Transparency rule fails to shed light on costs for IU Health Bloomington patients

[KittySlayer]

Every time someone touches the money they take a cut. If it is just me and the doctor and we agree on $100 I give him a Benjamin and we’re both good.

Imagine how many people take a $1 cut as they touch Benjamin.

1. I work
2. My employer gives me a compensation package that includes health insurance
3. The payroll company processes weekly pay deducting my share of premiums
4. Insurance company collects premium from my employer
5. Insurance company collects premium from my employer (listed twice because insurance companies suck)
6. Insurance company negotiates with doctors groups
7. I call doctors office to schedule appointment with scheduler
8. I arrive and check in with receptionist
9. I go to room and meet nurse (she’s cute)
10. Finally see the doctor!
11. Billing clerk bills insurance company
12. Insurance company processes bill and pays a portion
13. Doctors billing clerk bills me for portion not paid by insurance
14. I pay with credit card
15. Credit card company charges merchant fees
16. Credit card company charges merchant fees (listed twice because credit card companies suck)
17. I’m broke and pay credit card company interest
18. Add Federal, State, and Local taxes at every step
19. Add a few steps I may have missed

Add a few zeros before the decimal point.

Assume most these people take more than a $1

If I could just hand the doctor $100 I would get off cheaper and he would make more money.

 

[KittySlayer]

I'm not exactly sure why there needs to be 37 people making money off of the business handled between myself and my Doctor but it doesn't appear anyone feels the need to justify it, let alone change it.

I only came up with 19 people but 37 is probably closer to the truth.

 

[Dean C.]

Ahh the hospital, the only place on earth you get a service and no one there can tell you what the cost is. Wife cut her hand pretty badly a couple years ago (she was on a Cadillac federal health plan too) needed hand surgery to repair the damage. Tried to do a nerve block but after 45 minutes nothing so they just use general.

Fast forward a month and we get a bill for $4,800 for the nerve block because it was "deemed unnecessary"

Then as a healthy 26 year old male who goes to the doctor once a year I pay $1000 a month for insurance between my contribution and my employers. **** let me keep the extra $12k a year and put it in a slush fund.

 

[wtburnette]

The system as it stands is irreparably broken. When it became law that those without the means to pay for treatment could not be turned away it was all over. The system is now just a bunch of throwing **** at the wall to see what sticks.

I'm not exactly sure why there needs to be 37 people making money off of the business handled between myself and my Doctor but it doesn't appear anyone feels the need to justify it, let alone change it.

Walk in and claim not to have a pot to **** in and the world is your oyster. Walk in with an insurance card and get bled dry. Like most thing the government has involved itself in, the system is ****ed beyond recognition.

Worse, this gives ammunition to the idiots wanting universal healthcare as a right, because the current system is broken beyond repair. So they just want to scrap it and let the government to take over. The problem seems to large to get fixed any other way and of course they don't realize this would just make it worse.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Love this graph. Shows growth of healthcare and the administrative bloat that adds nothing.

bbva compass phone number

 

[spencer rifle]

I go to room and meet nurse (she’s cute)

I always get the huge ones. These people are medical professionals - don't they realize that being that overweight is bad for their health? Kind of makes me doubt their competence.

 

[hoosierdoc]

I always get the huge ones. These people are medical professionals - don't they realize that being that overweight is bad for their health? Kind of makes me doubt their competence.

Meh. Knowing what to do and doing it are totally different

 

[Leo]

I always get the huge ones. These people are medical professionals - don't they realize that being that overweight is bad for their health? Kind of makes me doubt their competence.

I know a crew of hospital respiratory therapists that smoke. They have to rotate sneaking out to puff a cigarette. It does not make sense.

 

[Ingomike]

I always get the huge ones. These people are medical professionals - don't they realize that being that overweight is bad for their health? Kind of makes me doubt their competence.

Oh yes, and every carpenter lives in a mansion they built…

 

[HoughMade]

We all realize being overweight is bad for our health. Being a medical professional doesn't have much to do with it. Eating whatever you want rather than being super disciplined is easy, convenient, and usually less expensive. I don't judge.

Let be amend that- I don't judge unless someone tells me its impossible for them to lose weight. I know first-hand that this is not true. However, once a person has gotten significantly overweight, it can be soul-crushing to try to reverse the trend. That, I thoroughly understand.

 

[Ingomike]

And the Genesis all of this was an unconstitutional law that was passed in WWII instituting wage control. so called benefits were not controlled so that is when employers started get into healthcare. At the time, the biggest hospital expense was linens. LOL

 

[HoughMade]

And the Genesis all of this was an unconstitutional law that was passed in WWII instituting wage control. so called benefits were not controlled so that is when employers started get into healthcare. At the time, the biggest hospital expense was linens. LOL

You are absolutely correct.

The "funny" thing is that some of us pay for our own health insurance without subsidies, then we hear people complain about the "employee portion" going up to something still a fraction of what we pay...and we chuckle...and die a little inside.

 

[phylodog]

You are absolutely correct.

The "funny" thing is that some of us pay for our own health insurance without subsidies, then we hear people complain about the "employee portion" going up to something still a fraction of what we pay...and we chuckle...and die a little inside.

I just got my letter about participating in COBRA since I got canned a few weeks back. $2900+/Mo premium lol. I'm not sure what they think I do for a living but it ain't enough to cover that! It's insane but hey, Obama made it a civil infraction not to buy health insurance, what a giant favor!!

 

[hoosierdoc]

We all realize being overweight is bad for our health. Being a medical professional doesn't have much to do with it. Eating whatever you want rather than being super disciplined is easy, convenient, and usually less expensive. I don't judge.

Let be amend that- I don't judge unless someone tells me its impossible for them to lose weight. I know first-hand that this is not true. However, once a person has gotten significantly overweight, it can be soul-crushing to try to reverse the trend. That, I thoroughly understand.

"Billy can't lose weight, his knees are terrible"

Oh, so he can't walk to get food then. So how does he maintain his morbid obesity?

"No, i mean he just can't exercise"

To keep his weight he eats about 5000 calories a day. If he ran for an hour he might burn 700 calories. The problem isn't lack of activity.

----

I like to ask people what would happen if they were stuck in a cave and no access to food and couldn't move.

"I'd lose weight"

Right....

 

[phylodog]

I like to ask people what would happen if they were stuck in a cave and no access to food and couldn't move.

"I'd lose weight"

Right....

Hell I'd pray for a swift and painless death lol

 

[HoughMade]

"Billy can't lose weight, his knees are terrible"

Oh, so he can't walk to get food then. So how does he maintain his morbid obesity?

"No, i mean he just can't exercise"

To keep his weight he eats about 5000 calories a day. If he ran for an hour he might burn 700 calories. The problem isn't lack of activity.

----

I like to ask people what would happen if they were stuck in a cave and no access to food and couldn't move.

"I'd lose weight"

Right....

The truth of the matter is that about 95% of losing weight is eating- exercise can be useful for general health, but it is not the path to weight loss. In other words, an obese person with a bad back and bad knees can lose weight and never really move that much.

Have I ever had to lose 200#...no, but I have had to lose close to 100# and have been very successful keeping it off for years. I know of which I speak.

 

[Ingomike]

You are absolutely correct.

The "funny" thing is that some of us pay for our own health insurance without subsidies, then we hear people complain about the "employee portion" going up to something still a fraction of what we pay...and we chuckle...and die a little inside.

Same here. A big part of this healthcare problem is because other people are paying for it, choosing what coverage others get, and making decisions that people should be making themselves.

I would support a law that made employer provided healthcare impossible and uncompetitive. Then I would make a standard health insurance write off for taxpayers. Then heath insurance companies would be required to simplify their plans so that the people can understand what is covered and what is not. And finally the providers charges should be the same for all and easily seen.

An MRI can be had for $299 to $600 in Indy from a reputable place, so doctors tell me. No reason the hospital should charge $3000-5000, but at a minimum it should be clearly published.

 

[foszoe]

I would be thrilled if we collected 20% of what we billed. Like, jumping for joy thrilled. Guess what would happen to our bills as percent collected improved? They would drop dramatically.

What sucks is they are trying to pass laws that force any doc working at a hospital to be in network with an insurer if the hopsital is. So guess what happens to my ability to negotiate with an insurer for fair payment for services when i am forced to sign whatever contract they give me? zero arbitration. Just sign or lose your job insurer will make better deal with hospital and then screw over the doc contract. So then the doc just gives up and tries to get hired by hospital with zero leverage.


And IU health is not your friend.

I went to a hospital for a supposedly free colonoscopy and got a 300$ bill for the anesthesiologist...

 

[Leo]

I went to a hospital for a supposedly free colonoscopy and got a 300$ bill for the anesthesiologist...

You would not have wanted that free procedure without the anesthesia.

 

[Leo]

An MRI can be had for $299 to $600 in Indy from a reputable place, so doctors tell me. No reason the hospital should charge $3000-5000, but at a minimum it should be clearly published.

I would add that everyone should pay the same for the same picture. And it you charged me $600 six months ago, don't tell me it is $4200 today.