[ilbegone]

Those kids may be too young and inexperienced to know exactly what they are talking about, but I wholeheartedly agree with this:

healthcare greed has got to go..

I had a blood workup done some years ago. The lab outfit billed me almost $500.00, then settled for my insurance company for $60.00.

Stretching a little farther back, I underwent an MRI procedure which at that time was billable for $1200.00, but the ultimate agreed payout was $250.00.

Often it may take months to see a specialist. One of those which treated me for a workers comp injury had the gall to charge a "new patient fee" for a subsequent non industrial injury, then expected me to make a more than 100 mile round trip the day before the surgery to pay a $300.00 co-payment in cash only - same day prior to surgery just wouldn't do.

Or consider "milking". Say you have a condition which requires minor in office surgery. First appointment, even though both you and the practitioner knows what's up, the doctor takes a biopsy when he could just as easily remove the whole thing. At the appointment two weeks later the doctor shares the biopsy results, then schedules another appointment for removal. At the third appointment, removal from injecting local anesthetic to cauterizing and stitching takes 15 minutes at the most. Then he wants to schedule bi weekly "assessment" appointments FOR THE REST OF YOUR FRIGGIN' LIFE.

Then there's refilling prescriptions. The doctor's office didn't want to make an in office appointment to renew my prescription, they persuaded me to have the pharmacy fax a request. Then the doctor charged a full office fee for returning a fax confirming the refill. How many faxes can a doctor send in an hour as opposed to processing patients in the same time period?

Of course the vendors and doctor owned surgical facilities take their ever increasing pound of flesh.

Coming full circle - it seems that by the time inflationary insurance premiums have been paid over the years it may be a wash to just pay the full inflationary uninsured fee schedule.

The dirty bastards have rigged the game from one end of the industry to the other.

It really does need to end.