General Politics Discussion [ARCHIVED] • Page 179

So I think this pregnancy is going to make me a socialist or something.

My wife and I went to OBGYN in mid may to "confirm" the pregnancy test she had taken. They took her blood and did an exam and sent us on our way. We were there maybe 45 minutes. Yesterday we received a bill from the lab for the blood work for almost $900, which is due in two weeks. Along with that we have a bill of $1,300 from the hospital to cover the delivery costs in January when the baby is due.

I assume that the $900 is our deductible + the 20% that we have to pay after the deductible is met. I also assume that delivery costs do not count towards our deductible. Again, these are assumptions

Now, this isn't about the money. The money part is fine. What I sort of started thinking about yesterday after I receive the $900 is this; at no point did anyone inform us that these bills were coming!

So the OBGYN knows that this is our first pregnancy, they know what our insurance policy is, they know what the policy covers, they know what does and doesn't apply towards the deductive, they know what blood tests they are running, and they know how much those tests costs. Don't you think that, at some point, someone should have invited us into their office to go over our policy and explain to us what sort bills we can expect over the course of the pregnancy?

Is there any other industry that you can think of where you don't know the cost of the service until after you have already received said service?

I have talked to some people who have told me "well doctors actually don't really know any of that stuff, it's all figured out after the fact between the insurance company and lab".

Bullshit.

All the doctors carry around tablets or laptops these days. You are telling me there isn't kind of program that you can plug our policy into that will spit out what the cost of service will end up being once all insurance discounts are taken into consideration? Seems like something an app developer could come up with in an afternoon.

Anyways /rant.

 

The party of the working class, baby. Great look.

 

Uh, kind of. General contractors, for example. Some mechanic or auto shops. "Hey I know we quoted you $400 but once we popped the hood we saw all this other shit that was wrong and needed fixing, and now it's gonna be $1200"

In all seriousness, I know what you're going through as I had a kid a couple of years ago and am now at the age where a lot of my friends are going through it too. We're lucky in that we have excellent benefits because I'm a state employee. After our son was born we only owed the hospital $100. I've had friends leave the hospital with $5,000, $10,000 maybe more in bills after delivery.

 

In the auto shop example, the shop will quote you a price, and quote you another if they discover other issues. They don't perform the service before quoting you a price.

And I want to be clear that this isn't about the cost necessarily, or the benefits. It's really about the service provided to you by your doctor, and the lack of transparency thereof. If I have to pay $5k to have a healthy baby I am totally fine with that, I just want to know that in advance so I can budget for it you know?

 

"Despite its lavish spending, the United States has one of the highest rates of both infant and maternal death among industrialized nations, although the fact that poor and uninsured women and those whose insurance does not cover childbirth have trouble getting or paying for prenatal care contributes to those figures."

American Way of Birth, Costliest in the World

I mean, we need to take profit out of health care.

 

Dana White is such a giant boob, and a legitimate nincompoop at that. He's one of the greatest examples of not needing to be smart to get rich.

I am disappointed in Tebow. Everyone knew he was conservative, but he always tried to act like he wasn't so as to be professional.

 

There is nothing more infuriating than getting an operation of any sort in America.

I spent tens of hours over weeks speaking with doctors, nurses, billing specialists, insurance reps, etc., to get an estimate on the cost of a simple tonsillectomy last year. I finally settled at budgeting $5,000 ($1,000 after insurance), which was about 180% of the regional average, which I thought would be a safe margin to allow myself and which I verified with multiple people in the hospital system.

In the end? $14,000 ($3,000 after insurance). For a half an hour procedure....for which they didn't even let me use the recovery room afterwards.

 

I feel like I see "US kills top ISIS leader" every day. This makes it seem pretty obvious that the Pentagon is lying.

U.S. working to confirm it killed top ISIS leader, again

 

Well every time one is killed, another one pops up to take his place, so yeah we kill a lot of these "leaders", but they just keep creating new ones to take their place

 

Yeah my hope is he doesn't get any more leadership positions within the party itself. I wouldn't be surprised if he ran for governor of Ill (can't see how he'd win considering his approval rating)or for a house seat again, but I'm pretty happy that all the talk of him being one of the up and comers has gone away.

 

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is Donald Trump's VP pick

Neat a homophobe

 

There literally is not a ticket I ever could conceive up that would make my asshole pucker up more

 

I'm really surprised it isn't Newt

 

Weird how Trump is trying sooo hard to lose this election

 

Disappointed. I was really hoping he'd shake things up and make a crazy pick, especially after he touted the possibility of choosing a Democrat. But this was the right pick for the party.

 

Should have chosen Michelle Bachmann

 

He had to make the traditional base happy. On all of the issues, Pence is the standard-issue, anti-woman, anti-gay, trans, etc., republican.

 

Even a ticket with Cruz at the top?

 

how so? Pence seems the perfect pick for Trump if he actually wants to win. This shores up his conservative base far better than Newt would've.

 

lol poor chris christie.

 

Mainly that not that many LBGT were going to vote for Trump in the first place, but with this VP pick it just seals the deal

 

I don't know much about Pence but it seemed like Newt was the obvious choice. He has name recognition and has been fighting the Clintons for 25 years.

 

He almost certainly would get AG or some other cabinet position if Trump wins.

 

secretary of mcdonalds delivery, a new cabinet position

 

Hahaha