primitives trash insurance companies

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018557470

Oh my.

I haven't paid attention to the anal banana primitive for ages.

annabanana (46,483 posts)   Fri Jan 17, 2014, 09:20 PM

Insurance companies are surely agents of demons.

Mr. Banana has been shuttling between hospitals and rehab centers for nearly 7 months. He has not been home since June 20th when he was hospitalized for a bone infection in his left hip. The antibiotics (kick ass ones) were hard on his kidneys, but the hospital said his creatin numbers, though high, were leveling off and he was discharged after the first 2 months to a rehab center.
 
Well it turns out his kidneys got worse and he was sent back to the hospital, where he was started on dialysis.
 
Back to rehab. It was discovered he was too weak and short of breath for PT or OT, so it was back to the hospital to have 4 stents placed in his heart adjacent arteries.
 
Back to rehab. Still weak, and with dangerously low blood pressure so back to the hospital for observation. No soon back in the hospital than he suffered a "V-Tach".. a dangerously rapid fibrillation of the ventricles and was rushed down to the CCU, where he spent a month trying to stabilize the blood pressure and keeping up with the dialysis. Then he had a defibrillator implanted under the skin of his chest wall. (Like the kind Cheney had disconnected for fear of hacking)
 
Back to rehab. Ever so slowly getting to his feet with the help of two strong Physical Therapists (Mr. Banana is NOT a small guy) It's taken him since Nov 6th to walk 12 feet with a walker and a Therapist, but now he can do it every time. He still cannot stand without a lot of help. In the unit, the aides use a hoyer machine to lift him in and out of bed to the wheel chair.
 
I thought he had 10 to 14 days of rehab to go.

TODAY, FRIDAY at 3:30 in the afternoon, I was informed that the insurance company will no longer pay for what they say is "custodial care" and we have 48 hours to leave.
 
I have two weekend days to make sure that a hospital bead, an oxygen machine, and oxygen tanks and a wheel chair, a hoyer, a commode and a bi-pap machine are delivered to my tiny little house before he gets here. I also have to figure out how to pay for an ambulette to take him back and forth to dialysis 3 times a week at $90 per round-trip. (NO coverage for THAT, thak you very much)
 
The Social Worker at the rehab facility said "Well, you can appeal and if you win you don't have to pay for the extra days" Keep in mind that reserving an empty bed costs $400 per day.
 
I asked her when had anyone with our insurance company ever appealed and WON? "Well", she said "I think there was one case during Sandy.
 
I have thrown out our sofa to make room in the living room for a hospital bed

I am weary with worry and at the edge of tears always.

raven mad (128 posts)    Fri Jan 17, 2014, 09:43 PM

1. Medical insurance (HAH!) companies are the true "Death Panels" of Repuke fame.

You have so many great vibes and good karma coming atcha from Interior Alaska right now. We went through a non-dissimilar situation a few years ago. For a medevac flight - because our only hospital couldn't figure out a heart attack - the insurance co. paid $150. Actual cost? $13,000. Try explaining why taking an ambulance 400 miles through a mid-Alaskan winter (20 or so below) through the Alaska Range (anybody say Denali National Park?) to someone based in Irving, Texas isn't exactly realistic.
 
I even enlisted the kitties - they're all vibrating right along with me. And sending 5-rescue-kitty-karma your way.
 
We had my father-in-law with us for several years (end-stage Alzheimers) and needed lots of medical equipment at home. Our solution was stashing stuff UNDER the hospital bed, and on shelves, and always putting everything back in the same spot so it could be gotten to in the dark during power outages. We have lots of those. Also, making up meals ahead of time really helps, so when you have someone in to assist, put 'em to work.
 
Home care is one of the hardest things you'll ever do. It's also one of the things that's most worth it.

GrumpyGrampa (7 posts)    Sun Jan 19, 2014, 12:39 AM

8. Been there, done that, didn't get the t-shirt.

My ills were of a drastically different nature, but the insurance company ****ed me over six ways from Sunday. I spent about six months on a pull-out sofa in the living room and had to pee over the side of the bed because I couldn't walk 10 feet to the bathroom. Since I couldn't eat, I rarely had to shit. I'm better now.
 
You are not alone. Insurance companies make their money by charging a shitload and giving back a penny or two. The executives sold their souls by taking the job. The hospital charges $147.oo for a shot of morphine!!! It probably costs them a dollar or so. An MRI runs around $2500 and that's just to pay off the cost of the machine. CT scan, $3000. I still owe about $20,000 that insurance wouldn't cover. I'm not paying it. **** that noise. That's almost as much as my wife earns in a year. To hell with my credit rating, I need the utilities to stay on and be able to buy the meager amount of food we need.
 
The ACA goes a long way, but it isn't sufficient. I don't expect it to improve with the GOP stifling every effort. There's not a Republican in the Senate or House that hasn't sold his or her soul to get there. **** regular people. They think they are the ONLY people. Burn in hell GOP. We'll be up here trying to survive.
 
Give Mr. Banana a hug for me. He'll get better over time. It just takes self-confidence. I went through a bunch of shit before I found mine again. It takes time to heal. Just give him hugs. They are stronger than any medicine.

Too bad for the primitives.  And it's gonna get worse, too.

[Chris_]

I even enlisted the kitties - they're all vibrating right along with me. And sending 5-rescue-kitty-karma your way.

[RobJohnson]

Sounds like the DUmmie should of planned ahead and had everything already set up a home.

I hope the vibrating ***** vibes help.

[Freeper]

Karma, vibes, healing white light and all that stuff is totally reasonable to the reality based community, but praying to some sky daddy is insane.

[GOBUCKS]

Great thread!

It's so enjoyable to read about DUmmies suffering!! They deserve every minute of it.

I hope it gets worse and they keep posting.

The problem is it's an almost-sure bet that every word out of a DUmmy mouth is a lie.

[98ZJUSMC]

Karma, vibes, healing white light and all that stuff is totally reasonable to the reality based community, but praying to some sky daddy is insane.

Weird, isn't it?  

The ACA goes a long way, but it isn't sufficient. I don't expect it to improve with the GOP stifling every effort. There's not a Republican in the Senate or House that hasn't sold his or her soul to get there. **** regular people. They think they are the ONLY people. Burn in hell GOP. We'll be up here trying to survive.

I predict lots more pain for your lying ass and it makes me happy.
  

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Weird, isn't it?   

Not at all.

God controls you (to the Proglodyte mind).

They can't have that. They are too good, smart and perfect for anything so trivial as a mere "God."

They like vibes and light because those are things they can control, like a light switch, rather than be controlled.

Everything about Proglodytes is about their superiority and nothing being superior to them.

[Big Dog]

I figured ol' PhDD would be in he middle of that kerfunkle. She hates insurance, although she knows nothing about it.

Alex is the definition of the "Low Information Voter."

[Chris_]

I figured ol' PhDD would be in he middle of that kerfunkle. She hates insurance, although she knows nothing about it.

Alex is the definition of the "Low Information Voter."

She's not as smart as she thinks she is.

[longview]

He stopped making progress at 12 feet for walking.  

The DUmmies can thank government healthcare for the limits.  Third party payers pretty much follow what Medicare and Medicaid do.  And they won't pay for continued rehab when the person cannot do more, can't progress.  And, honestly, why would they?  

I wouldn't even be surprised to find out that Medicare paid for all this.

Wait until people start getting turned down for defibrillators and such like they do in other countries if there won't be a net gain to society for providing one.

[fatboy]

The man needs a crane to left him out of the bed to take a poop.

[fatboy]

Hard as it might sound, if what the bananna girl is saying is nearly correct, mr. bananna boy has passed over the top and in on the way down. Why continue resident PT if it isn't helping or has no chance of improvement? At best a nursing home.

My involvement in EMS and knowledge of ambulance transport compnies has made me cynical no doubt. But the truth is we Americans insist on EMS transport to the ED for minor aliments and the health care industry insists on ambulance transport for patients between rehab facilities and Dr. office visits which are very costly. A patient at a local rehab hospital who needs an MRI at a main Hosp (5 minutes away) runs up a $1500.00 ambulance bill. Who thinks, in the long run, that obamacare is going pay this for patients who are experiencing major organ system shutdown?

[Gina]

Hopefully Obamacare gets tossed and Mr. banana will have a chance.

[franksolich]

The problem is it's an almost-sure bet that every word out of a DUmmy mouth is a lie.

I noticed how she kept on artfully avoiding saying, "My husband's 500 pounds."

[fatboy]

I noticed how she kept on artfully avoiding saying, "My husband's 500 pounds."

yep, he's a BIG MAN!

[fatboy]

I noticed how she kept on artfully avoiding saying, "My husband's 500 pounds."

She also avoided mention of which insurance company.

I think I might need some help in insurance info. I'm most concerned about out of pocket expenses for ambulette rides to dialysis...

My previous point made for me.

[I_B_Perky]

annabanana (46,483 posts)   Fri Jan 17, 2014, 09:20 PM

Insurance companies are surely agents of demons.

Mr. Banana has been shuttling between hospitals and rehab centers for nearly 7 months. He has not been home since June 20th when he was hospitalized for a bone infection in his left hip. The antibiotics (kick ass ones) were hard on his kidneys, but the hospital said his creatin numbers, though high, were leveling off and he was discharged after the first 2 months to a rehab center.
 
Well it turns out his kidneys got worse and he was sent back to the hospital, where he was started on dialysis.
 
Back to rehab. It was discovered he was too weak and short of breath for PT or OT, so it was back to the hospital to have 4 stents placed in his heart adjacent arteries.
 
Back to rehab. Still weak, and with dangerously low blood pressure so back to the hospital for observation. No soon back in the hospital than he suffered a "V-Tach".. a dangerously rapid fibrillation of the ventricles and was rushed down to the CCU, where he spent a month trying to stabilize the blood pressure and keeping up with the dialysis. Then he had a defibrillator implanted under the skin of his chest wall. (Like the kind Cheney had disconnected for fear of hacking)
 
Back to rehab. Ever so slowly getting to his feet with the help of two strong Physical Therapists (Mr. Banana is NOT a small guy) It's taken him since Nov 6th to walk 12 feet with a walker and a Therapist, but now he can do it every time. He still cannot stand without a lot of help. In the unit, the aides use a hoyer machine to lift him in and out of bed to the wheel chair.
 
I thought he had 10 to 14 days of rehab to go.

TODAY, FRIDAY at 3:30 in the afternoon, I was informed that the insurance company will no longer pay for what they say is "custodial care" and we have 48 hours to leave.
 
I have two weekend days to make sure that a hospital bead, an oxygen machine, and oxygen tanks and a wheel chair, a hoyer, a commode and a bi-pap machine are delivered to my tiny little house before he gets here. I also have to figure out how to pay for an ambulette to take him back and forth to dialysis 3 times a week at $90 per round-trip. (NO coverage for THAT, thak you very much)
 
The Social Worker at the rehab facility said "Well, you can appeal and if you win you don't have to pay for the extra days" Keep in mind that reserving an empty bed costs $400 per day.
 
I asked her when had anyone with our insurance company ever appealed and WON? "Well", she said "I think there was one case during Sandy.
 
I have thrown out our sofa to make room in the living room for a hospital bed

I am weary with worry and at the edge of tears always.

Try dealing with medicare dummie.* I been thru all that with dad. You was lucky they paid that much. Once you get your nirvana single payer it will get much worse.  I guess you didn't read your policy. So do what I did, dummie, suck it up and make do the best you can.



*I'm still getting shit from medicare and VA on dad and the man has been dead for 2 and half years!!!!  I can't tell you how many times I have sent his death certificate to VA and all the other damned medical providers he went to. Dad had to have dialysis 3 days a week and that was damn near $400 a month for the ambulance to take him there and back... and that was after medicare paid their pittance. No dummie... I have no damn sympathy for you.

[Big Dog]

annabanana (46,483 posts)   Fri Jan 17, 2014, 09:20 PM

Insurance companies are surely agents of demons.

(blah, blah, blah)

TODAY, FRIDAY at 3:30 in the afternoon, I was informed that the insurance company will no longer pay for what they say is "custodial care" and we have 48 hours to leave.

So, what's different, DUmmy?

Say it with me.... "Obamacare".

 

[fatboy]

The instructions to the ambulance crew taking mr. banana to dialysis will read something like this: Bariatric W/C required, patient not ambulatory and may not be able to assist with getting out of bed. Pt requires low flow O2 and _____. Crew will encounter _____ number of stairs.

In the six county region where I'm at there is (1) Bariatric wheel chair and (1) Bariatric BLS/ALS truck available to transport patients. This area probably has a population of about 3 million souls.

I don't mean to sound harsh but the insurance company has been paying for 7 months of rehab and hosptial, imagine how much has already been spent with really nothing to show for it. The patient is in renial failure, is tacky and on O2, probably has some kind of lung ailment such as COPD.  The patient is overweight and not able to stand without assistance. And the whole complaint centers on the loss of 10-14 days of continued rehab that is not improving the patients condition. And this lady thinks that a government takeover of the healthcare industry is going to make things better?

[Dori]

And this lady thinks that a government takeover of the healthcare industry is going to make things better?

One nasty part of Obamacare

Obamacare fining hospitals for readmitting patients

http://obamacarewatcher.org/articles/456

[USA4ME]

Try dealing with medicare dummie. I been thru all that with dad. You was lucky they paid that much. Once you get your nirvana single payer it will get much worse.

Absolutely true. But try telling them that and they don't want to hear it. Insurance companies do have rationing measures in place, but they'll be extremely generous compared to gov't paid healthcare.

.

[AprilRazz]

GrumpyGrampa (7 posts)    Sun Jan 19, 2014, 12:39 AM

8. The hospital charges $147.oo for a shot of morphine!!! It probably costs them a dollar or so.

Wow are you that stupid to think the cost of giving you a narcotic shot just costs a dollar? First you have the cost of the drug, then secure storage so those of your ilk don't steal it. Then the syringe and needle (or IV set up) and the cost of disposal of those items, you can't just throw those in the trash. The pharmacist to supply the shot. The nurse to give it to you and to monitor you after. The doctor that has to prescribe it. The narcan that has to be on hand if you have a reaction to the shot to save your life. Plus the cost to the hospital for all those indigents that can't or won't pay for hospital services when they use the ED like a doctor's office.
I am sure I am forgetting a few things.

[DumbAss Tanker]

I noticed how she kept on artfully avoiding saying, "My husband's 500 pounds."

That's what I got from it, too.  One learns that what people avoid saying, and how they parse their words to do that, are usually much more important and revealing than what they actually do say.

[Dori]

Wow are you that stupid to think the cost of giving you a narcotic shot just costs a dollar? First you have the cost of the drug, then secure storage so those of your ilk don't steal it. Then the syringe and needle (or IV set up) and the cost of disposal of those items, you can't just throw those in the trash. The pharmacist to supply the shot. The nurse to give it to you and to monitor you after. The doctor that has to prescribe it. The narcan that has to be on hand if you have a reaction to the shot to save your life. Plus the cost to the hospital for all those indigents that can't or won't pay for hospital services when they use the ED like a doctor's office.
I am sure I am forgetting a few things.

Overhead.  Someone has to purchase the morphine and supplies, someone has to inventory it and accounting has to bill the patient and also has to pay the vendors who supplied it.

I'm sure hospitals use a formula for applying overhead costs. 

Any type of business has to pay for rent, utilities, repairs, equipment, insurances, licenses, payroll, blah, blah, blah and there has to be some way of applying all of that to the products sold.

 


 

[jukin]

Wow are you that stupid to think the cost of giving you a narcotic shot just costs a dollar? First you have the cost of the drug, then secure storage so those of your ilk don't steal it. Then the syringe and needle (or IV set up) and the cost of disposal of those items, you can't just throw those in the trash. The pharmacist to supply the shot. The nurse to give it to you and to monitor you after. The doctor that has to prescribe it. The narcan that has to be on hand if you have a reaction to the shot to save your life. Plus the cost to the hospital for all those indigents that can't or won't pay for hospital services when they use the ED like a doctor's office.
I am sure I am forgetting a few things.

You and Dori point out only the supply side cost and not the initial delivery cost of manufacture. The raw ingredients need be bought by an approved supplier, shipping costs, and of course all the paper work the government requires. Then we have manufacturing costs including capitalization, energy, overhead, packaging, product liability insurance, lawyers retainers, a 2-3% profit, and of course all the paper work the government requires. Then there is the inventory costs and associated borrowing cost. I would also suspect that there is quite a bit of loss due to spoilage.

Now should it be $147? Oh hell no. Should it be in the $25-30 range? Easily but the hospital has to mark up everything for the low reimbursement rate of medicaid and medicare along with giving freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee service to moochers and looters of the democrat party voting block. Plus having a third party paying for services means prices will go up because there is no person looking over costs like the patient would. Taking risk assessment (Obama Care) of the pricing will makes cost skyrocket, even faster than energy prices.