🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <VARADHAN.94Aug8075148@aludra.usc.edu> varadhan@aludra.usc.edu (Kannan Varadhan) writes:
>
>Last July, my wife was involved in an accident, and we had to get her
>looked at, at the emergency ward of the nearby hospital.
>
>Subsequently, various bills from the lab tests, radiology etc, arrived
>us directly, which we got paid through our insurance agents.  The main
>hospital billing dept. read the forms wrong, sent bills to wrong
>addresses etc., and then sent them onto bill collectors.
........
.........

>over 2 months back, and the bill collector is still hounding me.
>

>PS:  In case you want to know which hospital it is, Brotman medical
>center in Culver City.  I would strongly recommend people avoid the
>place, even if you are on your deathbed...they seem quite capable of
>hounding you to the grave, if not afterwards...

As are all private hospitals, I might add.

This is why I wouldn't go back to fee-for-service medicine for all the
tea in China. I've been a Kaiser member for over 15 years and have
only rarely even considered the possibility of going to a private
doctor, and actually did so exactly once, for a chiropractor to
adjust my stiff neck (and she wanted me to come back every two weeks
forever. Right. Sure.)

I was in a motorcycle accident 11 years ago. When the ambulance came,
they asked where I wanted them to take me. There were a dozen
private hospitals closer than Kaiser Harbor City, but Harbor City is
where I went. After an ambulance ride, stitching up of my chin,
putting a cast on my arm, skull X-rays, etc., etc., the bill came
to the massive sum of: $0 (yeh, that's zero).

And that's also what I paid for 1) ER repair of a broken thumb in 1980, 
2) a tonsillectomy in 1981, 3) hernia surgery in 1987, 
4) laparoscopic gall bladder surgery in 1990, 5) broken
elbow in 1992, 6)  plastic surgery to remove a lipoma on my forehead in
1994. All $0.00!

Fee-for-service medicine is OK if you're a Hollywood celebrity and
money is clearly no object. Otherwise it's a ticket to the poorhouse.