Depends on about a billion of different factors, but the answer could range from “yeah it’s an exaggeration” to “its actually a pretty generous estimate”
I have a “fun” american anecdote for you then! The office that gave me crap for being late a while back is also coincidentally the expensive one.
I’m on a biologic medication that I get every month via IV. I get the infusions at a cancer treatment center at the local hospital. The chairs are comfy and the nurses are amazing. They will actually give me free snacks and drinks too. I am typically there for about two hours.
The amount they charge my insurance company? About a new BMW.
What my insurance company actually pays them? Surprisingly, about a new Honda!
Did you have to pay the difference out of pocket? Or is there a discounted price for insurance providers to pay that laypeople aren’t approved for?
Whenever I go to the doctor, hospital, etc I just give them my health card (which is freely provided to every Canadian citizen) and they punch in the number into their system, then that’s that. I don’t have to pay or contact insurance or anything. Some stuff doesn’t count such as the dentist but dental care is almost always provided through work benefits.
The luxury sport sedan price is the fake sticker price they bill up front.
The sensible commuter sedan price is the secret agreed-upon price that the insurance actually pays out to them.
The out of pocket costs are a completely separate number, where the individual is responsible for all the costs until they hit their deductible (and sometimes pay a percentage for a while until they hit a second complete out of pocket limit).
For some of us, however, there is a silver lining to this shitcloud. Obviously when a 2-hour stint in a chair gets paid out actually for real at tens of thousands of dollars, that money is not going to the wonderful nurses poking my arm and checking on me. Therefore, it is very much in the best interests of the pharmaceutical shareholders that I do not stop my treatment just because I can’t afford it. So these companies have copay assistance programs that will pay your out of pocket costs, with no income threshold.
So the reward that I get for having a health condition is… I effectively get decent healthcare coverage as an American. For 11 months of the year. If something bad happens in early january it can cost a few grand in the blink of an eye.
You can’t be on government insurance and use those programs though. But Medicaid on its own is great coverage.
That system seems so alien to me, I can’t even imagine. When my wife gave birth, she lost a ton of blood, like, far more than normal. She ended up needing both an iron and blood transfusion, and we needed to stay for a few extra days. She got a ton of meds and got seen by several doctors. Plus my baby had a couple small issues too which needed to get treated. Everything worked out okay, and everyone’s healthy now, thankfully. We didn’t pay a single cent. It was all covered. I can’t imagine making those decisions thinking about how much it would cost. I remember shortly after birth we were looking at how much birth costs in the States, it was insane. I can’t remember how much now but it was just for regular birth, I’m sure all the extras we needed would’ve cost more.
Oh, you see an actual doctor? I haven’t seen an actual doctor in the last like 3 years, always just a physicians assistant or other nurse.
Still get charged the dr copay though, funny how that works.
I wouldnt be surprised if the doctor is an AI construct and theyre just running my symptoms through whatever insurance company provided AI bullshit at this point.
Tbf, there is no “doctor copay.” The copay is a visit fee imposed by your insurance company that disincentivizes people from visiting the doctor. It’s also usually a paltry amount compared to the actual amount your insurance will pay the practice, and reimbursement fees for NPs and PAs are absolutely lower than for MDs
My bills literally list them as separate line items, theres the clinic copay, then the doctor copay.
Occasionally I even get two separate bills, one from the hospital, one from the Dr. Guessing their practice is the source of the one and the hospital system is the other?
Either way its fuckin annoying to be paying out of pocket 30+ bucks only to be told the equivalent of “gee i dunno take Tylenol I guess”.
I’ve worked in healthcare for decades and have literally never seen this. Are you sure you’re not thinking of coinsurance? Coinsurance and copays are two different things, a copay is a set fee dictated by your insurance that you pay up front, whereas coinsurance is usually the percentage you owe of anything billed to your insurance, which includes both facility and provider fees
My mum is a nurse. From what she tells me, almost all wait times are caused by the doctors who book too many patients and appoint each patient too little of time.
The doctor’s office when they’re an hour behind because people keep coming in late.
I’ve had appointments at opening time and they’re still half an hour late. Doctor strolling in 15 minutes after the appointment time.
That’ll be $47,000
As a Canadian I genuinely can’t tell if this is an exaggeration or not.
Depends on about a billion of different factors, but the answer could range from “yeah it’s an exaggeration” to “its actually a pretty generous estimate”
I have a “fun” american anecdote for you then! The office that gave me crap for being late a while back is also coincidentally the expensive one.
I’m on a biologic medication that I get every month via IV. I get the infusions at a cancer treatment center at the local hospital. The chairs are comfy and the nurses are amazing. They will actually give me free snacks and drinks too. I am typically there for about two hours.
The amount they charge my insurance company? About a new BMW.
What my insurance company actually pays them? Surprisingly, about a new Honda!
Did you have to pay the difference out of pocket? Or is there a discounted price for insurance providers to pay that laypeople aren’t approved for?
Whenever I go to the doctor, hospital, etc I just give them my health card (which is freely provided to every Canadian citizen) and they punch in the number into their system, then that’s that. I don’t have to pay or contact insurance or anything. Some stuff doesn’t count such as the dentist but dental care is almost always provided through work benefits.
Oh boy, I get to do more Freedumsplaining!
The luxury sport sedan price is the fake sticker price they bill up front.
The sensible commuter sedan price is the secret agreed-upon price that the insurance actually pays out to them.
The out of pocket costs are a completely separate number, where the individual is responsible for all the costs until they hit their deductible (and sometimes pay a percentage for a while until they hit a second complete out of pocket limit).
For some of us, however, there is a silver lining to this shitcloud. Obviously when a 2-hour stint in a chair gets paid out actually for real at tens of thousands of dollars, that money is not going to the wonderful nurses poking my arm and checking on me. Therefore, it is very much in the best interests of the pharmaceutical shareholders that I do not stop my treatment just because I can’t afford it. So these companies have copay assistance programs that will pay your out of pocket costs, with no income threshold.
So the reward that I get for having a health condition is… I effectively get decent healthcare coverage as an American. For 11 months of the year. If something bad happens in early january it can cost a few grand in the blink of an eye.
You can’t be on government insurance and use those programs though. But Medicaid on its own is great coverage.
That system seems so alien to me, I can’t even imagine. When my wife gave birth, she lost a ton of blood, like, far more than normal. She ended up needing both an iron and blood transfusion, and we needed to stay for a few extra days. She got a ton of meds and got seen by several doctors. Plus my baby had a couple small issues too which needed to get treated. Everything worked out okay, and everyone’s healthy now, thankfully. We didn’t pay a single cent. It was all covered. I can’t imagine making those decisions thinking about how much it would cost. I remember shortly after birth we were looking at how much birth costs in the States, it was insane. I can’t remember how much now but it was just for regular birth, I’m sure all the extras we needed would’ve cost more.
Oh, you see an actual doctor? I haven’t seen an actual doctor in the last like 3 years, always just a physicians assistant or other nurse.
Still get charged the dr copay though, funny how that works.
I wouldnt be surprised if the doctor is an AI construct and theyre just running my symptoms through whatever insurance company provided AI bullshit at this point.
Tbf, there is no “doctor copay.” The copay is a visit fee imposed by your insurance company that disincentivizes people from visiting the doctor. It’s also usually a paltry amount compared to the actual amount your insurance will pay the practice, and reimbursement fees for NPs and PAs are absolutely lower than for MDs
My bills literally list them as separate line items, theres the clinic copay, then the doctor copay.
Occasionally I even get two separate bills, one from the hospital, one from the Dr. Guessing their practice is the source of the one and the hospital system is the other?
Either way its fuckin annoying to be paying out of pocket 30+ bucks only to be told the equivalent of “gee i dunno take Tylenol I guess”.
I’ve worked in healthcare for decades and have literally never seen this. Are you sure you’re not thinking of coinsurance? Coinsurance and copays are two different things, a copay is a set fee dictated by your insurance that you pay up front, whereas coinsurance is usually the percentage you owe of anything billed to your insurance, which includes both facility and provider fees
My mum is a nurse. From what she tells me, almost all wait times are caused by the doctors who book too many patients and appoint each patient too little of time.
I love how multiple people itt are defending doctors making us wait up to an hour after our appointment time as if it’s not 90% their fault