BritGuyTN

OK - I'm actually shaking with anger right now - I just got two healthcare bills.

One was for treatment for an injured hand. My insurance company BXBS basically rejected my whole claim despite it being completely legit. I just had to spend 20 mins on the phone with them straightening it out.

the second was for a trip to the emergency room - bill to me of $1300 - total bill $4500

I was there for 3 F**KING HOURS

the whole cost of this in the UK would have been ZERO in charges

and before some tosser tells me you pay for it in taxes in the UK, I suggest you look at your payslip and work out the percentage of your salary that medicare and social security make up - its cunningly similar to the UK.

basically in this country you pay the same proportion of tax for healthcare as in the UK but you can't use it unless you're retired or destitute - what a load of bollocks

What is a good over the counter medication for blood pressure? I'm not joking

fatbrit

Big stick useful for beating spineless insurance companies available here.

BritGuyTN

thank you for that link

ladylisa

What a nightmare - actually its all our nightmares. :scared: So when you say you sorted it out do you mean they relented in the end?

Englishmum

I can see why you are so annoyed, I would be too.

Back in England, my mother-in-law has been in hospital in Essex for approx 3 weeks. She is nearly 80 and sadly her absent-mindedness has developed into Alzheimer's. Her health took a turn for the worse when she went to visit her sister in Plymouth just over a month ago. She would go into the kitchen to make a pot of tea, then five minutes later would say that she didn't know how to make it.

The doctors have been assessing her and asking questions like; "Who is the Prime Minister"? She didn't know. "What season is it"? She had to pause and then asked 'Is it Winter'? She said she was hoping to go home soon. The doctors asked her where her home was, and she said it's above the fish and chip shop. The poor dear last lived there just as WWII was breaking out. She didn't know that we lived in the US and had to be prompted as to whom my husband's twin brother was when he visited. She can barely recognise her daughter whom has been looking in on her every day, to the detriment of her own health.

My mother-in-law is clearly unable to return to her home (in a warden-controlled flat with a day-room) and will stay on the geriatric ward until a high-dependency place can be found for her.

I wonder what would have happened to her over here in the US? I doubt that she could stay in an American hospital as long as she has been staying in an NHS hospital in the UK.

There is no way I want to remain living in the US if I was old and/or widowed.

BritGuyTN

they are re-evaluating the charge for the hand injury - god knows what the new bill will be

Pimpbot

Probably more when they add phone charges to talk to you about the bill.

ladylisa

So that proves its a con. How can you re-evaluate a charge. The cost should be fixed surely. Makes you wonder if they have a scale on what to charge for each bodily item that ranges on ones ability to pay!

dunroving

I'm sorry to hear about your mum - family problems are the Expats' biggest nightmare, I think. It must be difficult for you to be so far away at this time.

Like you said, though, being ill in the US is a disastrous situation. I think medical bills were cited as the number one cause of bankruptcies here (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

Ironic that in the olden days using bloodsucking leeches was the medical treatment of choice. Things have come full circle in the US since then. The only difference is that the leeches now have diplomas on their walls and charge $500 an hour.

Englishmum

Going slightly off topic, I was chatting with an expat who works with British Airways here in NJ. She has dual-nationality for the UK and US and has just successfully sponsored her elderly mother to come and live with her in the US, as she is getting very frail and needs someone to keep an eye on her.

At the US Embassy in London the consular staff there said that the lady was the oldest person they can ever remember interviewing. She is 93 years old!

However......the premium for her healthcare is $2000 per month! :scared:

fatbrit

Some useful info about hospital billing tricks here.

paddingtongreen

it's not a con. it's free enterprise. I have Blue Cross, and the determinations come in showing that the doctor/hospital bill a huge amount but agree to take a small amount as a member. If you don't have the insurance with it's negotiated rates, they will try for the phoney regular charge. You can't do it if you go to the emergency room, but try to negotiate for Blue Cross rates beforehand.

If you can possibly swing it, it is better to have health insurance, even if it is minimal, just to get the lower costs.

fatbrit

Free enterprise needs to be open and accountable. This form of free enterpise is a Mafia-style con operation.

ImHere

One word: bollox.

My wife works in health care here and I can assure you it most certainly is a scam...only difference is its legalised thanks to massive kickbacks, payoffs and palm greasing. Bills are pretty much made up. Very often treatment is carried out that isnt needed for no reason other than to bill the patient/insurance company and hospitals are very much run for the benefit of the shareholders and not the patients. It is infact the very worst kind of scam in that it preys on the old, infirm, poor and ill...the whole gamut of society that are often in no position to argue about it!

anotherlimey

So what you're trying to say is, if you don't have insurance you won't get the contract rates?