“The calculus of er charges” – An Investigative article by steve lopez
Posted date : Nov 6, 2017.
Dear bird talk,
la times April 1 page a2, investigative article by Steve Lopez, “the calculus of er charges” had some points of interest to us snowbirds. One that caught my attention was er billings being pegged at, or close to, insurance deductibles, in order to avoid scrutiny by the hMO. We previously carried a large-deductible policy – thru CSA – and I’m sure that with prior notification, Medipac would ensure that the billing was proper; however, there is always a possibility that some er care could occur where that prior notice was not given. The high deductible might then determine the hospital bill. So we’ll choose a low deductible from now on. There are many other points of interest in the article for interested readers, for example, user-pay bills being much higher than hMO for the same procedure.
Investigative article by steve lopez, “the calculus of er charges”.
Des ellard
Sechelt, bc
Response:
Ed: This letter and link are included here because they exemplify the enormous difficulties in dealing with the U.S. medical system and, indeed, any foreign medical system. Medipac has extensive experience in dealing with these complex relationships and we have a reputation with U.S. hospitals of paying our bills. We will get the very best price available, based on our databases and contracts, and then pass it on to you. One other key point is that Medipac pays 100% of your bill. We collect the deductible directly from you and the hospitals are usually unaware that there even is a deductible.
