Playing devil's advocate here for a minute. I am in Atlanta where our main hospital is on the brink of collapse since it treats more people than can pay. The gov't funding can't even begin to cover the amount of people that need help, since most of them are uninsured and come through the emergency room. How can any business run in the red forever? Many people don't even consider medical debts "real" debt, so they will never pay on their own. Any other business would prioritze customers who can pay over customers who can't. /devil off
This is yet another example of how we need a health care solution accessible to everyone. Otherwise, the uninsured continue to wait in an emergency room for 15 hours with a fever to get sub par care while those with insurance get "rated" to see who gets the only open bed in the hospital. We continue to ignore our health as a nation until we have to treat the chronically ill for thousands of dollars when a few hundred in preventative would have worked. I am not getting political, since I have no idea how this would work, but unless we fix this, MED FICO will become the next buzz number to monitor. I can already hear the horror stories of your Med Fico being part of the triage process, the lower your score the longer you wait to be seen.
Ism you make some good points. BUT we can't neglect people who can't afford it, and that is why any hospital I've been in says nobody will be turned away. I would never sign a consent form for a hospital to pull a hard on me.
A lot of people blow off the medical bills and they are actually the easiest to take care of. If you think about it, what if they said that they would not treat you because you did not pay, just like your credit card is not honored if you overuse and don't pay. What if the hospitals and doctors worked the same way???????????????????
Yes.....'we' do NEED a good Health Care System. Especially for those that are 'low income.' I've never seen 'my' hospital turn down someone who din't have Medical insurance, however.
I don't think that any hospital can legally turn some one away that is in need of medical care, I think they would have one heck of a lawsuit on their hands if they did.
No joking. We have a $500 deduct. plus 20%...I am paying on med. bills from two years ago. It really is all kind of sad though. My mom went to a er due to extremely high blood pressure causing her nose bleeds and all kind of stuff. She had no medical and they told her because of this they couldn't admit her. A few hours later she was back and worse than ever. That time they had to release her within three days. I think you could kill a person doing this.
I think this is sad, I am fortunate enough to work for an employer with good medical coverage, my husband has good coverage too. We both have each other on each others insurance just in case. We pay for it, but we have it.
I think I did make a post about this one. Why should Dr's or hospitals be allowed to do this..pull you credit report? That isn't going to change your 'sickness'. I really don't think ANY hospital can refuse to treat you...bad credit or not.
I guess they could if your condition was not life threatening, at least until they get a good lawsuit for refusing treatment against them. I guess that is just the way things are.
I KINDA think its a crock. If people were just always running to the hospitol for any old thing I would be understanding but if your really ill that is an entirely different thing. I think this will begin a whole new set of amlpractice suits which in the end will effect people worse with more rises to health care costs.
It would really be bad if hospitals start checking our credit report before starting any treatment. At least hospitals should not be allowed to pull up the credit report because if an emergency patient needs to be admitted and if his credit history is not favorable, then the situation would be pathetic.
I agree Mary. I understand hospitols can really go into the red but I also see how people can not afford health care. If my hubby company didn't offer it I don't know how we would fit in another high monthly payment.
Ya know.....this entire 'hospital looking at CR' thing remeinds me of a movie called 'John Q' ( I think it was called). Denzel Washington played in this movie. The 'senario' was that his son ( in the movie) needed a heart. 'John' ( played by Denzel) was having some kind of trouble with his Medical Insurance and it wouldn't pay for the heart transplant that his son needed. The hospital wouldn't even put his son on the 'waiting list' without so much money being paid on his 'bill.' To make a long story short, 'John' was willing to kill himself to give his son a heart. (OMG...I cried 'FOREVER'!!) Those of you, that have seen this movie, I think understand my 'point of view.'
I agree with sdchargers on the point that if even if a person has a medical insurance he may face problem getting money during emergency. Now if at that critical moment the hospitals admit and treat patient on the basis of credit report, it will really be a big blunder.
I would think that it would set them up for a law suit, if they deny you medical treatment because of credit and something serious happens then they can be liable for the damage of not recieving medical care.
I don't know how they can even attempt to do this.
I think that the hospitals can be sued if they deny admission to a patient. But what if patients are admitted but not taken adequate care of only because of bad credit history.
I don't think that you can be denied medical care if it is an emergency, I would thing that this would be cause for a law suit, serious issue or not. I would think that they would be putting themselves out there as liable if they used credit reports to determine health care.
I agree. The cost of medical is so outragoues. Especially for the uninsured. I was in a car wreck about a year ago and used up all my auto coverage and had to start using my personal insurance. I got an explanation of benefits statement in the mail the other day. The total bill for 1 surgery was over $2300 and I have to keep going for them evry 4-6 weeks. My insurance company paid $145 and the rest was listed as unbillable to member. I called my health company and asked how they could except such a little amount. They informed me since they were in network this is what they had to excet with out coming after me or my future settlement for reimbursement. If this was offered to people with out health coverage they sure would be struggling with payments and bills that take years to pay off. Kind of makes a person sick.
Hospitals actually do not want credit report in case of emergency situations, but they ask for credit reports only when the patient is planning to stay for a planned checkup. This is because they need the patient to pay the cost for the medical care they are about to provide.
That sounds like it would be a lot better especially if it is a true emergency. People can't be waiting around while someone checks their credit. I can see if it was an elective surgury bot not if it is needed to save a persons life.
I think they would be setting themselves up to the max for a lawsuit if they do deny somebody medical care over credit, thank you for letting us know this george.
As far as i know, hospitals ask for credit reports from patients who visit there for regular medical checkup and may deny non emergency medical care to patients with poor credit history. This is because they try to judge the ability, and willingness of the patient to pay the medical bills from the credit report. But they will never deny admission to patients in emergency cases even if the person has a bad credit history. They will even not ask for your credit report in emergency situations.
I agree scott, but denying care can be a lawsuit and there are many lawyers that would be willing to take the case on, especially if it is a big hospital.
Hi goodnatured
I too think that denying health care can lead to a lawsuit. But there are many hospitals that demand credit report before admitting a patient who has come just for a check up. But normally in emergency situations, they do not generally ask for credit reports.
I see both sides of it I guess, they have to pay their employees and for equipment too. I guess I just don't think about it because I have good health insurance.
Many people in the united states don't have good insurance or any insurance at all, so they use the emergency room when they need medical attention. A lot of these bills go unpaid and the hospital loses out on that billing for their time.
I really do understand that but health care has become an outrageous cost especially to those who have to purchase it theirselves. Places like highmark will offer huge discounts to companies but for the uninsured the pay the full bill. Recently when sent a bill from my insurance company on my trigger point injections tehy paid $856 on a bill that I would have paid $2400 for had I no insurance. That is a considerable amount. Something def. needs done to even up the scales folr the little guy. Mine is excellent coverage but a still feel for the others.
That is the reason why I think going for insurance is necessary, as it saves much money when we get hospitalized during emergencies. Else we end up paying high hospital bills. For making these payments we then take access to pay day loans which comes with high interest rates and pushes us in debt circle.
I agree Anthony but some of these policies costs people upwqrds of 2-300 dollars a month. That really is hard to afford these days. It seems they never offer the working middle class any breaks. I would like to see more come their way.
Wouldn't that be nice, but who would have to pay for it, they would point that burden to the tax payer also. becareful what you wish for unless you can afford to pay more taxes to pick up the tab.
Very true. I have a bro who can't seem to quit knocking people up. Bad thing especially since almost all of them are on welfare or at least getting some type of assistance from them. It is really annoying and I just get pissed.
Does he pay support? You would think that these girls would care enough to be on birth control, I mean if the guy already has one or two kids that he is not living with and taking care of, he can keep it in his pants around me.
Gosh he has like 4 kids. the one was adopted and he onlt has to catch up back support owed to welfare. The other two are on welfare and he pays $400 soem odd dollars for the one and the youngest he pays $300 something. The oldest really gets the bad end of the deal because his mom isn't on welfare and when they take his economic stimulus or tax rebate it always goes to the welfare ones first and the oldest sees nothing at all since she isn't supported by a gov. agency. He was back alot n arrears with her and since she never seen anything from the back support anyway she made a deal with him that if he gave her $500 in cash and $100 a month she would drop everything back support and all. He did and they work things out between them so the oldest doesn't get screwed.
Sounds like a lot of people are being careless and messing around without the birth control, I guess if he is gonna play he has to pay. Why don't he use birth control (condoms), it would be more cost effective for him too.
GN He spends alot of time with two of his children. The first one Austin and the other is Destiny. One child was adopted by her grandparents and they are one of those impossible families to deal with. The family tried to stay involved but thay were REALLY wacko people. One minute they would stop in with her and you could visit and the next thi ng they were sending cards and gifts back that we would purchase. I just let it go. I can't be around people like that.
The last and most recent I have never seen except for pics. My sis and I started establishing a relationship when he was born but she started to think we were the first commonwelth bank of america and would ask for the family to come up with money for diapers and milk. She was on WIC and welfare so we knew she was just playing us. Plus we all have our awn bills and kids. Nobody needed an extra responsibility.
ERB. Tried to tell him to keep it covered...
Wouldn't have to worry about that now. All hgis shopuld be well past SOL except for his verizon phones from a couple years ago. I hate when these placwes harass you.
Playing devil's advocate here for a minute. I am in Atlanta where our main hospital is on the brink of collapse since it treats more people than can pay. The gov't funding can't even begin to cover the amount of people that need help, since most of them are uninsured and come through the emergency room. How can any business run in the red forever? Many people don't even consider medical debts "real" debt, so they will never pay on their own. Any other business would prioritze customers who can pay over customers who can't. /devil off
This is yet another example of how we need a health care solution accessible to everyone. Otherwise, the uninsured continue to wait in an emergency room for 15 hours with a fever to get sub par care while those with insurance get "rated" to see who gets the only open bed in the hospital. We continue to ignore our health as a nation until we have to treat the chronically ill for thousands of dollars when a few hundred in preventative would have worked. I am not getting political, since I have no idea how this would work, but unless we fix this, MED FICO will become the next buzz number to monitor. I can already hear the horror stories of your Med Fico being part of the triage process, the lower your score the longer you wait to be seen.
Ism you make some good points. BUT we can't neglect people who can't afford it, and that is why any hospital I've been in says nobody will be turned away. I would never sign a consent form for a hospital to pull a hard on me.
A lot of people blow off the medical bills and they are actually the easiest to take care of. If you think about it, what if they said that they would not treat you because you did not pay, just like your credit card is not honored if you overuse and don't pay. What if the hospitals and doctors worked the same way???????????????????
medical
Yes.....'we' do NEED a good Health Care System. Especially for those that are 'low income.' I've never seen 'my' hospital turn down someone who din't have Medical insurance, however.
I don't think that any hospital can legally turn some one away that is in need of medical care, I think they would have one heck of a lawsuit on their hands if they did.
Health care is very important even for people who think they are the fittest.
yep, you just never know what will come up, accidents, yearly physical, etc, things can get really expensive.
No joking. We have a $500 deduct. plus 20%...I am paying on med. bills from two years ago. It really is all kind of sad though. My mom went to a er due to extremely high blood pressure causing her nose bleeds and all kind of stuff. She had no medical and they told her because of this they couldn't admit her. A few hours later she was back and worse than ever. That time they had to release her within three days. I think you could kill a person doing this.
I think this is sad, I am fortunate enough to work for an employer with good medical coverage, my husband has good coverage too. We both have each other on each others insurance just in case. We pay for it, but we have it.
credit report
I think I did make a post about this one. Why should Dr's or hospitals be allowed to do this..pull you credit report? That isn't going to change your 'sickness'. I really don't think ANY hospital can refuse to treat you...bad credit or not.
I had no idea about this. Is it so that the providers would check out credit report to treat us?
credit
I live in a small town. If hospitals ARE going to start this 'process', the hospital, here, hasn't started it yet. I hope they don't.
I guess they could if your condition was not life threatening, at least until they get a good lawsuit for refusing treatment against them. I guess that is just the way things are.
I KINDA think its a crock. If people were just always running to the hospitol for any old thing I would be understanding but if your really ill that is an entirely different thing. I think this will begin a whole new set of amlpractice suits which in the end will effect people worse with more rises to health care costs.
It would really be bad if hospitals start checking our credit report before starting any treatment. At least hospitals should not be allowed to pull up the credit report because if an emergency patient needs to be admitted and if his credit history is not favorable, then the situation would be pathetic.
I agree Mary. I understand hospitols can really go into the red but I also see how people can not afford health care. If my hubby company didn't offer it I don't know how we would fit in another high monthly payment.
medical
Ya know.....this entire 'hospital looking at CR' thing remeinds me of a movie called 'John Q' ( I think it was called). Denzel Washington played in this movie. The 'senario' was that his son ( in the movie) needed a heart. 'John' ( played by Denzel) was having some kind of trouble with his Medical Insurance and it wouldn't pay for the heart transplant that his son needed. The hospital wouldn't even put his son on the 'waiting list' without so much money being paid on his 'bill.' To make a long story short, 'John' was willing to kill himself to give his son a heart. (OMG...I cried 'FOREVER'!!) Those of you, that have seen this movie, I think understand my 'point of view.'
I agree with sdchargers on the point that if even if a person has a medical insurance he may face problem getting money during emergency. Now if at that critical moment the hospitals admit and treat patient on the basis of credit report, it will really be a big blunder.
insurance
Seems like the 'medical system says, " if you have GOOD credit, you're 'first in line'. Sure doesn't seem fair, does it?
I would think that it would set them up for a law suit, if they deny you medical treatment because of credit and something serious happens then they can be liable for the damage of not recieving medical care.
I don't know how they can even attempt to do this.
I think that the hospitals can be sued if they deny admission to a patient. But what if patients are admitted but not taken adequate care of only because of bad credit history.
I don't think that you can be denied medical care if it is an emergency, I would thing that this would be cause for a law suit, serious issue or not. I would think that they would be putting themselves out there as liable if they used credit reports to determine health care.
I agree. The cost of medical is so outragoues. Especially for the uninsured. I was in a car wreck about a year ago and used up all my auto coverage and had to start using my personal insurance. I got an explanation of benefits statement in the mail the other day. The total bill for 1 surgery was over $2300 and I have to keep going for them evry 4-6 weeks. My insurance company paid $145 and the rest was listed as unbillable to member. I called my health company and asked how they could except such a little amount. They informed me since they were in network this is what they had to excet with out coming after me or my future settlement for reimbursement. If this was offered to people with out health coverage they sure would be struggling with payments and bills that take years to pay off. Kind of makes a person sick.
Hospitals actually do not want credit report in case of emergency situations, but they ask for credit reports only when the patient is planning to stay for a planned checkup. This is because they need the patient to pay the cost for the medical care they are about to provide.
That sounds like it would be a lot better especially if it is a true emergency. People can't be waiting around while someone checks their credit. I can see if it was an elective surgury bot not if it is needed to save a persons life.
I think they would be setting themselves up to the max for a lawsuit if they do deny somebody medical care over credit, thank you for letting us know this george.
As far as i know, hospitals ask for credit reports from patients who visit there for regular medical checkup and may deny non emergency medical care to patients with poor credit history. This is because they try to judge the ability, and willingness of the patient to pay the medical bills from the credit report. But they will never deny admission to patients in emergency cases even if the person has a bad credit history. They will even not ask for your credit report in emergency situations.
I agree scott, but denying care can be a lawsuit and there are many lawyers that would be willing to take the case on, especially if it is a big hospital.
Hi goodnatured
I too think that denying health care can lead to a lawsuit. But there are many hospitals that demand credit report before admitting a patient who has come just for a check up. But normally in emergency situations, they do not generally ask for credit reports.
I see both sides of it I guess, they have to pay their employees and for equipment too. I guess I just don't think about it because I have good health insurance.
Many people in the united states don't have good insurance or any insurance at all, so they use the emergency room when they need medical attention. A lot of these bills go unpaid and the hospital loses out on that billing for their time.
I really do understand that but health care has become an outrageous cost especially to those who have to purchase it theirselves. Places like highmark will offer huge discounts to companies but for the uninsured the pay the full bill. Recently when sent a bill from my insurance company on my trigger point injections tehy paid $856 on a bill that I would have paid $2400 for had I no insurance. That is a considerable amount. Something def. needs done to even up the scales folr the little guy. Mine is excellent coverage but a still feel for the others.
Isn't that nuts, for those who can afford it, the insurance company it is cheaper, you would think that they would give the uninsured one a break.
That is the reason why I think going for insurance is necessary, as it saves much money when we get hospitalized during emergencies. Else we end up paying high hospital bills. For making these payments we then take access to pay day loans which comes with high interest rates and pushes us in debt circle.
I agree Anthony but some of these policies costs people upwqrds of 2-300 dollars a month. That really is hard to afford these days. It seems they never offer the working middle class any breaks. I would like to see more come their way.
Wouldn't that be nice, but who would have to pay for it, they would point that burden to the tax payer also. becareful what you wish for unless you can afford to pay more taxes to pick up the tab.
Very true. I have a bro who can't seem to quit knocking people up. Bad thing especially since almost all of them are on welfare or at least getting some type of assistance from them. It is really annoying and I just get pissed.
Does he pay support? You would think that these girls would care enough to be on birth control, I mean if the guy already has one or two kids that he is not living with and taking care of, he can keep it in his pants around me.
Gosh he has like 4 kids. the one was adopted and he onlt has to catch up back support owed to welfare. The other two are on welfare and he pays $400 soem odd dollars for the one and the youngest he pays $300 something. The oldest really gets the bad end of the deal because his mom isn't on welfare and when they take his economic stimulus or tax rebate it always goes to the welfare ones first and the oldest sees nothing at all since she isn't supported by a gov. agency. He was back alot n arrears with her and since she never seen anything from the back support anyway she made a deal with him that if he gave her $500 in cash and $100 a month she would drop everything back support and all. He did and they work things out between them so the oldest doesn't get screwed.
That is good, does he spend time with the oldest one? Sounds like the mother is being cooperative anyway.
Sounds like a lot of people are being careless and messing around without the birth control, I guess if he is gonna play he has to pay. Why don't he use birth control (condoms), it would be more cost effective for him too.
GN He spends alot of time with two of his children. The first one Austin and the other is Destiny. One child was adopted by her grandparents and they are one of those impossible families to deal with. The family tried to stay involved but thay were REALLY wacko people. One minute they would stop in with her and you could visit and the next thi ng they were sending cards and gifts back that we would purchase. I just let it go. I can't be around people like that.
The last and most recent I have never seen except for pics. My sis and I started establishing a relationship when he was born but she started to think we were the first commonwelth bank of america and would ask for the family to come up with money for diapers and milk. She was on WIC and welfare so we knew she was just playing us. Plus we all have our awn bills and kids. Nobody needed an extra responsibility.
ERB. Tried to tell him to keep it covered...
LOL, that would be a good idea! 8)
Yes an excellent idea..if he would take it.
I can not imagine that they wouldn't, maybe they just don't know where he is or how to get in contact with him. If they knew they would be on him.
Wouldn't have to worry about that now. All hgis shopuld be well past SOL except for his verizon phones from a couple years ago. I hate when these placwes harass you.
he should be okay, it should be well past the sol.
Always hope for the best for everyone,especially since I seen the damage debt collectors can do.
me too, hopefully it will all work out for him, I hope it does anyway.
If goodnatured is right, then he should be okay if he is past the sol