Comments on: Health Care and Bankruptcy http://www.healthcarebs.com/2007/02/11/health-care-and-bankruptcy/ Cleaning the Augean Stables of the Health Care Debate Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:28:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Catron http://www.healthcarebs.com/2007/02/11/health-care-and-bankruptcy/#comment-30 Catron Mon, 19 Mar 2007 13:55:04 +0000 http://www.healthcarebs.com/2007/02/11/health-care-and-bankruptcy/#comment-30 I’m not saying that medical bills NEVER cause bankruptcy, just that it is far rarer than is commonly reported in the “news” media. As it happens, my eldest daughter was a preemie (a tad less than 3 pounds). While it did cause some financial stress—I took to calling her “the face that launched a thousand bills”—it did not require a bankruptcy. I was not employed in the hospital industry at that time (1981), but I worked out a long-term payment plan with the hospital. Medical care is expensive—everywhere, including Canada and other countries with socialized medicine. And, before we decide it is too expensive, we should consider what we get for our money. In the case of my daughter, who just turned 26, it was worth every penny and more. I’m not saying that medical bills NEVER cause bankruptcy, just that it is far rarer than is commonly reported in the “news” media.

As it happens, my eldest daughter was a preemie (a tad less than 3 pounds). While it did cause some financial stress—I took to calling her “the face that launched a thousand bills”—it did not require a bankruptcy. I was not employed in the hospital industry at that time (1981), but I worked out a long-term payment plan with the hospital.

Medical care is expensive—everywhere, including Canada and other countries with socialized medicine. And, before we decide it is too expensive, we should consider what we get for our money. In the case of my daughter, who just turned 26, it was worth every penny and more.

]]> By: The Preemie Experiment http://www.healthcarebs.com/2007/02/11/health-care-and-bankruptcy/#comment-29 The Preemie Experiment Mon, 19 Mar 2007 01:18:59 +0000 http://www.healthcarebs.com/2007/02/11/health-care-and-bankruptcy/#comment-29 You wrote: "To those of us who actually work in health care finance, however, this study was highly suspect because it didn’t match the day-to-day realities that we deal with. In fact, it is the routine practice of most hospitals to write off catastophic patient bills precisely because we don’t want to ruin the patients." Oh how I wish this was the case for many preemie families. For me, we filed bankruptcy after a year of trying to work with the hospital. Our bill was over $100,000 (after insurance paid thier part). The hospital wouldn't budge. The not so pleasant person, from the billing department, said, "We kept your daughter alive, why wouldn't you want to pay us?" Give me a break! We are not alone either. Many preemie families face the same financial problems that we did. I guess I wish you were on our side 8 years ago! You wrote: “To those of us who actually work in health care finance, however, this study was highly suspect because it didn’t match the day-to-day realities that we deal with. In fact, it is the routine practice of most hospitals to write off catastophic patient bills precisely because we don’t want to ruin the patients.”

Oh how I wish this was the case for many preemie families. For me, we filed bankruptcy after a year of trying to work with the hospital. Our bill was over $100,000 (after insurance paid thier part). The hospital wouldn’t budge. The not so pleasant person, from the billing department, said, “We kept your daughter alive, why wouldn’t you want to pay us?” Give me a break!

We are not alone either. Many preemie families face the same financial problems that we did.

I guess I wish you were on our side 8 years ago!

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