patrick.net

If you like Obama's health care legacy then you can fight Blue Cross and Etna to keep fucking you hard when we repeal it like a cheap Purple suit.

But a growing chorus of medical experts object to Anthem’s new policy. “It’s inappropriate and dangerous to ask patients to determine whether chest pain is just indigestion or a heart attack,” says David Barbe, M.D., president of the American Medical Association. Anthem’s policy, he says, “is a threat to a patient’s health and threatens them economically too.”

"When she took her blood pressure and found it spiking to 190/120 (normal for her is 120/90), she had her husband race her to the emergency room a few miles away from their home in Lexington, Ky.

Fister-Mesch was relieved when a CT scan at the hospital found she wasn’t having a stroke but suffering from bacterial mastoiditis, a serious but treatable inner ear infection. The 54-year-old was given pain killers, an antibiotic prescription, and sent home.

But her relief was short-lived. A few weeks later, she got a letter from her insurer, Anthem, saying that it wouldn’t cover the $4,300 ER bill because her condition didn’t meet the company’s definition of a true emergency. Instead, they said she should have called the insurer’s 24/7 online doctor service or have gone to her doctor’s office or to an urgent care center."

Whats next? You can only go to the emergency room if you are unconscious, or already dead.
Fucking brilliant. How is an average person to know if they are about to die.

When was going to the ER free?

Booger says

When was going to the ER free?

My mistake. Thank you for the correction.

So if you suspect you are having a heart attack, you should wait till you are sure and then go to the doctor??

meanwhile an illegal can go the ER for the cold and not pay and walk out?

Strategist says

But her relief was short-lived. A few weeks later, she got a letter from her insurer, Anthem, saying that it wouldn’t cover the $4,300 ER bill because her condition didn’t meet the company’s definition of a true emergency. Instead, they said she should have called the insurer’s 24/7 online doctor service or have gone to her doctor’s office or to an urgent care center."

No way an insurer is going to convince a court that 190/120 BP isn't ER worthy.

Patrick says

But a growing chorus of medical experts object to Anthem’s new policy. “It’s inappropriate and dangerous to ask patients to determine whether chest pain is just indigestion or a heart attack,” says David Barbe, M.D., president of the American Medical Association. Anthem’s policy, he says, “is a threat to a patient’s health and threatens them economically too.”

Because lawsuits against Anthem are cheaper???

zzyzzx says

Because lawsuits against Anthem are cheaper???

Some bean counter probably figured only a relatively small percentage fight, so it would make them money.

What they don't count on is that the more common the practice of denying becomes, the more lawyers will take these cases on contingency.

WarrenTheApe says

Booger says

When was going to the ER free?

For people on government insurance (government workers and those on Medicare), it mostly is.

Yep, some people pay, others reap the benefits. It's a "system" they say....