Sunday, March 10, 2013

Daily Kos: Something we need to realize about health insurance

Daily Kos: Something we need to realize about health insurance:


Something we need to realize about health insurance

has  become very apparent to me as the statements and bills from the illness and treatment of my wife have begun to arrive at our house.
I could show this clearly from many of them, but since it was 6 weeks ago this evening, just about this time, that we got the new she would not be leaving the hospital after an MRI we thought had been merely preparatory for referral to a pain management specialist, let me focus on the hospital bill.
Let me note that as a federal employee Leaves on the Current has a superb insurance plance through Blue Cross / Blue Shield, which because it has arranged with Virginia Hospital Center to be a preferred provider the hospital agrees to be bound by what the insurance provider agrees should be paid, plus an additional copay by the insured, in this case of $250.00
The insurer pai 12, 651,32.   That means the total paid was 12901.32.   Even that sum would hit most families very hard.
But what if the rest of the bill fell to the patient and family?
The total bill was 33, 556.30.   This is more than the median annual salary/wages fo