One more reason to be happy not to live in the US. Even if surgeons have to replace my head five times in a row i will not be able to create a bill of 200,000$. We pay more taxes than in the US but many other things are almost for free. So in the end we might even be better off. I will never have to hide for medical bills, that's for sure.
The only reason our medical bills are so high is totally due to the influx of immigrants without insurance, and the premiums for insurance that doctors have to pay to protect themselves from suit-happy lawyers. It has really come to the point where hospitals and doctors don't expect you to pay what they charge, but they are hoping that some can pay to offset those that don't.
No, it's because doctors, health care companies et/all are making themselves handsomely rich. Get rid of the HMO's and you've have less of a problem.
birdman, Sue the hospital/doctor/etc. for falsification of services performed and/or overcharging. Within EVERY extensive medical bill there are 'charges' that cannot be verified. 1) ...."Hospital bills are extremely problematicâand not just because they are high and can be very difficult to understand. They are problematic because they are, most of the time, wrong."... http://www.illinoislegalaid.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dsp_content&contentID=1422 2) ..."Ninety percent of hospital bills have errors of some kind, estimates Mary Jane Stull, president of the Patient's Advocate, a South Bend, Ind., firm paid by befuddled patients to intercede on their behalf."... http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/articles/070715/23navbill.b.htm 3): http://www.cnomy.com/'translating_y...t=2&vid=1184686040_1X02X1301731371&rpt=1&kt=1 4): http://www.billadvocates.com/ I hope this helps. Tom
I wonder what would happen to this country if everyone just cancelled their health insurance policy and refused to pay their doctors and hospitals for procedures performed. I think there would be a national catastrophe of epic proportions. Doctors and hospitals would go out of business and treatments would just stop. I hope that never happens, but it seems like each year there are more and more people without insurance. There are about 1 in 6 people in this country currently without health insurance. If anyone hasn't seen the movie Sicko yet, I'd highly recommend to go see it.
What country are you in? Taxes in the U.S. are not low at all. Federal taxes in the U.S. range from 10-35%, plus social security taxes of 7.65% (15.3% if you are self-employed), plus most states have state income taxes, which in my state range from 1-6%. http://www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/ind_inc.html http://www.smbiz.com/sbrl001.html
I guess you heard this from your insurance companies. Do you know how much time doctor's offices and hospitals wasted to check your insurance before offer you any treatment? Do you think we can use these time to do more proper things like seeing a few more patients?
Getting rid of HMOs won't reduce the price of health care to the point anyone can afford it. Have you ever gone to your doctor and paid out of pocket? My doctor gives me a $25 discount for paying cash/check instead of using insurance. It's still over $100 per visit and even more for a specialist. That's for a 10 minute visit.