stahrgazer wrote:PLAYER57832 wrote:
Ironically, I am now taking issue with the most recent modifications, precisely because it seems the government options are being watered down to nothing, though I don't know how much is official and how much of this is just talk. However, apparently, the insurance companies and such (NOT doctors, nurses) have made sure that any government option will, as now, be the policy for the people who are really sick or poor. So, hopes for a national system or a government plan that might actually save money is disappearing.
Agreed; when fixes are made that do not fix the real problems, they're not fixes at all. You do realize now, I'm sure, that the insurance companies shooting for those changes does lend credence to the ideas that insurance companies are whacking our healthcare into out of control costs for their own benefit. Have you ever had to consider suing an insurance company that wouldn't pay out? I have; unfortunately, no attorney would take even a clear-cut case, their responses were all in the lines of, "The insurance company has too many attorneys on retainer to drag this out for years; you can't afford the costs, and they'd bankrupt me if I took it on contingency."
Uh.. you are preaching to the choir here. Lawsuits are often not even an option, because you usually have to agree to "arbitration". Further, some of the worst abuses happen before payout. Doctors are "gatekeepers". If the insurance company refuses to pre-authorize you for anythig but an emergency, you can forget even getting care.
I have spent 2 years fighting objections to EVERY claim except my well pregnancy visits. Worse, hospitals, tired of dealing with bills, have not taken the "wonderful" step of hiring bill collectors. So, now not only do you have to deal with recovering, try to fight the hospital and doctors over errors, but you get these wonderful people who see no problem with calling you 5 times in an hour telling you basically you have no rights, pay up or they will keep harassing you until you do. And THAT for a bill really did not have to pay! (and no, I never got anything close to an apology from anyone).