Health insurance - who pays for the uninsured

[D_o_S]

Hi,

I'm doing a project for school about health insurance in the States, preferably California, but others will do.

I'm interested in care for the uninsured. Who pays for this? I assume the state does, but how does it actually work? You go to hospital, and are uninsured - they take care of you - you leave, say you have no $$$ - the state pays? You have some debt with the state or not?

Any explanation, insight or links to stuff on how it works greatly appreciated.

[KGB7]

It becomes your dept and ruins your credit if you dont pay it off. Later on it will be sold of many times over to other debt collecting agencies.

[CollinsE90]

inb4Canadia posters

[Cptn Mo 703]

Originally Posted by KGB7

It becomes your dept and ruins your credit if you dont pay it off. Later on it will be sold of many times over to other debt collecting agencies.

what he said!! I know the hospitals here will treat you no matter what, but few months later you get mailed a pretty nice bill if you dont have insurance. My friend actually ended up going to court for it.

[miiipilot]

Originally Posted by KGB7

It becomes your dept and ruins your credit if you dont pay it off. Later on it will be sold of many times over to other debt collecting agencies.

True. Plus it becomes everyone's problem. The hospitals have to charge more and more for services because they are not reimbursed 100% for treating the uninsured, which also causes the people who are insured to pay more. We pay higher costs to make up for some of costs associated with people that cant pay.

miiipilot

[DarkRider23]

The insured pay for it with higher premiums. There you go.

[D_o_S]

Thanks guys, I found some statistics that say the state pays for it... does this mean the state pays for the care you received, and then you pay back the state?

[sg///M3]

Originally Posted by DarkRider23

The insured pay for it with higher premiums. There you go.

and higher taxes.

[bosstones]

Originally Posted by DarkRider23

The insured pay for it with higher premiums. There you go.

Originally Posted by sg///M3

and higher taxes.

yup.

Originally Posted by D_o_S

Thanks guys, I found some statistics that say the state pays for it... does this mean the state pays for the care you received, and then you pay back the state?

No, that's what insurance companies and co-pays are for.

[KGB7]

Originally Posted by D_o_S

Thanks guys, I found some statistics that say the state pays for it... does this mean the state pays for the care you received, and then you pay back the state?

Link?


If the State paid for it, why would anyone need health insurance then?

[O-cha]

Originally Posted by DarkRider23

The insured pay for it with higher premiums. There you go.

Originally Posted by D_o_S

Thanks guys, I found some statistics that say the state pays for it... does this mean the state pays for the care you received, and then you pay back the state?

Originally Posted by sg///M3

and higher taxes.

Wtf are you guys smoking? It has nothing to do with taxes or health insurance premiums.... Hospital bills you, you don't pay, you are no debted to the hospital and they try to collect it and then send your ass to collections. The state doesn't pay for the uninsured health care needs, and neither do taxes.

What it might do is increase the cost of the hospital doing business, but fact is most people ARE insured and it doesn't have too profound of an affect.


Now if you want to talk about what DOES have an affect it's people going to the hospital WITH insurance, because insurance does not pay the hospital what they ask for, they pay them far less than what their standard rates are. But they are forced to accept this low price for services because so many people have insurance and to say no you HAVE to pay our normal price to the insurance companies means the insurance companies say fine, our insured wont use your hospital, and then they just don't have any customers.

So if you want to point your fingers at people, point them to the private insurance corporations that do everything in their power to make money, from the above described, to making it hard as hell to make any sort of serious claim and denying them repeatedly.


What you all don't understand is if you just saved your damn money instead of spending it on ipods and bluray players you wouldn't need insurance to cover your medical expenses because you would have saved for them.

Here's an obvious fact for most of you (that somehow flys above peoples heads), far more then the majority of people pay more in insurance premiums then they would in medical expenses. Really all insurance is is a payment plan where they charge you extra to stop your dumb asses from spending all your money and not being left enough to pay for your bills.

And for the occasional lucky, unlucky few who get deathly ill, actually an insurance of health, that is if you can manage to fight the insurance company to actually cover your cancer or other horribly expensive disease instead of denying it for some obscure reason that you agreed to when you signed your policy.


Also insurance paying less then hospitals regular pricing causes hospitals to raise their "standard" pricing above what they really need it to be (if it were payed) in order to try and get more money from the insurance companies, of course all this does is royally screw the people who go in without insurance because they get charged prices that are far above what they should be, is it a wonder that uninsured people don't pay their bills when they get charged $1500 for a few stitches?

[rs6655]

Originally Posted by D_o_S

Hi,

I'm doing a project for school about health insurance in the States, preferably California, but others will do.

I'm interested in care for the uninsured. Who pays for this? I assume the state does, but how does it actually work? You go to hospital, and are uninsured - they take care of you - you leave, say you have no $$$ - the state pays? You have some debt with the state or not?

Any explanation, insight or links to stuff on how it works greatly appreciated.

The insured..... EMTALA says they can't be turned away so they get treated and the insured get their bills padded.

http://www.familiesusa.org/resources...a-premium.html

[rs6655]

Originally Posted by D_o_S

Thanks guys, I found some statistics that say the state pays for it... does this mean the state pays for the care you received, and then you pay back the state?

That's called medicaid: https://www.cms.gov/MedicaidEligibility/

Technically they are insured. It's just taxpayer funded.

[ideliver]

Originally Posted by miiipilot

True. Plus it becomes everyone's problem. The hospitals have to charge more and more for services because they are not reimbursed 100% for treating the uninsured, which also causes the people who are insured to pay more. We pay higher costs to make up for some of costs associated with people that cant pay.

miiipilot

Charges don't matter. Only the contractual agreement that I have with the insurance company.

I could charge $1,000,000 for a delivery, I am still only going to get my contractual amount.

It is a complete fallacy that cost shifting to the insured occurs. The hospitals do get some federal money (called h-cap) but private physicians get only what the patient decides to pay.