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from the meanwhile-don't-get-sick-or-hurt dept.
The bipartisan plan to end surprise ER bills, explained:
The policy proposal, which you can read here, essentially bars out-of-network doctors from billing patients directly for their care. Instead, they would have to seek payment from the insurance plan. This would mean that in the cases above, the out-of-network doctors couldn't send those big bills to the patients, who'd be all set after paying their emergency room copays.
The doctors would instead have to work with patients' insurance, which would pay the greater of the following two amounts:
- The median in-network rate negotiated by health plans
- 125 percent of the average amount paid to similar providers in the same geographic area
The Senate proposal would also require out-of-network doctors and hospitals to tell patients that they are out of network once their condition has stabilized, and give them the opportunity to transfer to an in-network facility.
[...] it's pretty good policy too! That's the general feedback I got from Zack Cooper, an associate professor at Yale University, who, along with his colleague Fiona Scott Morton, has done a lot of pioneering research to uncover how frequently and where these surprise bills happen.
"It is fantastic that they're doing something, and that it's bipartisan," he says. "It's one of those areas where we can agree what is happening now is not good, and this gets us 80 percent of the way to fixing it."
[...] "My concern here is that in-network rates are already quite high, so we're cementing that into the system," he says. "The current world gives emergency physicians tremendous power in negotiating higher in-network rates."
See also: Emergency room visit costs: what's the price of care?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 08 2018, @10:41PM (2 children)
we have socialized medicament TODAY. You nit.
VA is socialized medicine
Military is socialized medicine.
Medicare us socialized medicine
...
There quacks in there just is in real life. So do not bang your frying pans to make noise.
With single payer for example means "single" rate everywhere. There maybe to add-ons for NY for cost of housing. Or rural area getting a bonus - like paying off your student loans. outside of base rates. But that would to help defuse the medical to ALL, versus just Mayo or Chicago.
Look to Kaiser Healthcare, setup in WWI to help keep ship builders to build ships in Richmond Calif. It is defined and codified in US LAW even. It has great power in keeping costs low, since it is getting paid a flat amount take covers all functions the population that has signed up need. Even including $15,000 boot for 6'10" with an amputation. No rate increase it is part of the plan.
Hell look at your auto insurance... you are at fault for $500,000 in a accident. YOu have nevered paid $500,000 in the system... but you will take that out. Staying with company will have minor up tick in how much you are paying... but to recovery $500,000. Health ins should be not different. Equal spread of the cost over ALL. For ALL to work - ALL must in in the plan. So as in Auto/home/Life insurance comapny spread the risk to other insurance companies to handle spikes. Healthcare can be thought of same.
Now get of my lawn and play in traffic!
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @12:01AM
Good thing single payer fell out of favor. It's all about Medicare for all these days.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 09 2018, @10:07AM
20-30 years ago, I would have agreed with you. The rates for kaiser have steadily increased while the quality of care of kaiser has steadily decreased for the past 2.5-3 decades.
And I say this as someone who had excellent pediatric care from them for most of my first decade of life, including a lifesaving operation by a specialist who even a big name research hospital was impressed by the surgical precision of.
Today, Kaiser is a pale imitation of what it once was.