Can this really be true?

[Twisterdog]

Originally posted by gini
An insurance agent explained to me that when people walk in for emergency care without insurance - the hospitals will really sock it to them - to try to re-coop some money against ALL of the people that walk in without insurance.

Exactly. Why is everyone charged $10 for one aspirin tablet in the hospital? Because the people that do happen to be lucky enough to afford insurance or have it through work are paying for all the people who can't afford insurance and can't pay their hospital bill. So when an insurance company pays that $10 charge for one aspirin, they are actually paying for the last 1,000 apirin tablets issued, that no one else could afford to pay for.

I don't have any health insurance. I am the self-employed owner of a small business, and the cost of getting an insurance policy for myself is absolutely absurd. I make too much money (barely) to qualify for medicaid, and not enough money to afford medical insurance. This country's health care system is in serious trouble. And, yes ... I do vote, therefore I can complain.

My son got two stitches in the emergency room last summer. It took approximately five minutes. The bill was over $400. My mom's five day hospital stay two years ago cost well over $100,000. The only time I've been in the hospital, $14,000 for 24 hours ... and that was almost fourteen years ago.