancel my $900.00 a month (so called) "health insurance" plan that doesn't fucking cover anything until I spend $10,000 out of pocket which I have NEVER done!

I swear the US healthcare system is nothing but a legal extortion racket! :mad:
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#22

Post by jez »

I got to talk to my "employee advocate" just yesterday morning. I had an ER visit in November for an abscess. I had met my deductible and out of pocket, thanks for my hernia surgery back in March, so didn't think much of it. Should have been covered 100%.

Well, a couple of days ago, I got a bill from a place called EM Specialists. Turns out the doctor I saw at the ER was an employee of EM Specialists and NOT in the network. So, got a bill for almost $600.

Called my insurance company. She said this happens a lot, give me the name of the company, the phone number, and we'll take care of it. Called the EMS company, let them know it would be taken care of, and they were ok.

First time something has worked out for me easily with health insurance. Made me happy.

So, yes, the health care in this country is pretty much an extortion racket most of the time, but occasionally, it works.
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#23

Post by raison de arizona »

So I have a $3k/person, $6k/family deductible on my plan. A med I need is discounted to $3k/mo, which is way better than the $6k/mo it was last year with my old insurance, but I had to eat the first dose for the deductible. I called the drug company, who is invested in me being on this drug because it is a monthly check for them, profit! I explained to them the issue and my desire to somehow avoid the $2855 hit my insurance company was charging me. The drug company gave me a credit card number! Not only did I just get my drug for free, I got my personal deductible met! So yay.

Of course the drug company will realize huge profits over time, since this is a maintenance drug. But good for me, I guess.

In other news…
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#24

Post by Slim Cognito »

This is one of those threads I'm afraid to click on because it makes me so fucking mad. :fuckyou: :mad2: :cussing: :explode:
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Re: Health insurance companies really are the worst

#25

Post by raison de arizona »

“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.” —John Adams
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