- Debt and more debt:
The long run unfunded liability in Social Security is $65.9 trillion. That is $4.1 trillion higher than it was in last year’s Trustees Report. We would not be able to cover the current federal deficit plus the increase in Social Security debt even if we doubled the income tax!
- How computer programs determine how much pain medication you are allowed to have:
Algorithms like NarxCare and a newly-approved genetic test for opioid use disorder risk known as AvertD, use machine learning techniques to try to help doctors reduce the odds that patients will become addicted to these medications.
Via NarxCare, most Americans now have an opaque equivalent of a controlled substance credit score, which they often don’t even know exists unless a doctor or pharmacist tells them that it’s a problem….
Even accurate scores can do harm, since addiction is stigmatized and often criminalized. Some people have been expelled from physicians’ practices for having high NarxCare scores, with no way of appealing the decision. Others were denied post-surgical opioids by nurses or turned away from multiple pharmacies, with little recourse
- What happens when employees go out of network:
Weeks after undergoing heart surgery, Gail Lawson found herself back in an operating room. Her incision wasn’t healing, and an infection was spreading.
But the doctor was not in her insurance plan’s network of providers, leaving his bill open to negotiation by her insurer. Once back on her feet, Ms. Lawson received a letter from the insurer, UnitedHealthcare, advising that Dr. Rabinowitz would be paid $5,449.27 — a small fraction of what he had billed the insurance company. That left Ms. Lawson with a bill of more than $100,000.
This is the new norm.
Blue Cross has developed another revenue stream by lowballing out-of-network claims because they get a percentage of claims the employer doesn’t pay. This amount isn’t considered “Premiums” for the Obamacare laws. These insurers are smart as they sucker the public.
Algona, Iowa schools sell teachers Blue Cross for 1 child for $1,148/month!
The American public would freak out about Iowa schools but not one of the PhDs who write about Obamacare will mention prices because they don’t have software. These uninformed PhDs like to average prices they get from KFF so they always know nothing and say nothing.
Trump’s PPO is $69/month for the $10,000 deductible in Algona for a child. The $5,000 is $103/month and the $2,500 deductible then 100% coverage is $136/month.
Of course Trump’s PPO is OUTLAWED on 8/31/24 because it’s too cheap and less than Obamacare. It’s like a GIANT Government special on low-cost insurance! Hurry, just days left!
Would the teachers prefer to pay $69/month for Trump’s PPO or $1,149/month for Blue Cross Monopoly? It’s like an IQ Test right?
The story about the woman who had surgery out of network and was charged $100,000….
there might be more to this story.
If her surgery was emergency — and a second heart surgery can be an emergency, believe me, I have had such surgery — anyways, if it was an emergency, all she owes is the normal network rate.
If I ran the circus, we would solve problems like this with mandatory assignment. If the surgeon agrees to take the case, he must accept what the insurance company offers him.