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Sticker Shock: Investigating the High Cost of Simple Blood Tests

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2...e-blood-tests/

Insurance coverages vary by health care facility.
Dollar amounts for 10 blood tests:

Facility........................Quest............. ... Hospital
W/O Insurance........... ~1600.................. ~4000
With Insurance.............. 260..................... 1850

Running on Empty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VBzWHTMHvs#at=23

Economist Walter Williams proposed that all insurance be eliminated, with a common pool for catastrophic. In that way, the costs would be forced to come down to a level that could be afforded by the average person. The reason that doctors and hospitals can charge high fees is because the insurance companies have deeper pockets, and thus, the cost rises to the upper limit of affordability for a corporation, which is far above the upper level of affordability of a human person.

I now have insurance and just waiting. I am healthy now. But have been put in the hospital twice for a long duration each time. And if history repeats it self ( i pray that it doesn't ) i will be again.

I agree with ya that it doesnt make sense to cover someone who has maxed out a policy before the age of 4 then used state insurance until they got dropped. But to try and get state insurance i had to file for food stamps, disability, etc. I can work so i am not disabled and through work i earn enough money to pay for food. But i am sorry that just one med costs 4k a month. I want to be a part of the society not a damn leech just sucking stuff in. i want to contribute. So for 4 years i did not have insurance and i was very fortunate that i did not get sick. Then i was finally able to apply for a govt insurance and have been on it for 2 months.

The major part they would not see me because the way they explained to me is. That insurance would pay for the donor and if anything bad happened.

My doctor that has been seeing me since i was little. She is now 80 or so and i dont think she even charged me when i did not have insurance only the hospital charges. She was one of the doctors that founded the disease that i have. She does it for the well being of the kids. Yes i still go to a childrens hospital and will continue as long as she is working there.

Originally Posted by klee7013

The surgeon wouldn't even see me if i did not have insurance.

Everyone should have insurance for catastrophes. Catastrophic coverage is relatively cheap.

There is nothing wrong with having insurance. But there is no need for comprehensive insurance plans that cover day-to-day health maintenance. In all other areas of life, insurance is mainly for catastrophes, not maintenance.

You wouldn't ask your car insurance company to pay for oil changes, would you? If we all did this, we would soon be putting the most expensive oil in our cars and getting charged an extra $100 or more for shop supplies. The minimum price for an oil change would be around $200, not $20.

What if there was a garage in town that charged $100 for every shop rag it used? What if it was so expensive to take your car there that the garage refused to list its prices? What if the garage refused to take customers who didn't have the proper insurance? Would you take your car there? How long could such a garage stay in business?

What if the government stepped in and insisted that you have the kind of insurance you needed to do business at such a place? Would you continue to drive a car?

I sympathize with your plight. I hope you find a donor. But there are doctors who will treat you without insurance. You just have to find them.

For example, look at Grand Junction, Colorado:
http://www.latimes.com/health/grandjunction/

I you move now and get treated, great.

In the future, the system will collapse, because the promises of "Obamacare" can never be kept into the future. There are too few people paying, and too many with pre-existing conditions.

Ask yourself, how would it work if you went out in your car, crashed it, and THEN decided that you would get insurance, so you could file a claim? That's the effect of covering people with pre-existing conditions. They have already had the crash, so they don't have a history of paying premiums without making claims, which is how any sane insurance plan MUST work.

great information space racer.

I am just sitting on the sideline waiting and hoping i get a bone marrow transplant donor.

Couldn't get approved by a normal insurance company because of my past. so i got approved by a government run insurance agency so at least now next time i take my trip to Duke to see my doctor i can visit with a surgeon too and get put on the list so if there ever is a match i can get the procedure done.
The surgeon wouldn't even see me if i did not have insurance.

Hospitals Earn More For Mistakes Than For Flawless Surgeries

http://www.popsci.com/science/articl...less-surgeries

Cash-Only Docs: A Promising Advancement in Consumer-Driven Health Care

http://blog.heritage.org/2010/02/17/...n-health-care/

Oklahoma doctors offer cheap health care.

http://reason.com/archives/2012/11/1...-fi/singlepage

"Reason obtained a bill for a procedure that Dr. Sigmon performed at Integris in October 2010 called a 'complex bilateral sinus procedure,' which helps patients with chronic nasal infections. The bill, which is strictly for the hospital itself and doesn't include Sigmon's or the anesthesiologist's fees, totaled $33,505. When Sigmon performs the same procedure at the Surgery Center, the all-inclusive price is $5,885."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uPdkhMVdMQ#