Text 12322, 59 rader
Skriven 2010-11-18 17:34:10 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
  Kommentar till text 12295 av Richard Webb (1:116/901.0)
Ärende: Credit/debit
====================
Replying to a message of Richard Webb to Bob Ackley:

 RW> HI Bob,

 RW> On Thu 2038-Nov-18 06:58, Bob Ackley (1:300/3) wrote to Roy Witt:

 RW> <snip>

 BA>> Medicare - and presumably the other big insurors - generally
 BA>> sits on bills for at least three months before it deigns to look at
 BA>> them.  Then it disallows every single charge it figures it can get
 BA>> away with and writes itself a hefty discount on the balance.  IMO
 BA>> insurors - specifically including Medicare - should be required to
 BA>> pay the bill, in full, within 30 days; no discounts except, maybe, a
 BA>> ten percent discount if paid within ten days - that's a normal
 BA>> discount in the business world. That alone would rediue the cost of
 BA>> health care in this country by as much as half - but it doesn't
 BA>> require an enormous bureaucracy and a bunch of federal mandates to
 BA>> implement it.  It would also eliminate a lot of paperwork, cost
 BA>> shifting, fraud and miscellaneous hassles - which is why it won't
 BA>> happen.

 RW> <Rotflmao!!!>

 RW> Another thing that insurers used to do, back in the early
 RW> '80's anyway when I was more acquainted with the industry
 RW> from the sales side and other places is this:

 RW> If in a locale, let's say Omaha/cOuncil bLuffs, most
 RW> providers charge $x for a procedure, but your care provider
 RW> charge $x+50.  Even though they submit the bill to your
 RW> insurance provider for $x+50 they'll only get reimbursed for $x minus
 RW> your copay of course.  sO, when "reasonable and customary" is
 RW> determined consistently for a locale providers often bump the price
 RW> to get "reasonable and customary increased.

Funny thing you brought up Omaha/Council Bluffs.  FYI, exactly the same
diagnosis, treated with exactly the same procedure and/or exactly the same
medication is reimbursed at a higher rate in Omaha than in Council Bluffs, 
which is IN the Omaha metro area and is separated from Omaha by about a 
hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty yards of filthy brown water.  But Medicare's
reimbursement rate for Nebraska is higher than the rate for Iowa.  Idiot
bureaucrats
and congresscrooks.

While I'm ranting about Medicare - which I was forced to enroll in (if I didn't
my
military Tricare coverage would end) - is going to reduce its reimbursement
rates 
to providers by about 23 percent next month.  Really makes providers want to
sign
up for that program, doesn't it - which is undoubtedly why primary care
providers
are quietly droppping out of the Medicare system (by not accepting any new
Medicare
patients).,

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)