Rant (healthcare costs)

Not going to get into an internet argument, but apparently you guys have no idea.
The dentist's are schooled in the USA, and the town is Algodones, and there's nothing wrong with it, but that's ok.
Don’t take it personally...leaving the country opens up too many risks reward issues not worth it
 
Can you imagine being murdered getting a cavity fixed?.... because you were trying to save money?
Health care, dental, plastic surgery needs to be done in the USA.. you take your life in your own hands leaving the country

True story:
When I was a young cop I had a partner who knew how to stretch a buck.
He would get his hair cut at a hair cutting school for a fraction of what it would cost in a regular place.
We were both young single guys at the time and some of the girls at the school were pretty nice looking. Not a bad place to get a date or two.
My partner was also a horn dog.
He convinced me to go for a haircut with him once.
Along with an inexpensive haircut by an attractive young lady, I got her phone number and we went out a couple of times.
The downside was that with the quality of the haircut I got it was a little tough to convince any other attractive young ladies to go out with me so I had to follow up with a real haircut.
 
When I said Medicare maybe I meant Medicaid? Referring to those on welfare, not retirees. I have no issue with retirees that paid into it all their lives getting it.
 
Approximately $1500/mo for an HSA compatible plan with about a 13K deductible. Then funding to my HSA account.

Had a bad cold end of last year, went to one of those urgent care centers. Their marketing materials state approx $110 for a visit without insurance. Great I have insurance so we'll submit and it will probably be less. Bill and EOB come in - of course the office billed alot more and the insurance allows for $280 and the office wants it even though my insurance is not paying?!? WTF - talk about a money grab from the doctors - this is going to result in an interesting call to their billing offices.

I have spoken with a few Doctors from a business perspective. The offices must bill the insurance companies at rates that are far above what is agreed and then they write down the difference. Why to they do that? If they happen to bill less then the agreed then that's all they will get. Most people don't care or review their EOBs unless they owe so the Doctors try to bill for everything possible. In some cases they bill twice - once for a consultation and then for a diagnostic. If they ask you a question you can bet they will bill for it. When the put the little meter on your finger to read blood O2 levels - yep thats a separate test. Most people have no clue what goes on.

By the way since ACA (aka Obamacare) I lost my insurance (CareConnect on LI NY tossed it in because of rate equalization forcing them to pay for others losses - I guess they figured out that if you are not allowed to make money even when you have a profit why try) and I lost my doctor (changes practices and of course was no longer in network).

-Kevin
 
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Even better: Find a dental school and have the dental work done by students. They need the practice, are supervised by a real dentist and some schools give you a big price break.
No way, I got my haircut at a school once, got butchered, took months to grow out.

My daughter is a dental hygienist. At school when they needed guinea pigs to practice the shots on I made sure I was busy with other things.:eek:
 
No way, I got my haircut at a school once, got butchered, took months to grow out.

My daughter is a dental hygienist. At school when they needed guinea pigs to practice the shots on I made sure I was busy with other things.:eek:

Hope you at least got a few dates out of it too!
 
Approximately $1500/mo or an HSA compatible plan with about a 13K deductible. Then funding to my HSA account.

Had a bad cold end of last year, went to one of those urgent care centers. Their marketing materials state approx $110 for a visit without insurance. Great I have insurance so we'll submit and it will probably be less. Bill and EOB come in - of course the office billed alot more and the insurance allows for $280 and the office wants it even though my insurance is not paying?!? WTF - talk about a money grab from the doctors - this is going to result in an interesting call to their billing offices.

I have spoken with a few Doctors from a business perspective. The offices must bill the insurance companies at rates that are far above what is agreed and then they write down the difference. Why to they do that? If they happen to bill less then the agreed then that's all they will get. Most people don't care or review their EOBs unless they owe so the Doctors try to bill for everything possible. In some cases they bill twice - once for a consultation and then for a diagnostic. If they ask you a question you can bet they will bill for it. When the put the little meter on your finger to read blood O2 levels - yep thats a separate test. Most people have no clue what goes on.

By the way since ACA (aka Obamacare) I lost my insurance (CareConnect on LI NY tossed it in because of rate equalization forcing them to pay for others losses - I guess they figured out that if you are not allowed to make money even when you have a profit why try) and I lost my doctor (changes practices and of course was no longer in network).

-Kevin

Those “Doc in a Box” immediate care places are a ripoff.
My health insurance company discouraged you from going to them by having higher copays when you went there for the reasons you stated. They’d much rather you go to your own doctor where they don’t bill for a body mass index and eye test when you go in for flu symptoms.
Same thing with those “free” flu shots at places like CVS and Walgreens. My insurance company wouldn’t cover them at all. They prefer that you get the flu shots at the doctors office because it cost them less.
 
When I said Medicare maybe I meant Medicaid? Referring to those on welfare, not retirees. I have no issue with retirees that paid into it all their lives getting it.

Ahhh.,
Yes! Big difference.
 
Those “Doc in a Box” immediate care places are a ripoff.
My health insurance company discouraged you from going to them by having higher copays when you went there for the reasons you stated. They’d much rather you go to your own doctor where they don’t bill for a body mass index and eye test when you go in for flu symptoms.
Same thing with those “free” flu shots at places like CVS and Walgreens. My insurance company wouldn’t cover them at all. They prefer that you get the flu shots at the doctors office because it cost them less.

Thats funny, I've got UHC/Oxford and prescriptions are not covered by CVS but Flu Shots are - go figure. Also many times when you go to the Doctors for a Flu shot they also try billing for an office visit (aka consult) on top of the shot. Then they bill for the shot dose and the injection. I believe it all a big scam - Docs trying to screw the Insurance companies and the Insurance companies screwing the Doctors. No wonder it's so bad.

-Kevin
 
This is a couple years old and it hasn’t gone down.... this is what free health care does to your income. And in Canada health care isn’t free... you still need an insurance policy for what the government doesn’t cover.

A20783CF-5FFD-4900-AFBB-69700362A869.jpeg
 
I gotta say though, I don't like insurance costs, but during my(and wfe) limited experience with health issues, my elderly Aunt that I help, my brother that passed due to melanoma, I can't complain about the service and timeliness. You need something...you got it, right now from people who seem interested in you and actually seem to give a shit.
 
I gotta say though, I don't like insurance costs, but during my(and wfe) limited experience with health issues, my elderly Aunt that I help, my brother that passed due to melanoma, I can't complain about the service and timeliness. You need something...you got it, right now from people who seem interested in you and actually seem to give a shit.

I don't like the costs either but it is a necessity and you want to have good insurance.

One thing I know is that giving it over to the government will not make it better but it will make it more expensive and less efficient. Anyone doubt this look at the paperwork bureaucracies that governments have built and the multiple levels of inefficiencies that build over time. When the government runs something as a sole supplier not only do they get to run as a government backed monopoly, they also have the power to charge whatever they want, give only what they want and if you don't want it they have the power to force you to take and if you don't want to pay for it they have the power to take it from you or imprison you for not.

Does not sound like the freedom we were founded on to me - every time you choose to delegate something private to the government to take care of you give up one of your freedoms. Governments should be limited to the scope of the services they provide.

-Kevin
 
We have Aetna at our company. After several years, Obamacare forced us off our plan -- the stopped offering it. They have put us on a "self insured" plan. We had some big claims last year, but it survived. I offer a few options to employees. Right now it's about $440 for a $3700 deductible hsa plan. You can pay about $75 for a $2500 deductible plan.

The hardest part is getting employees to understand total compensation. We pick up 100% of the base plan. I keep toying with the idea of "raising" salaries and charging a pct. for the plan because the guy around the corner "pays more."
 
Those “Doc in a Box” immediate care places are a ripoff.
My health insurance company discouraged you from going to them by having higher copays when you went there for the reasons you stated. They’d much rather you go to your own doctor where they don’t bill for a body mass index and eye test when you go in for flu symptoms.
Same thing with those “free” flu shots at places like CVS and Walgreens. My insurance company wouldn’t cover them at all. They prefer that you get the flu shots at the doctors office because it cost them less.
My young doctor started his own clinic - for patients and non-patients. His office is open from 7:30-10:30 am for walk ins. Cough, cold, flu type stuff. Simply costs an office visit.
 
Urgent care facilities....

My daughter once was uninsured and ended up with abdominal pain. (Pre Obamacare). I took her to an urgent care facility of a hospital thinking it would be cheaper than an emergency room. She saw the doctor, peed in a cup, they dipped a strip, and said she had a bladder infection. She got a prescription and a $1,700 bill a few days later.
 
Part A is automatic. So is part B. Part B, the doctors, is not really optional. But you can choose to improve upon part B through a third party private company (part C) instead, but you can not elect to have no doctor coverage.
You can either just have regular Part B administered by the government, or you can elect to get a “Medicare Advantage (part C) ” plan instead through a private carrier like the ones that advertise on TV.
Load it up to suit your needs and pay the price.
But one way or the other paying at least the 144.60 is not optional. When those companies on TV tell you that you can get blah, blah, blah... for “little or no premuim”. The “little or no premium” is in addition to the 144.60 each person must pay one way or the other.
I just went through this last year with friends of ours, a married couple who both turned 65, they bought a place in South Carolina and thought since they got a “Medicare Advantage (part C)” type plan down there for under $100.00 a month each they were saving money. Then they found out that the amount they were paying was in addition to the amount (135.00 at the time, now 144.60) everyone must pay monthly one way or the other.
The kicker! They’re basically snowbirds and the plan they pay extra for down there has a bunch of network doctors participating down there, not a bad deal at all, but the doctors they’ve been using for years up here are “out of network”.
Hopefully they’ll only get sick down there.........
Bottom Line! Medicare is not free!

https://www.aarp.org/retirement/social-security/questions-answers/medicare-enroll-collecting-ss/

or this:

https://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/medicare-costs-at-a-glance

Here are the instructions for opting out of Part B:
https://www.medicare.gov/sign-up-change-plans/how-do-i-get-parts-a-b/should-i-get-parts-a-b

The sign up process does make you think it's mandatory but I believe that is because almost all who opted out in the past came to regret it and ultimately signed up (and paid a penalty). IMO, it's a great price for the value received. The only good reason for opting out is if an individual is still working and has company-provided insurance for a lower price.
 
Urgent care facilities....

My daughter once was uninsured and ended up with abdominal pain. (Pre Obamacare). I took her to an urgent care facility of a hospital thinking it would be cheaper than an emergency room. She saw the doctor, peed in a cup, they dipped a strip, and said she had a bladder infection. She got a prescription and a $1,700 bill a few days later.
That is "cheaper" than an emergency room. Would have been $3500.
 
Don't forget all of those getting "free healthcare" in this country illegally. We pay for that too.

Dental insurance and going to Mexico. Mexico has very little of the regulation the USA does. OSHA, HIPPA, FDA, etc all drive up our expenses. Nor do you know what kind of materials, and where they come from that the dentists are using in your mouth. I have patients who have gone to Mexico and have seen some of the results. Some OK, some horrible. I've had patients receive crowns that are actually stainless steel instead of noble metal. In the US we mainly use stainless steel crowns on children since they will lose those teeth. There could be a reason they can't get a license in the US. I have a patient who got multiple implants and crowns in Mexico. He bragged about the cheap cost. His medical bill after 6 weeks in the ICU from the massive infection he got was well over $100,000. I had to remove all of the implants he had done, and now he has no recourse for a lawsuit for the malpractice. Yes, it was malpractice. The implants were improperly placed, into the sinuses, (verified by me) and the infection control procedures sound nonexistent (according to him).

Dental Insurance is not the same as medical insurance. Medical: you pay the deductible and Ins pays the rest above X dollars. Dental: Pays up to x amount and you pay the rest. Typically the max dental is 1500-2500$. Dental insurance was developed as an attraction for employers. If you need $20,000 worth of medical care, you pay the deductible (like $5,000) and Ins pays the rest. If you need 20k worth of dental care, Ins is paying up to the $2,000 max, and you are paying the rest. Medical problems are sometimes unavoidable. You cant help having diabetes for instance. But, you can control gum disease and decay in most instances. Insurance companies figure most dental problems are your fault.
 
That is "cheaper" than an emergency room. Would have been $3500.
I know... but it was ridiculous for the services provided. She literally only wrinkled the paper on the table, used a paper cup and the test strip in the 5 minutes she was seen.
 

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