# So who is paying the bills for all those who are hospitalized?



## Aneeda72 (Apr 1, 2020)

A year or so ago I was in the hospital for two and half weeks at a cost of over 200,000.  Lots of tests but on a regular ward, tube fed, and oxygen.

The bills are going to be huge.  The insurance companies are going to get rich.  But on an 80/20 plan, if I weren’t double insured, I’d owe 40,000 plus.  The unemployed, the homeless, the Medicare patients, and the employed patients who are hospitalized with this virus will owe an amount that they can never pay off.

The hospitals can’t handle writing it off.  How does this debt, for care, get paid?  Any ideals?


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## fmdog44 (Apr 1, 2020)

Good question!


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## terry123 (Apr 1, 2020)

The hospitals can turn the bills over to collection agencies.  If they cannot collect after a certain time they will let the hospital know and they will be able to write it off.  Its a process but I know because I worked with it for 15 years before retiring.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 1, 2020)

Thanks, I know the process, but hospitals will go broke under this usual plan.  We are talking about millions of dollars.


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## C'est Moi (Apr 1, 2020)

How can insurance companies "get rich" if they are paying record claims?


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 1, 2020)

It was my impression that hospitals would receive $100Billion dollars from the stimulus bill to help defray the cost of cornonavirus related treatments.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 1, 2020)

Because they overcharge.  7 dollars for an Advil-you can buy a bottle for that.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 1, 2020)

Aunt Bea said:


> It was my impression that hospitals would receive $100Billion dollars from the stimulus bill to help defray the cost of cornonavirus related treatments.


I don’t know how it is going to work which is why I asked the question.  Reporter tried to ask a question on this, but,  Vice President did not fully answer.


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## C'est Moi (Apr 1, 2020)

Aneeda72 said:


> Because they overcharge.  7 dollars for an Advil-you can buy a bottle for that.


Insurance doesn't "charge" for anything.  The medical facility/providers do.


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## C'est Moi (Apr 1, 2020)

Aunt Bea said:


> It was my impression that hospitals would receive $100Billion dollars from the stimulus bill to help defray the cost of cornonavirus related treatments.


And there you have it.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 1, 2020)

C'est Moi said:


> Insurance doesn't "charge" for anything.  The medical facility/providers do.


True, then they bill the insurance for what they charge.  80/20 plan 5000 paid first.


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## Keesha (Apr 1, 2020)

Our government.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 1, 2020)

Keesha said:


> Our government.


Yup, and where does the government get their money?  Taxes.  Who pays the taxes?  Us.  We, the people, will be paying for it all, including the stimulus bill.  IMO.


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## Keesha (Apr 1, 2020)

Aneeda72 said:


> Yup, and where does the government get their money?  Taxes.  Who pays the taxes?  Us.  We, the people, will be paying for it all, including the stimulus bill.  IMO.


Yes we pay taxes like everyone  but our medical services are covered by our federal government. 
I’m just answering the question.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 1, 2020)

Keesha said:


> Yes we pay taxes like everyone  but our medical services are covered by our federal government.
> I’m just answering the question.


I forgot where you are.


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## Gardenlover (Apr 1, 2020)

Insurance would pay $1 for meds, while on your own you pay over $1000
Talk about price gouging.


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## CarolfromTX (Apr 1, 2020)

Who's paying? The taxpayers, that's who.


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## C'est Moi (Apr 1, 2020)

.


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## Warrigal (Apr 1, 2020)

CarolfromTX said:


> Who's paying? The taxpayers, that's who.


Surely this is the best way to handle the costs. The costs are shared between the sick and the well and it can also be covered over a number of years or as long as is necessary.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 1, 2020)

Warrigal said:


> Surely this is the best way to handle the costs. The costs are shared between the sick and the well and it can also be covered over a number of years or as long as is necessary.


You would think, wouldn’t you, but probably not.  I won’t even pretend I know very much about how money works, but I know-this the US is in serious debt.  We just passed a 2 trillion dollar stimulus bill.  Where’d we get that money?

We printed it off.  It’s just paper.  You print enough of it and it becomes worthless, especially on the world market.  This has happened in a large number of countries.  While everyone celebrates the drop in oil prices that’s not necessarily a good thing.

My mother was alive in the Great Depression.  (Well, she’s still alive.)  Everything was really cheap, and as cheap as everything was people starved.  Millions were out of work.  They plowed crops under while people begged for food.

My/our great grandchildren will be paying this debt off.  This virus has changed the world forever.


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## Ruthanne (Apr 1, 2020)

There just may be a lot of bankruptcies declared by patients and insurance companies.  The clinic I go to does write off some things as they wrote off a CT scan for me and does write things off more often than most hospitals.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 2, 2020)

CNN announced 10 million people have applied for unemployment benefits-where are those taxes coming from to pay all these bills?

Will some of the states go broke-states like New York?


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 2, 2020)

My son J is out of his job because his restaurant closed.  He can’t file or get unemployment as he works under a special program for disabled people.  He gets the same pay as “normal” employee.

Most everyone is our state are required to work.  All our disabled who work won’t be counted in the unemployment numbers.  I imagine other states have similar programs.  All those employees won’t be counted.


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## Don M. (Apr 2, 2020)

Insurance companies will take a big hit as a result of this virus.  I fully expect health care insurance premiums to go up substantially next year as these companies try to recoup their losses.  State run Medicaid programs will run a massive deficit, and the day when Medicare reaches insolvency will be hastened.  The Federal govt, AND State governments will experience a major deficit, which may well result in the need to increase taxes.  

These unforeseen costs will result in the National Debt rising substantially, and create a future monetary crisis.  

If there is Any good thing about this epidemic, it may be that our nation, And people, may Finally be induced to look at the health care systems in other nations, and compare them to our "For Profit" system, and begin to move towards a Universal System.  Sure, taxes would go up to support such a system, but the overall costs to the majority of taxpayers would most likely be lower.


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## Aneeda72 (Apr 2, 2020)

Don M. said:


> Insurance companies will take a big hit as a result of this virus.  I fully expect health care insurance premiums to go up substantially next year as these companies try to recoup their losses.  State run Medicaid programs will run a massive deficit, and the day when Medicare reaches insolvency will be hastened.  The Federal govt, AND State governments will experience a major deficit, which may well result in the need to increase taxes.
> 
> These unforeseen costs will result in the National Debt rising substantially, and create a future monetary crisis.
> 
> If there is Any good thing about this epidemic, it may be that our nation, And people, may Finally be induced to look at the health care systems in other nations, and compare them to our "For Profit" system, and begin to move towards a Universal System.  Sure, taxes would go up to support such a system, but the overall costs to the majority of taxpayers would most likely be lower.


First, people have to get their jobs back.  How long will that take as we all sink deeper and deeper.


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