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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: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @05:23PM (4 children)
Last year I needed an MRI. The lab charges $2,800 for the MRI, and I only have 50% coverage for this service through my insurance. But, since I had not yet met my $5,000 annual deductible I would be paying the entire $2,800.
I asked if there was a self pay option and was told that for those who did not have insurance the charge for the exact same MRI at the same facility was $700, but if paying in advance there was a 40% discount. I took back my paperwork and filled out a new form without my insurance information. I paid $420 in advance and had the MRI that morning.
I've had a similar experience with my ENT. They charge self pay clients less than those with insurance, and have a 45% discount for those paying cash at the time of service. Even with insurance it is cheaper for me to pay cash at almost every medical services provider that I visit.
I only have insurance because of the legal mandate. But at $650 p/m premium I am better off taking my chances without it and saving the $12,800 I spend on premiums and deductibles and using it for a legal defense fund if I ever get caught.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @05:50PM
Trump got rid of this. You don't need to pay any penalty any more for not giving thousands of dollars to scammers every year. This is the only undeniably positive thing Trump has done.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday June 20 2019, @09:34PM
Good lord, that is awful.
What a stupid way to run a country.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 20 2019, @10:15PM (1 child)
Maybe. What you haven't said is what the contractual discount from your insurer for the MRI would be. NO insurance, anywhere, pays $2,800 for any class of MRI even though an imaging center might well send a charge for that (or $5,000 come to that....). If the imaging facility was contracted to your insurance it is very likely that the insurance would have replied back to the facility that their $2,800 MRI charge would be reduced down to $400 and that's what you would have owed. (Up until your deductible is filled, and then you owe about $80 instead). That's about the common reimbursement for MRI's now, in the $350-$1,200 range depending on location and contrast administration.
One thing to understand: All providers have a singular base charge rate (a "chargemaster.") This amount is the amount they send to any insurance and any individual who doesn't ask for a discount. It has very little to do with how much the provider will actually be paid by any entity unless an uninsured person is stupid enough to just pay the bill. So no, they "charge" everybody the SAME amount for a given CPT code. Providers do not have multiple "charge amounts." What they DO have is multiple discount arrangements and will accept as a discount for that charge changes from insurer to insurer and to self-pay patients who ask for it.
But let's say what you say is true - I'm sure you are reporting the parts of the story you know correctly. Let's say that insurance discount would be $1,000 and the self-pay walk in pays only $420. All it will take is one person who is pissed off who finds out that someone else got that rate and one phone call to their insurer. Then the insurance company will be on the phone to the imaging center asking exactly how much their self-pay patients pay and requiring that provider to refund all money paid to them in excess of that amount plus the insurer will be paying only that much to them from then on. And the imaging center would do what all smart providers do: Set the self-pay discount to be 10% (or even $1) over what the highest insurance contract they have will pay.
And no, you're not in trouble and can't be in trouble for this. Unless you're a provider you won't "get caught" because you've done nothing wrong. Can there be stupid providers who don't understand how insurance works and offer sub-insurance rates to uninsured individuals? Yep! They can also get caught and be forced to repay the differential amount between what the insurance paid and what they charged a self-pay patient, or be booted out of the insurance network and then the provider won't make enough to survive. (Because the insurer absolutely relies on paying a provider less than what a self-pay patient would because that's the only way they survive).
Does it make sense for you to just save your money for a serious injury instead of pay for insurance? For many people, yes. However, consider that a back surgery can run over $50,000 just for the surgical procedure. An open heart surgery can run north of $100,000. Chemotherapy, don't even ask. Remain perfectly healthy and you might make it to that point. But there are enough folks that don't make it that this makes no sense at all. Wait long enough and your medical expenses *will* exceed your capabilities to pay them over the long run. And society has to not just look at the healthy person who can go 20 years without a sniffle, they have to look at the thousands of people needing surgeries and chemo and imaging and you name it.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 21 2019, @12:02AM
Just the lengths of your posts about insurance make me glad I don't have it...