I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Off-Topic => Off-Topic: Talk about anything you want. => Topic started by: PrimeTimer on February 01, 2020, 06:38:50 PM
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:rant;
Insurance companies and drug manufacturers...ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR EVER-LOVIN' MINDS?? I mean, WTF!
There is no shortage of sick or injured people. :pray; :stressed; :waiting; >:D :rant;
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Amen! I recently reviewed my Medicare Part C for 2019. My cost of care was over $1,000,000 for the year. This included 7 months of peritoneal dialysis billed at more than $3,000 per day (!) and transplant surgery. Mind you, I did the dialysis at home by myself - no nursing care needed after the initial training. Thank God I have good medical insurance, but who is reviewing these "costs"?
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You were looking at the asking price (I call it the visiting Arab rate) that almost nobody pays, and certainly not Medicare.
Your "cost" was probably not $1M+, but the billed amount was. Read the Medicare and your part C policy carefully and look a the "Paid" amount, not the "billed amount".
For example, a 100 pack of 10cc syringes with needle is about $30 +/-. For 100. Fresenius billed over $50 per needle, just for the supply when itemizing in center treatments. The insurance always listed that an $0 - included in another service, and Medicare never paid it - nor was I on the hook.
There is nursing care with PD. The home care RN at the clinic I used had about a dozen patients. She monitored their labs, coordinate care with them, worked with suppliers and the attending MD. etc. Assume it costs $96K/year for an RN (once you factor in health insurance, employers portion of SS, office space for him/her to work out of, etc.) and that works out to $8K/year for RN support alone.
Private insurance paid for my D at 10%-15% of the asking price, accepted as payment in full. Medicare paid well under 10%, also accepted as payment in full.
Insurance companies and drug manufacturers...ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR EVER-LOVIN' MINDS?? I mean, WTF!
Their mission is to maximize senior executive compensation, not take care of patients. The later is a byproduct. Even business school "theory" of how things should work states the mission is to maximize shareholder value. As an investor, hold on to you wallets when you hear a company you invest in start to talk about "stakeholders".
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It may get worse Comrade Trump is looking at cutting enormous amounts from Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to fill the one trillion dollar budget shortfall. This is the same problem that led to the 1990 and the 2007 economic collapses. A definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different outcomes.
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Vote accordingly, a vote for Bernie might be in your best interest..