Humorous interlude about health insurance…
I’m doing my best to prepare my weekly round up of the best of Revolution’s expert blogs… but it’s taking a little longer than usual, so here’s a funny little excerpt from a Dave Barry calendar to tide you over…
In the 1950s, medical paperwork was simple: The doctor gave you a bill. That was it. Whereas today, if you get involved with the medical care system in any way, you will spend the rest of your life wading through baffling statements from insurance companies. I speak with authority here. At some point in the past, some member of my family apparently received medical care, and now every day, rain or shine, my employer’s insurance company sends me at least one letter, comically titled, EXPLANATION OF BENEFITS. It’s covered with numbers indicating my in-network, out-of-pocket deductible; my out-of-network, nondeductible pocketable; my semi-pocketed, nonworkable, indestructible Donald Duckable, and so on. What am I supposed to DO with this information?
This post originally appeared on Dr. Val’s blog at RevolutionHealth.com.
Just had a hospital based joint injection and received the statement/bill–about 20 lines of mystery (involving vast sums) ending with a patient balance of $8.43! My PhD and considerable experience with numbers and financial statement analyses are of no help to me–it’s completely impenetrable. My understanding is that my health insurance was supposed to cover 100% on this one. Will I question the $8.43?–probably not, since it is more costly to spend the time doing that than to pay. If I billed that way in my business I would have no clients–but my clients have a choice about whether to choose me or not.
Not only the drug addict but its family is also affected by the disease of drug addiction. A drug addict becomes socially cut and this directly has effect on his family. Even his friends leave him and he becomes alone forever. So there is a need for addiction treatment so that he can live a happy life.