• @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      31 year ago

      I have insurance. I went to urgent care when I was pretty sure I had the flu or COVID or something about a year ago (just slightly before COVID was declared “over.”) I paid my copay for doctors office visit, I was in there for about an hour, with roughly 40 minutes of that sitting in a room waiting for a doctor (in an empty clinic) and then had a flu test and a COVID test.

      They still sent me to collections for $350 for this visit. I pay a stupid amount for insurance, which my employer subsidizes, and I still can’t even get a fucking flu/COVID test apparently.

      For profit health insurance in America is evil. It is easily one of the most fucked up things about this country that we just absolutely ignore.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        This is part of the system, and spoilers, it’s still the fault of for-profit insurance. Why do doctors offices screw up? Because every insurance provider negotiates a different rate, what is covered, etc. This office is going to bill one provider $3,000 for an MRI, another provider $27, another one $2799, and another one nothing. And if you go an office over, it’s going to be a whole different set of numbers. And then repeat that for basically every procedure, visit type, etc.

        This is a decent part of the reason why Americans pay more than just about any other country for healthcare. We spend billions more per year on exclusively middle-men who are just there in the way of your doctor’s providing you care you need.