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Comment by taxidump | Hacker News Reader

Has a family member go to a private emergency room in Austin TX. When asking the ER if they accepted his insurance they said yes, many times. After the visit he recieved an $8000 bill. When confronted, the business stated they accepted the patients insurance however the insurance company would not accept the ER. Settled the $8000 bill for $300. Pretty sketchy.

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It's not even a surprise for me anymore when this happens (3-4 times in my life). They make more money this way and I figure a ton of people either just default on the debt or eat the expense because they don't understand.

The worst part is that they will keep you on the phone sometimes for upwards of 8+ hours to settle this sorta crap - I am lucky to have a job that I can keep a phone on hold via speaker for hours and hours at a time.

Protip for anyone reading this - they put a "hey Mr. X, you still with us?" human bit spaced out by around 45 minutes-ish. Don't miss it or be on mute because they'll drop the call in about 2s if you don't immediately answer effectively making you start ALL over again.

The quick way to fix this is to open a complaint with your state’s insurance regulatory body, which begins a paper trail and starts a clock ticking for your insurance provider.

Always Be Creating A Paper Trail

Yep I agree. But here's the thing we all have lives and they're BANKING on that for this sort of abuse of the system.

I think a lot of people A) don't know about the state insurance regulatory body; and B) just want the nightmare to be over as soon as possible, so calling yet another person up is more time involved.

Every time it's happened to me it's staying on hold for an outrageous amount of time then saying something along the lines of, "I'm going to review this with my lawyer" when someone gets on the phone. It's the same with any bully - the moment they know you potentially have some teeth they leave you alone to go pick on a weaker target =(

I also have zero confidence in government employees so there's that too - I would just expect my case to end up on someone's desk indefinitely to never get addressed. Everything in this country is going towards anti-citizen and anti-consumer - hard not to be really bitter about it =(

My answer is single payer in the long term, and consumer protections in the short term. Sorry you don't trust government; citizens are who decide how government runs. Private insurance isn't accountable to anyone.

In a democracy the lowest common denominator of citizens determines policy. They are easily manipulated by moneyed interests and always insanely uninformed (not because they are stupid but because it is impossible to know everything). Knee-jerk, short-term policy is a given.

Private insurance companies are held accountable by the customer's ability to switch plans.

I understand that billing is an incredibly frustrating issue, but forcing people to participate in one master healthcare system would be devastating to people battling poorly understood diseases. People in this situation desperately need choice in their healthcare options.

The choice to have different private insurance companies deny them treatment?

> Sorry you don't trust government; citizens are who decide how government runs.

Yeah... That's really not how it works here in the US, especially when it comes to healthcare. Corporate interests decide how the government runs healthcare.

I've maxed out my FEC contributions to Bernie Sanders' campaign, have made significant donations to a PAC that supports Medicare For All, and am working towards running for office. I'm doing my part. I just ask that others make an attempt to do what they can.

Progress is a function of effort, not time. Things do not get better simply because a second hand tics by.

I'm also donating to Bernie's campaign, and... none of those other things because I'm starting a business hah... But I get it - we've gotta push forward with trying to be part of the solution.

The problem is we can play by the rules all we want, but it's just not effective at all if the guy at the top can blatantly break the law in the public eye and get away with it laughing. We've got an entire party successfully subverting just about everything I was sold in my highschool government classes as a "functioning democracy".

Political activism and starting a business are very similar :) Head down, eyes forward on the prize. Don't waste time on people dragging you down. Long road ahead. Best of luck with your startup, I wish you much success.

Note: If your insurance is provided through your employer, and your employer is large-ish (more than a few hundred employees) then they will very likely be a self-funded health plan. These are not state regulated health insurance products. You'll get a response back telling you your plan is regulated through the Department of Labor under ERISA law, which allows the companies to pretty much get away with murder.

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