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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (34860)	3/4/2014 9:57:47 PM
From: i-node	1 Recommendation Recommended By Brumar89 Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

>> You're suggesting that patients (customers) aren't checking or don't know what they're being billed for??? You aren't. Probably not 1 in 100, outside of people in the health care business, have any clue the difference among various levels of E&M codes. They see "99214" and "81001" and have no idea what either of those codes means. They certainly don't know the difference between 99214 and 99212. And most don't even know that one bills at a higher price than the other. Since they aren't paying it anyway. So, of course I'm suggesting that patients aren't checking, don't know, and I'll add "don't care" what they're being billed for. >> Do you have evidence to cite that shows costs rising dramatically??? I thought the rate of increase was slowing.. The only evidence I have is me telling you. The rate of increase in costs have been slowing for a long time -- something like six years now (well before Obamacare). But the per-visit cost of physician care is going up as a direct result of idiots like Zeke Emanuel totally misunderstanding the economics of health care and, as a result, pushing this EHR nonsense.

To: J_F_Shepard who wrote (34860)	3/5/2014 10:14:28 AM
From: Lane3	1 Recommendation Recommended By Ben Smith Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 42652

You're suggesting that patients (customers) aren't checking or don't know what they're being billed for??? Despite the fact that their insurance company sends them a record of the visit... When I was first in Medicare I read the CMS reports. Found that Medicare was billed for "multiple genital warts" when what was removed was one wart on my finger. I tried to report it without success. No one at CMS/Medicare was interested. In that case I could easily see where the billing was for something more expensive. Most of the time you could not tell. How do you know when you are billed for a "complex thingamajig" that your particular one was complex rather than moderate or simple? The chances of being caught in this fraud are slim, not unless you are billing an unusually large number of a particular red-flag item. And now the number of codes has grown dramatically. I have not seen any but I bet the description is not as easily understandable as "wart."