Private Hospitals Suck

The SPIDERLEGS Conundrum: April 22, 2012:

'via Blog this'

"But the insurance companies aren’t the only ones targeting patients for profits.  The providers of care are right there in the middle of the mix with the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical companies.  Everyone wants their bite of the cash to be made, and the patients are caught in the middle of this epic struggle of financial giants in the U.S. economy.

Back to the two stories playing out in my own family as I write this since our family with all its glory and flaws seems pretty representative of people across the nation.  My 18-year old, not-yet-graduated from high school grandson was required to sign a guarantee of payment for his biopsy procedure before being treated, and I discovered one of my providers is creatively “unbundling” services provided in one appointment in order to collect a co-payment from me for each segment of my clinic visits.

"Oh, it’s all legal all right.  It just isn’t ethical or just."

For my young grandson, taking on this financial obligation before he is even out of high school is shocking and frightening.  He was born (along with his twin brother) in late November, so began school when he was just short of six years old.  He is preparing to graduate from high school in May, right on time.  He lives at home with his parents and siblings, and he is a really great, young man.  But a couple months ago, he started losing weight, and he found a lump just underneath his ribs.  The imaging studies show that the mass needs to be biopsied.  His mom, my daughter, made the appointment for his biopsy.  We were all upset and frightened.  But imagine our horror when not only was our daughter required to sign papers promising to pay the $1,000 deductible but our grandson also was asked to step up to the desk and sign his own set of promissory paperwork.  It’s all legal, they said.  He is 18, after all.  They both signed their own sets of documents. His biopsy is tomorrow and now he fears not just the results of the tests but also being dunned by the hospital where he’ll have his procedure."