this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2024
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

I really believe a lot of this comes down to poorly automated systems and people not allowed to go off script … and insurers have no reason to change this.

When there’s a claim it gets entered into the insurer system by procedure code. It’s only decided based on what procedure code is recognized by the system. The peon deciding to reject it likely has no power to say otherwise nor incentive to. Even when they do ask for a doctors opinion, do you really think he reads all the case notes, or even has access to them, or has time to read them, or incentive? Nope, just whatever codes were entered into the system. You read a lot about issues where procedures have to be recoded for insurance, but I’ll bet many more of the rejects are as simple as the code not supporting the treatment and no one at the insurer looking farther. This is more a form of institutional incompetence but insurers have a profit motive in maintaining this incompetence

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[–] [email protected] 51 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

Also, there's this common "feature":

Dr: "You need this procedure."

Me: "How much will it cost me?"

Office Manager: "I won't know until I bill your insurance and find out if it is covered."

Me: "What is the cash price I would pay you if it isn't covered by insurance."

Office Manager: "I have no idea."

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago

This shit really needs to end.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago (4 children)

I had a friend who needed a CT head, chest and abdomen. The insurance company decided she could have the head and abdomen, but not the chest, and couldn't really explain why when asked. American health care is a joke.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 week ago

The cruelty of the US American for-profit health system is what should be uniting all US Americans in protest, riot, and violent overthrow of the current system.

[–] [email protected] 136 points 1 week ago (6 children)

I work for a neurologist practice, and the amount I have to argue with insurance (and inevitably have to get the neurologist on the phone to directly request something for many) is insane. A good chunk of my job isn't providing care, but arguing with insurance that the care is necessary. These companies are actively delaying patient care, and try to blame the physician whenever possible.

Wildly infuriating, especially when the denials are worded along the lines of "we reviewed this, and don't consider it medically necessary". Motherfucker, a doctor said it was necessary and listed the clinical reasons why this test or procedure would be beneficial. Nothing has radicalized me for universal healthcare more than working in healthcare.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

People love to shit on the VA, because they're the largest American healthcare provider in the country so there's a lot of bad stories

But my last MRI went like this:

Doctor: you need an MRI, let me check if it's open. (Less than a minute on laptop). Ok, go down to room ____ and they can get you in now.

There's a huge up front cost for that machine, so for profit hospitals went everyone to use it to make the money back, and insurance wants no one to use it so they don't have to pay.

Take insurance out of the picture, take the hospital trying to make money out of the picture. And it's really that easy. No one pushes for unnecessary tests, no one tries to prevent necessary tests. And there's a huge push towards preventive medicine, because it's cheaper to catch shit early.

We already pay more than what it would cost, it's just the healthcare industry donates to both parties, so as long as both standards are "at least they're not the other team" shits never going to get fixed.

If we hold higher standards than that, it won't take many election cycles to get change to actually happen

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 week ago (4 children)

How is that even legal? How is someone who hasn’t examined the patient and isn’t their physician allowed to make treatment decisions? If they even have the necessary qualifications.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Because of money!

Every time you see something that feels illegal but isn't, or that makes no sense in general, look for the money trail. There's always one, and it always leads to the explanation.

In this case, insurance companies have made such an absolute ass ton of money by killing off their customers that they have become a political entity. They now use their deep pockets to lobby politicians to keep their scam legal.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

And some doctors themselves will be hesitant to give care that might not be provably required beyond all doubt but is objectively prudent.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 week ago (3 children)

On the flip side, I can't imagine being the person arguing for the insurance companies makes them a better or happy person in the long term. Being a devil's henchman, over time it must destroy important parts of them like empathy, trust in people, and their basic human decency. Virtues that are needed now more than ever in society.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago

Well yeah that's why they keep doing it

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[–] [email protected] 80 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

Had my buddy over who brought over his incredibly questionable 30yo brother who shared some real incel levels of talk. He used my bathroom and asked if I wore tampons since a pack was visible. Like bro, I have a wife and a daughter.

Anyways, that guy works in health insurance!

I don't know how much decisions he can actually make. But that dude has a middle-school level education about sex ed and struggled to explain what a period is. And he is one of the barriers to approving/rejecting your health care.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

You should see what @[email protected] wrote in this very thread. You basically just answered their question about what this industry must do to a person's ability to empathize and be a decent person to others. Or in this case, maybe lack thereof is a job requirement?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 week ago

“You want me to whip out my dick and slap you with it since that was the stupidest question I’ve heard?”

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I love how the insurance company, the party that has no medical expertise whatsoever, gets to unilaterally decide how much that MRI will cost you today.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The sad thing is they do hire some licensed healthcare professionals to fall back on when appealed. They just look for the least compassionate MDs to rubber stamp denials.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Eh, generally a peer to peer won't get denied but requiring a peer to peer is a good way to waste the doctors time in the hopes they'll give up on the request. The instance company isn't paying the doctor extra time to perform the peer to peer after all. Now if that time was billable, you'd see it go away real fast.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago

Yes I would like to change this, too. Who do I vote for to make this happen? Just kidding I don't have access to $10B of "free speech."

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 week ago

The private for profit health insurance industry - because what could make number go up better than a (LEGALLY MANDATED) do nothing middle man who's only purpose is to take your money and ensure as little as possible is spent on healthcare sitting between you and not dying?

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