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Iran says it's 'completely ready for war' after US official confirms it shot down American drone
In a major provocation, Iran shot down an unarmed and unmanned U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton drone while it was flying in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz Thursday, a U.S. official told ABC News.
The incident is sure to trigger serious discussions within the Trump administration about how to respond to a direct attack on a U.S. military asset that goes beyond recent attacks in the Middle East that the U.S. has blamed on Iran.
Gulf crisis: US confirms drone was shot down by Iranian missile
A US military surveillance drone has been shot down by Iranian forces while flying over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said the drone had violated Iranian airspace. But US military said it had been over international waters. IRGC commander-in-chief Maj-Gen Hossein Salami said the downing of the drone sent a "clear message to America" that Iran's borders were its "red line".
It comes at a time of escalating tension between the US and Iran. On Monday, the US defence department said it was deploying 1,000 extra troops to the region in response to "hostile behaviour" by Iranian forces. The US has also accused Iran of attacking two oil tankers with mines last Thursday just outside the Strait of Hormuz, in the Gulf of Oman. Iran rejects the allegation.
Previously: Two Oil Tankers Attacked, US Blames Iran
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @03:59PM (2 children)
My reality is my own experience.
1) I don't pay thousands of dollars to insurance companies every year, so have far larger savings/investments than I would otherwise
2) I don't waste more countless hours and stress arguing with them as they try to not pay what they promised
3) I go to whatever healthcare provided I choose
4) I pay prices that are far below the prices used to determine deductibles and co-pays.
All you have to do is check for yourself and do a little math, but you won't because you are a drone who does nothing until an authority figure tells you its ok.
Now, the only thing I would like from insurance is some really catastrophic insurance with deductible of like $100k for a couple hundred dollars a year. But that product doesn't seem to exist.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @05:15PM (1 child)
Yep. Keep believing that.
(All of this is about the US only). A provider who accepts insurance *must* take more from a self-pay than what the insurance companies pay them. Not what they -charge- but what they are -paid- by the insurance companies, because if their rates for self-pay drop below the contracted rates and the insurance company finds out the insurance company will demand repayment for the difference between the self-pay and contract rate. And they'll win it, because the point of insurance is that a provider accepts less than what they would accept from an uninsured patient in exchange for increased volume. The contracts are written that way. Can the provider get away with behavior that would break their contract if the insurer knew about it? Maybe. But not for many and not for long. The insurance system depends on that, the provider community as a whole can no longer survive without insurance, and the exceptions are few and far between (and some of them government subsidized).
The vast majority of providers do indeed have self-pay rates below their stated charge rates, but it is not cheaper than commercial insurance. You are right that if you know that and ask you'll pay less if you are self-pay than just taking the stated charge rate and paying it.
You certainly don't go to whatever provider you choose, because you'd be denied care at most providers if you're not willing to pay the provider's self-pay rates. Or, rather, if you're not willing to pay what the physician demands of you then you won't be accepted as a patient.
I work in the industry, so my math and knowledge are a little better than yours. I am not a drone, but I do understand how healthcare reimbursement in the United States works. I have seen plenty of people who believe just like you end up filing bankruptcy and losing most of their income because they thought they were special.
And we'll just wait to see what happens when you have that catastrophic event and you must have a surgery done or you die, or you need multiple complicated imaging studies done. Yes, there will still be discounts. But you'll still go broke. Catastrophic plans exist [healthcare.gov], and they exist outside of the Obamacare mandate. They aren't cheap as cheap as you want, though, because of a very simple part of economics: The insurance company cannot pay out more than they take in, or put another way their liabilities can never exceed their risks.
Anyway, like I said, enjoy your fantasy that you pay less than an insured does. Even if you do so today that doesn't guarantee what you'll pay tomorrow. Your physicians will keep laughing all the way to the bank, either way.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @05:48PM
You assume I would go to them for the same type of stuff you would...