Can't afford health insurance, is it worth having anything in life?

[Marionnette]

It's been my experience that hospitals will only write off portions of bills for those without insurance. If you have insurance it's a sorry about your luck you owe us what's on the bill.

That would be because your insurance company has already negotiated a reduced fee with the hospital and other providers as a part of their contract with those providers.

If you've ever looked carefully at your explanation of benefits, you will see that the hospital billed the insurance company for their customary fee. The insurance company, in turn, pays the hospital the assigned amount that they have agreed to pay the hospital according to contract. The hospital agreed to "accept assignment" and cannot bill the patient for the difference.

OTOH a patient without insurance doesn't have a 3rd party negotiating fees with hospital. So the hospital bills that patient their customary fee. If the patient has difficulty paying, the hospital will negotiate a payment plan with the patient. Sometimes that payment plan also includes a reduction in the bill.

 

[mefordis]

Can they really take your home and your car if you owe medical bills?

 

[MSLRAC]

Can they really take your home and your car if you owe medical bills?

I can't speak for all states but in NC, they can not comes after your assets..they can't even garnish your wages. But each state has their own laws regarding medical debt.

 

[gracie1]

A good example of this was when I was coaching High School volleyball with a student with an obviously broken arm. I took her to the emergency room and even with the notarized permission form from her parents, they wouldn't treat her until they made phone contact with her parents. We were 3 hours from home, and sat in the emergency room with her crying in pain because her mom was outside working in the garden and didn't hear the phone ringing.

When I pushed them to treat her because there was no doubt the arm was broken, they wouldn't because she was "stable", and not in danger of dying.

With no insurance, who knows what they might or might not do.... just splint it and send us on our way?

This doesn't have anything to do with the health insurance. This has to do with consent forms. You can't just take a minor into the hospital to be treated without the parental consent.

 

[Colleen27]

Wouldn't the premiums be less, also, if he stopped?

His doing this for his family would be a great gift to you all.

Maybe eventually, but I wouldn't count on it. It seems like every time we look for better quotes the "look back" period on tobacco use has gotten longer. There was a time when they asked about "last 12 months" or "last 3 years" but we got a couple of quotes last year where I had to disclose my former habit because it had been <10 years since I quit. I wouldn't be surprised to see "Have you ever used tobacco?" as a screener question in the not-too-distant future.

 

[Jey12]

I think the statement in bold really depends on the hospital. Financial services has already been in touch with us about DD's accident and sent us out a financial packet that we had to fill out and send back with our tax return from last year and current pay stubs. They said based on our income, a certain amount up to all of it will be written off. That balance will be after 3 different insurances pay out.

Exactly it depends on state laws and the particular hospital and their funding. In my experience I received no reduction in the amount owed due to having insurance.

That would be because your insurance company has already negotiated a reduced fee with the hospital and other providers as a part of their contract with those providers.

If you've ever looked carefully at your explanation of benefits, you will see that the hospital billed the insurance company for their customary fee. The insurance company, in turn, pays the hospital the assigned amount that they have agreed to pay the hospital according to contract. The hospital agreed to "accept assignment" and cannot bill the patient for the difference.

OTOH a patient without insurance doesn't have a 3rd party negotiating fees with hospital. So the hospital bills that patient their customary fee. If the patient has difficulty paying, the hospital will negotiate a payment plan with the patient. Sometimes that payment plan also includes a reduction in the bill.

Trust me I've done more than look carefully at my EOB with my insurance, I can quote the whole book pretty much word for word on command. In my area many medical services cannot be billed at different prices for those that have insurance vs. those that don't.

We did fertility treatments for a short period of time and my insurance would not cover any of it, and I knew this going in so it wasn't a surprise. I was informed the prices billed for treatments were the same as someone who did have insurance coverage. They weren't allowed to discount services for those without insurance, because it is in their contract with the insurance companies to not do so. Say a particular service fee was $500. If you have insurance the insurance company is billed the $500 and they pay their portion of it, then the patient is responsible for the remainder plus possibly a copay. If you don't have insurance you are billed for the exact same amount of $500 for the same service but your responsibility is going to be 100% of that amount. Now with the example of fertility treatments they are considered elective so no reduction or write off was allowed for non insurance patients at all. I wasn't happy about it, but again we knew all of this going in.

Using an example of two identical emergency surgeries of one patient with and one without insurance... both patients would be billed the same amount originally and the patient with insurance would then be responsible for their portion after insurance paid. Where the person without insurance would be billed for the full amount. The hospital can and will reduce the amount owed to them of the non insured patient only, and often it turns out to be less owed than the person with insurance by the time of the final bill. Of course this is just my experience in my area and with our local hospital. All areas and hospitals have different contracts with insurance companies on how they bill. I don't even want to get into the mess things can become if the hospital codes something wrong when billing insurance.

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

This doesn't have anything to do with the health insurance. This has to do with consent forms. You can't just take a minor into the hospital to be treated without the parental consent.

I'm not sure if this is entirely true. I think it depends on the situation.

My DD (2 at the time) broke her arm while under the care of my mom when DH and I were out the country.

She took her to the city Childrens Hospital. My mom had my daughters insurance card and DD was treated.
My mom tried to contact me but our cells phones did not work where we were.

 

[gracie1]

I know that the hospital where I live has the financial aid where you fill out the paperwork, send in copies of your tax returns and paycheck stubs. They will then determine how much can be written off. However, the amount that does not get written off they will then put you on a payment plan. Just make sure they know that you have other medical bills and make copies of those amounts, or they will think they are the only ones owed.