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Health care bills?

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
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Nov 3, 2009
Messages
7,589
Now this is funny - by all estimates, I should not be able to deduct my health care expenses, but I am!
We are insured by a very good company, but unfortunately, the company doesn't accept the treatment my younger son needs as "justified" and doesn't pay for it.
Everyone's practice is closed so my internist keeps me and my older son on retainers.
The company wants us to do mail orders for 3 months otherwise it costs. For obvious reasons (handicapped child in house) I do not want to keep huge stock of meds in the house.
And don't even get me started on dental bills.

Do other PS-ers have hair-raising medical costs? How do you manage?
 

zhuzhu

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Mar 15, 2006
Messages
2,503
I don't really have a tons of medical bills to manage but dental bills get on my nerve. Even after insurance copay a simple crown on just ONE tooth will cost me $500. In America health care expenses have to be the most unexpected and largest "financial risk" to families. Something has better changed soon.
 

crown1

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Joined
Nov 22, 2006
Messages
1,682
please explain what it means, that practices are closed and an internist has you and your older son on retainer. i am unfamiliar with this. thanks!
 

PinkTower

Brilliant_Rock
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Mar 15, 2009
Messages
1,129
Crasru,
Do you mind my asking what country you live in? I live in the United States, and I thought our health care was expensive here, but I cannot imagine living in a country that everyone's practice was closed. Granted, for some specialties, I have to travel perhaps, 70 to 100 miles, and to a neighboring state at times, but at least the practices are not closed here--not yet, at least.
 

Arkteia

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Nov 3, 2009
Messages
7,589
Crown1 - When I moved to Seattle I started looking for an internist. I worked 73 miles from my home so it took me a while to get acquainted with my own colleagues. I asked one of them, which one of Seattle's internists he would recommend. He gave me several names, and I called these people, but all of them had closed their practices. There is a program, according to which you pay a doctor to admit/keep you in his practice. It is called "Partnership in Health". I use it, and so does my older son. You may use the doctor every month, or you may not come in years, but you just pay to stay in his practice. Luckily, our pediatrician's practice was not yet closed when my second son was born. Perhaps "retainer" was a wrong word but actually it is a retainer.

PinkTower- I live in the US, Seattle, and indeed, health care is good, but don't you see the trend? It takes months to see a new doctor, my Wednesdays are off but I would still come Wednesday evenings because people are very sick and can not wait two months for an intake. The premiums have skyrocketed this year, and now I don't even cringe when I hear that someone has a deductible of $1500 per family member. Recently I saw a patient whose copay for the visit was $ 65.00! Prescribing brand names when there are generics? Don't even get me started there.
 

crown1

Brilliant_Rock
Joined
Nov 22, 2006
Messages
1,682
thanks for clarifying.
 

movie zombie

Super_Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jan 20, 2005
Messages
11,879
there was another article just this past week that the #1 cause for filing as bankrupt remains medical bills.

my mother who is 85 has been given a med by her dr that costs $400 per month....and $95 is her copay per month. she's looking into generic.......

mz
 

brazen_irish_hussy

Ideal_Rock
Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
2,044
American has the worst health system in the world. We pay far more per person than any other country and yet lag well behind most other industrialized nations in health indicators. Sometimes it is worse than that. In rural areas in the south and on reservations, the health stats are lower than in Iran or Cuba. We are the only country where a good chunk of our hospitals are for profit and it shows. Add the employment based health insurance and it is a really sad situation. Consider that roughly 5-6 times as many vets die each year for lack of health care than die in the wars. Or read some of what Wendell Potter has to say. He was a senior exec with Cigna until a child died because although they actually found a downer liver, his company would not pay for it. So he left his cushy job to talk about what is actually going on.

I do not have health insurance. I am just out of range for medicare. The one through work is $75 a month and does not cover my meds or any hospital visits. The one through school is $1,000 a semester and does not cover my meds, because they are all for "pre existing conditions". Apparently being a woman and thus needing birth control is a pre existing condition. :-o And insurance just on our own is WAY too expensive for very little benefit. I have a friend who cannot leave the job she hates for a much better one because she has had cancer and if she leaves, no other insurance will cover her should she have a relapse.

My dad has some health problems and may have to go so far as getting dual citizenship to afford their medical bills. After he retires, he will not be able to afford the insurance, even though they are well off. Since all of his grandparents were born in Ireland, he is considering it so that he can use their health care. To give you an idea, his last surgery, which was covered, cost a total of over $33,000. If he had done it in Ireland, it would have been under $4,000 and the survivial/complication rate for this procedure is about the same for both countries. Now that is a screwed up health care system.
 

Arkteia

Ideal_Rock
Premium
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Messages
7,589
I know some people who went to Thailand to have surgeries that were not covered in the US. They said they got the best medical care and the cost was 4 times less than here!
There have been several class action suits against major insurance companies and, for sure, many more to come.
Another concerning problem is the situation with OBGYN's. As you have heard, many OBs leave their practices - lots of lawsuits, it is a high risk profession. One of my friend's insurance premiums were raised to 200,000.00 per year! Consequently, he practices only GYN now. Soon it will be hard to find anyone who'd want to deliver a baby.
 

gemgirl

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Feb 8, 2003
Messages
5,565
crasru said:
Now this is funny - by all estimates, I should not be able to deduct my health care expenses, but I am!
We are insured by a very good company, but unfortunately, the company doesn't accept the treatment my younger son needs as "justified" and doesn't pay for it.
Everyone's practice is closed so my internist keeps me and my older son on retainers.
The company wants us to do mail orders for 3 months otherwise it costs. For obvious reasons (handicapped child in house) I do not want to keep huge stock of meds in the house.
And don't even get me started on dental bills.

Do other PS-ers have hair-raising medical costs? How do you manage?



We do, or rather I do. My husband is self employed and we've paid over $1200.- per person, per month for medical insurance, and $50.- a month for dental insurance. We couldn't afford to insure the both of us anymore, so now only I'm insured. I do have good coverage with my choice of the best doctors and only a $5/$10 co-pay for all my scripts, but I still have about $1000 in co-pays to pay after my emergency a month ago. I keep getting little drips and drabs bills from everyone who touched me while I was in the hospital.

Dental insurance covered only about half of the cost of my $2000.- root canal and crown recently, and that is costing me around $800.- out of pocket. How do we manage? We just do somehow. I'm a good squirrel with money. I put a little aside every month for a rainy day and when it pours (like it did last month when I was admitted to the hospital as an emergency), the money is there or at least a good portion of it. I can't say I'm well prepared all the time.
 
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