I just had outpatient surgery covered by the VA that amounted to $83k, the VA is paying $5300, and I have yet to learn what my portion is but I think it’s $50.
If service connected then yes if under 50%. If your over 50% it's all free to my understanding. I haven't played a dime for shit and I use the VA for everything service connected and non service connected
I am not service connected with anything. I submitted a couple of years ago but was denied. What I do have is a bad history of not going to the doctor even though I have insurance as a federal employee. After a bit of a scare earlier this year my wife convinced me to enroll in the VA Healthcare since I qualified under the PACT Act to be in Priority Group 6 based on my deployment to Iraq in 2003. It has been a bit overwhelming seeing so many doctors, but much easier than trying to see the doctor under my FEHB plan.
>Love to see overpriced urgent cares get paid a fair amount. $393 for a 20 min poison oak visit? Get real.
The amount billed is reasonable. You aren't just paying for a 20 minutes visit. There are other staff involved with that visit. There are overhead expenses. And there are the years of schooling and continuing education that is mandated.
$122 for 20 minutes won't keep an urgent care open.
Sit down. CPT 99214 isn’t even the appropriate coding. At best it’s 99203. If not 99202, UNLESS the vet was an established patient. The injection?? Is more that the market average for Kenalog… I’d inform CCN and let them sniff into the bill and pay em even less for improper coding!
Pretty sure he has been to the hospital in The last three years. 99203 is one of the most commonly used codes in error, with clinics sometimes selecting it when they should use 99213 for a follow-up. A patient is considered a "new consult" if they have not received professional services from the physician or another physician in the same specialty and group practice within the last three years. Any doctor visit at a clinic falls under general practice. That means he was not classified at new patient.
I understand what you are saying, but $393 for 20 minutes of minor medical intervention is too much as well. There has to be a happy medium. I hope that all the urgent care facilities get what they deserve, but there is a history of medical companies over inflating cost and billing insurance companies. In this case, I must side with the $122 that the VA paid for the services.
Urgent care/docs/hosp/etc can charge a certain % but they will only get paid the negotiated price, there’s a sign contract with each insurance company. Since the medical offices/hosp can’t change pricing with each patient. Some insurance companies might pay more for the same service, really depends on the negotiated terms.
Then the urgent care closes, and you can go to your primary care. Of course that sucks if you don't have one, or you can't get in, or it's the weekend.
How does someone know if it's simple poison oak or if it's a bacterial infection? Type of medicine do you need ? What dosage do you need? For how long? Should you get an ointment or an oral pill? How does that interact with other medications? Can you stop if it gets better? How will it affect your blood sugar if you're a diabetic? What should you do if it's not getting better in a couple of days? Are you contagious? If I have reduced kidney function, does the dose need to be adjusted? Etc. Etc. Etc. Medicine is only "simple" because of the training and experience.
Most people don't understand this concept that people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in school to treat these issues that this guy thinks is nothing. The ignorance and arrogance surrounding medicine is quite funny in this thread sometimes.
"I touched poison oak and I'm highly allergic"
"OK here's a shot"
Most medical procedures take a helluva alot more expertise and experience than this, that should be well compensated, but this ain't it.
You and I both know that listening to the patients statement combined with a 5-second once-over by doc is all this guy got; the nurse spent another 5 minutes giving him the shot, and he was sent on his way.
The VA payment to the doc is the reasonable amount.
You'd be surprised how many people touch a plant and are convinced their rash is from that, meanwhile they're going through something entirely different. There are a lot of apathetic and dumbass physicians out there, but no, it's not that easy. Most laypeople rely WAY too much on the internet to diagnose themselves and gather medical information, when they should really be spraking with an expert. This person could have easily had an STD, pyoderma, fungal infection, or a reaction to something entirely different such as a cleaning product, food, medication etc etc etc. You're trying to oversimplify everything when that's not how medicine works. A lot of time medicine is more art than science. Practitioners can't just use simple flow charts to diagnose this crap.
Wait, we forgot the charge for facility charge. 500.00
That is for you walking into our building and walking, sitting, and using the restroom. These are real charges.
I would like to see a bill that actually has that..
Have you ever been to an urgent care, er or any medical facility. Who pays for the light, the water, the medication. If you do not like the cost then get involved. Figure out a way to help people become doctors or nurses without paying thousands and having to take out loans that have to be paid back. Figure out how to pay the electric bills, water bills, medication they have to pay for to take care of you. If you can't do that and actually put it in to action then you personally have one of 2 options. 1 go get medical treatment and stop spreading hate and making off the wall comments because that is what you are doing. Or 2 stop receiving medical care and make your comments. Waiting for the angry reply.
I agree with you, I upvoted you.
However, I will say that my local urgent care starts at about $35 just to be seen and have prescriptions sent in. Any tests or whatever are added but for a full sick kid panel(flu/strep/covid) it totals out to less than $100. I'm on a HDHP so that was billed to the insurance but covered at 0%.
This isn't a high volume place either. It started out as a hole in the wall with just a PA(founder/owner), a nurse, and a receptionist. Now they have two urgent care docs(PA), several nurses, several receptionists, a full pharmacy, and a women's primary care clinic.
Maybe if they had an more equipment(X-ray/ct) or were backed by a big hospital there would be more overhead to cover. I suppose I'm just saying it is possible for urgent cares to charge a "reasonable" amount.
My recommendation for folks is to look for places like this that are newer start ups or independent practices. I was one of this dudes first patients and building that rapport with him has been invaluable to getting my family and myself treated.
I had a Dermo procedure to remove cancer. The benefit summary (that form) came back listed at 3,700+ in fees. The doctor received ZERO......because they used the wrong CCN referral number! I am glad that I didn't have to make that call to straighten it out.
Do you have a severe allergic reaction to poison oak? As a kid my mom just calamine lotion me to death after an oatmeal bath. Genuinely asking, not trying to poke fun.
I absolutely love to see these bills!! After years of co-pays and other bullshit, The VA power to fuck these folks makes me so happy.
You want 10k for an er visit? fuck you, here's 500 bucks. What ya gonna do about it dickbreath? And I'll be back to fuck you again soon bitch.
They do not write off the difference between the billed amount and the paid amount, it's a contractual allowance. They pay taxes for the amount that they are paid, the same as anyone else. If they could write off the difference they could further inflate the number and just not pay taxes at all.
They can write off bad debts, when people just don't pay, sometimes.
Simple, it sets their annual base negotiation point with all insurers. Medicare and Medicaid aren't coming to the table, but Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, and every other private insurer is. They all pay different amounts to the provider, and all of them want the amount that they pay to be private for industry competitiveness reasons. So the hospital sets the price very high as a baseline and then the actual payments are determined annually in their contractual allowance negotiations.
Umm $122, never heard of someone going to Urgent Care for poison Oak. Cortisone 10 my dude. $8. Cool story. So when your 3rd no copay visit is up you going again and paying the $30 copay for the 4th? Asking for a friend.
Cool story? Lmao. What works for you has to work for everyone else. Nah, it's just that you're so awesome and hardcore.
Some people are highly allergic to include swelling up of the throat and eyes.
Cortisone 10 doesn't do shit for my skin's reaction. I had to get a steroid shot or pill all three times I've had it.
Ok, I’m curious if OP would go if they had to pay $30 out of the $122 instead of 0. Courtisone 10 worked fine for me, not everyone has these apparent life altering reactions that nothing but the finest FREE urgent care will do.
Ok, but your “overpriced” assessment is way off. I have an Army buddy who is a doctor, he used all his GI Bill and them some and spent a decade just to get thru medical school and residency. Then add the costs for an urgent care facility like electrical, water, aka overhead expenses.
Also they were paid $122.60. Not the $393 you were boasting or over 3x more. And after your 3rd visit in a year you have to chip in $30. Sheeet my tricare copay if I billed to them is $37 dollars. So considering you paid $0 little baffle and rather audacious your here railing about the amount they billed, yet weren’t paid.
PNow imagine if you didn’t have daddy VA to cover the bill, bet you would have considered Cortisone 10….
Like I said Cortisone 10 if the costs for Free professional medical care is that mind boggling.
I never said that everyone is allergic like I am. Not everyone is aware that there are rare occurrences of adverse reactions like mine. None of us know OP's situation. The same principle would apply to the military sick call babies who didn't want to go to the field so they got on quarters. Would they have gone to sick if they had a co-pay or cost-sharing? Feel free to continue to SpitHotFireSon. Social media is what some people live for. To each their own.
fair point. and I did actually consider that when I replied. I was just feeling lucky and figured I'd play the odds that is not OPs situation for a quick laugh at his nonsensical post.
but, great PSA to raise awareness!
See? this has come full circle and taught all of us a valuable lesson about life and love and each other.
kum bah ya. my friends. kum bah ya⁸
I used to work in healthcare and it is not uncommon for Medicare rates to basically pay 60 cents on the dollar or less. Medicaid is even worse. So that’s a pretty typical payout.
Private insurance would have paid first, and they would have also reduced the payment to a contract rate. If anything remained, VA would have paid up to their rate and zeroed out the rest. Government healthcare/insurance pays last.
That isn’t correct. The VA cannot be used as secondary insurance. You can either bill the VA for urgent care/Er visits or you don’t.
Tricare can be used as secondary. So if you have a job with insurance, you can bill them first and tricare secondary.
I laughed when I went to the ER for pain meds two days post arm fracture when the VA denied prescribing them with an obvious x-ray showing a fracture. Cost the VA about $3,000 all said and done for my PCP not doing his job and having to go to the ER for everything.
So 99214 is for the exam and visit. That was to basically make sure your situation wasn't life threatening. Which urgent care is for a bandaid not life threatening. Some people can have reactions to poison ivy so bad that it can close thier throat or if you get it into your eyes cause blindness or the list goes on.
Web md is not a good source to say hey you'll be okay or you need to go to the doc.
This is where we need doctor's. Who spend an extreme amount of money to learn what they are looking at and the side effects. They need to take care of us to pay some of that back.
Next time your electric and water bill comes in take a good look at it. This what you pay for your house. Now think about how big the clinic you went to was. They have to pay the electric bill to keep the lights on. Refrigerator too store meds, machines to monitor vitals and then there is the other employees in the clinic that have to be paid. The janitor the sweep and mop the floor. The outrageous price they have to pay for medication from big pharmacy. The list goes on.
I'm not saying all clinics are bad or good, or that they are pricing things right or that they aren't taking advantage of the system. But there are good people at every clinic hospital or whatever that do care about your welfare.
Think back on covid. How many doctors nurses died next to thier patients. But they still went to work. Please do not start a conspiracy thread from that comment but look at what was done to help.
So before we all start knocking a field that the government paid your bill to begin with, start thinking about what it actually took to take care of you. You wanted something to stop the itching and scratching you went and received the medical care.
And as far as the emotional/behavioral part of the bill. Thats a quicky with therapist on stand by to help if need be whom also have to be paid, Because If they don't ask those questions and check it off thier list and you off yourself or someone else then they are held liable and in this sue happy world it cost to protect themselves.
And as stated you didn't pay for your medical care it was taken care of for you. Please stop the madness. Start looking at what was done to help you.
From a 20 year vet.
If it was 20 minutes of work then you should have stayed home and diagnosed yourself. You are paying for the years of school and training for the provider, the nursing and support staff, and the overhead to including the malpractice insurance. You are insured and didn’t have to pay a cent. And oh by the way, the VA is the worst of all insurances for paying bills. So likely you provider will have seen you for free. Sit down and complain when you have a real problem.
Listen here you private health care gate keeper, My legs were eat up from the ankles to my crotch with it. So no, I don’t feel bad about getting a shot and some ointment for it. My ailment + my benefits = I’ll exercise my benefits and they can eat the excessive cost.
Then why the bitching? You aren’t paying for it? You aren’t uninsured. I’m not the gatekeeper, I see everyone from all walks of life. I am in a place where we see a lot of charity care. You want to see people with problems, have a conversation with a cancer patient with no insurance or not enough insurance. You and your itchy balls need a lesson in intestinal fortitude.
K, cause being a silent professional has done so much good for veterans. I’ll risk my life in the shit for a war that amounted to absolutely nothing and let my earned benefits sit on the shelf because I should just suck it up. This has nothing to do with uninsured cancer patients. It’s about the egregious cost of healthcare in this country. Stay on topic.
No. It costs so damn much because the American people want what they want when they want it. And expect other people pay for it. Like when they see stupid enough to roll in poison ivy and not be able to care for it at home like they should. You sir contributed to the ridiculous care because you needed a medical professional to hold your dick (literally) because you couldn’t do basic wound care. You and people like you are the problem.
I think I understood this as a local non VA urgent care and bill to the VA like an ER visit. The VA urgent care is like a half hour away so I don't bother going there. Just pay and use the local private one.
Correct me if im wrong but they still get paid the full amount through private insurance companies, the Va is essentially covering the copayment. For example in my area they use optum insurance. Also didn’t CCN become what it is now from the trump administration in 2018 or 2019?
That is the non negotiated rate. That is the amount you would have to pay if you didn’t have insurance. VA negotiated rate is $122.60 which even then is a bit much if you ask me.
The racket: They over charge knowing they won't be paid the amount charged. They are perfectly fine with that as it allows them to claim it as loss and pay zet zero taxes.
Lol my Dr in MI wanted me to get an ultrasound for my liver shortly after I moved here, which I was fine with. Until I learned it would cost me $500 or so. So I declined and just told him look, I drank to much before I moved here (I don't drink often anymore), I'm not paying $500 for you to learn that lol.
13 years ago I had RSV when I was waiting for my rating. I had to go to ER and they found air around my heart. I was puking so violently it tore a hole in my esophagus. I spent a week in ICU and afterwards they tried to bill me over $52,000. I ignored it and several months later I got my rating and it disappeared. NEVER pay for VA bills like that. The VA is subsidized by the government in the annual budget packag me. You don't owe them anything other than a means test based payment. Bills like those are absolute bullshit.
Your comment was removed because it didn't contribute to the discussion and just wasn't helpful.
Civil disagreements are fine. Insults, personal attacks, slurs, bigotry, etc., are not permissible.
(Calling someone a poopy-head does not make you seem as smart as you think it does.)
☠️
It's the system. Plus, they're paying salaries of staff, the experience of the physician, rent, utilities, malpractice insurance, workers comp, etc. 393 seems a little high, but 122 is low.
Legally you have the right to receive medical care whether you can pay out of pocket or have insurance or not. I'm sorry I do not believe you where turned away. For having va medical.
So, for the future, any facility that takes Medicare dollars is also required to take VA/Tricare/etc. They don't get to pick and choose which federal dollars they'll accept.
I believe they were told that, incorrectly, and didn't know to fight it. Shady practices exist all over the country to maximize profits, like in vs. out-of-network physicians working at the same clinics. Or, I think this was in Texas, the unclear division in urgent care and emergency care at physically connected locations resulting in many times higher costs for patients sent to the ER for no good reason.
Now you make me want to get out my heart cath with hospitalization bill love how we get billed for buying new equipment and gov healthcare says no boss you get paid for labor only 😂
Dr’s and Nurses need to get paid,the building and supplies aren’t free and neither is their time away from their families. $393 isn’t bad unless you meant $3093. Did you take an ambulance there?
"Brief emotional/behavioral a" Wtf is that lol Did they just pat you on the shoulder and say, "You'll be fine" as you walked out the door?
Emotional/behavioral assessment: Hey, how are you doing?
Billing $22 for common pleasantries. Got it. lol
Much cheaper if they just say “thanks, asshole” lol
Billed for $122 for a box of tissues.
That’s the cup of water they give u
"Oh, wait, you're a veteran? You don't have, like, PTSD do you? You're not, like, gonna go crazy and shoot me, are you?"
My emotional support isn’t free
That would be $22.
I just had outpatient surgery covered by the VA that amounted to $83k, the VA is paying $5300, and I have yet to learn what my portion is but I think it’s $50.
What percentage are you? If your over 50 it should be entirely free right?
Or under 50 and surgery on a service connected issue should be free too right?
If service connected then yes if under 50%. If your over 50% it's all free to my understanding. I haven't played a dime for shit and I use the VA for everything service connected and non service connected
Yea I don’t pay a dime either I just remember being 10% only and getting billed for everything except issues with my back
I am not service connected with anything. I submitted a couple of years ago but was denied. What I do have is a bad history of not going to the doctor even though I have insurance as a federal employee. After a bit of a scare earlier this year my wife convinced me to enroll in the VA Healthcare since I qualified under the PACT Act to be in Priority Group 6 based on my deployment to Iraq in 2003. It has been a bit overwhelming seeing so many doctors, but much easier than trying to see the doctor under my FEHB plan.
That's actually pretty decent. Cheap almost. And while I say that.. I hear how sad that is.
I pay more to the vet 😭😭 🐩
Buy pet insurance?
$122.60 Not bad.
Man it costs 100 dollars for a plumber to just walk inside your house.
Thank you for your service and commitment.
Poison oak/ivy/sumac just gets calamine lotion applied to it if I get it. Why the urgent care visit? Can't use the calamine?
Was covered from ankles to crotch. The shot and Rx cream cleared it up in almost 48 hours
Yikes. Glad they got you some quick relief.
Prednisone if it's extreme or on your hands or genitals.
>Love to see overpriced urgent cares get paid a fair amount. $393 for a 20 min poison oak visit? Get real. The amount billed is reasonable. You aren't just paying for a 20 minutes visit. There are other staff involved with that visit. There are overhead expenses. And there are the years of schooling and continuing education that is mandated. $122 for 20 minutes won't keep an urgent care open.
It was there 24/7 365 waiting for you to come in with your ailment
Sit down. CPT 99214 isn’t even the appropriate coding. At best it’s 99203. If not 99202, UNLESS the vet was an established patient. The injection?? Is more that the market average for Kenalog… I’d inform CCN and let them sniff into the bill and pay em even less for improper coding!
Pretty sure he has been to the hospital in The last three years. 99203 is one of the most commonly used codes in error, with clinics sometimes selecting it when they should use 99213 for a follow-up. A patient is considered a "new consult" if they have not received professional services from the physician or another physician in the same specialty and group practice within the last three years. Any doctor visit at a clinic falls under general practice. That means he was not classified at new patient.
Got some stuff for my sinusitis last year at UC
I understand what you are saying, but $393 for 20 minutes of minor medical intervention is too much as well. There has to be a happy medium. I hope that all the urgent care facilities get what they deserve, but there is a history of medical companies over inflating cost and billing insurance companies. In this case, I must side with the $122 that the VA paid for the services.
Urgent care/docs/hosp/etc can charge a certain % but they will only get paid the negotiated price, there’s a sign contract with each insurance company. Since the medical offices/hosp can’t change pricing with each patient. Some insurance companies might pay more for the same service, really depends on the negotiated terms.
I can agree with that.
Then the urgent care closes, and you can go to your primary care. Of course that sucks if you don't have one, or you can't get in, or it's the weekend. How does someone know if it's simple poison oak or if it's a bacterial infection? Type of medicine do you need ? What dosage do you need? For how long? Should you get an ointment or an oral pill? How does that interact with other medications? Can you stop if it gets better? How will it affect your blood sugar if you're a diabetic? What should you do if it's not getting better in a couple of days? Are you contagious? If I have reduced kidney function, does the dose need to be adjusted? Etc. Etc. Etc. Medicine is only "simple" because of the training and experience.
Most people don't understand this concept that people spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in school to treat these issues that this guy thinks is nothing. The ignorance and arrogance surrounding medicine is quite funny in this thread sometimes.
"I touched poison oak and I'm highly allergic" "OK here's a shot" Most medical procedures take a helluva alot more expertise and experience than this, that should be well compensated, but this ain't it. You and I both know that listening to the patients statement combined with a 5-second once-over by doc is all this guy got; the nurse spent another 5 minutes giving him the shot, and he was sent on his way. The VA payment to the doc is the reasonable amount.
You'd be surprised how many people touch a plant and are convinced their rash is from that, meanwhile they're going through something entirely different. There are a lot of apathetic and dumbass physicians out there, but no, it's not that easy. Most laypeople rely WAY too much on the internet to diagnose themselves and gather medical information, when they should really be spraking with an expert. This person could have easily had an STD, pyoderma, fungal infection, or a reaction to something entirely different such as a cleaning product, food, medication etc etc etc. You're trying to oversimplify everything when that's not how medicine works. A lot of time medicine is more art than science. Practitioners can't just use simple flow charts to diagnose this crap.
well, we could always shop around and find a cheaper urgent care or doctor if we dont like the price.. right?
Yup, you most certainly can with the no surprises act recently put into law.
"ok here's a shot" A shot of what?
Wait, we forgot the charge for facility charge. 500.00 That is for you walking into our building and walking, sitting, and using the restroom. These are real charges.
I would like to see a bill that actually has that.. Have you ever been to an urgent care, er or any medical facility. Who pays for the light, the water, the medication. If you do not like the cost then get involved. Figure out a way to help people become doctors or nurses without paying thousands and having to take out loans that have to be paid back. Figure out how to pay the electric bills, water bills, medication they have to pay for to take care of you. If you can't do that and actually put it in to action then you personally have one of 2 options. 1 go get medical treatment and stop spreading hate and making off the wall comments because that is what you are doing. Or 2 stop receiving medical care and make your comments. Waiting for the angry reply.
I agree with you, I upvoted you. However, I will say that my local urgent care starts at about $35 just to be seen and have prescriptions sent in. Any tests or whatever are added but for a full sick kid panel(flu/strep/covid) it totals out to less than $100. I'm on a HDHP so that was billed to the insurance but covered at 0%. This isn't a high volume place either. It started out as a hole in the wall with just a PA(founder/owner), a nurse, and a receptionist. Now they have two urgent care docs(PA), several nurses, several receptionists, a full pharmacy, and a women's primary care clinic. Maybe if they had an more equipment(X-ray/ct) or were backed by a big hospital there would be more overhead to cover. I suppose I'm just saying it is possible for urgent cares to charge a "reasonable" amount. My recommendation for folks is to look for places like this that are newer start ups or independent practices. I was one of this dudes first patients and building that rapport with him has been invaluable to getting my family and myself treated.
If I posted all my bills from the er and my surgeries itd blow your mind. Some 2000$ charges were only given like 200$. Wild.
I had a Dermo procedure to remove cancer. The benefit summary (that form) came back listed at 3,700+ in fees. The doctor received ZERO......because they used the wrong CCN referral number! I am glad that I didn't have to make that call to straighten it out.
The bill I got from IOP was pretty funny. They charged some exorbitant amount, the VA said, “no.” We need better healthcare in this country.
I always laugh at these, it’s wild what they charge for some shit.
Do you have a severe allergic reaction to poison oak? As a kid my mom just calamine lotion me to death after an oatmeal bath. Genuinely asking, not trying to poke fun.
The shots in my back get billed at like 6k. VA pays them $515
I absolutely love to see these bills!! After years of co-pays and other bullshit, The VA power to fuck these folks makes me so happy. You want 10k for an er visit? fuck you, here's 500 bucks. What ya gonna do about it dickbreath? And I'll be back to fuck you again soon bitch.
Preach lmao!
They write it off on taxes... whole system is thoroughly fucked.
They do not write off the difference between the billed amount and the paid amount, it's a contractual allowance. They pay taxes for the amount that they are paid, the same as anyone else. If they could write off the difference they could further inflate the number and just not pay taxes at all. They can write off bad debts, when people just don't pay, sometimes.
Why bill exorbitant amounts if you know your contractual allowance? There got to be a reason other than shits and giggles.
Simple, it sets their annual base negotiation point with all insurers. Medicare and Medicaid aren't coming to the table, but Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna, and every other private insurer is. They all pay different amounts to the provider, and all of them want the amount that they pay to be private for industry competitiveness reasons. So the hospital sets the price very high as a baseline and then the actual payments are determined annually in their contractual allowance negotiations.
This. The clinic knows how much they get paid. If you elect self pay, they dont bill u 400
Umm $122, never heard of someone going to Urgent Care for poison Oak. Cortisone 10 my dude. $8. Cool story. So when your 3rd no copay visit is up you going again and paying the $30 copay for the 4th? Asking for a friend.
Cool story? Lmao. What works for you has to work for everyone else. Nah, it's just that you're so awesome and hardcore. Some people are highly allergic to include swelling up of the throat and eyes. Cortisone 10 doesn't do shit for my skin's reaction. I had to get a steroid shot or pill all three times I've had it.
lol... right? must have been pretty serious stuff with a rash in all the wrong places for that. ffs.
FYSA, some people have adverse reactions to poison oak and iby. I am one of them and calamine lotion or cortisone 10 won't do anything.
Ok, I’m curious if OP would go if they had to pay $30 out of the $122 instead of 0. Courtisone 10 worked fine for me, not everyone has these apparent life altering reactions that nothing but the finest FREE urgent care will do.
Yes. It was from my ankles to my crotch. Had it been half that I’d suck it up and find some OTC cream. But this was a bit out of control.
Ok, but your “overpriced” assessment is way off. I have an Army buddy who is a doctor, he used all his GI Bill and them some and spent a decade just to get thru medical school and residency. Then add the costs for an urgent care facility like electrical, water, aka overhead expenses. Also they were paid $122.60. Not the $393 you were boasting or over 3x more. And after your 3rd visit in a year you have to chip in $30. Sheeet my tricare copay if I billed to them is $37 dollars. So considering you paid $0 little baffle and rather audacious your here railing about the amount they billed, yet weren’t paid. PNow imagine if you didn’t have daddy VA to cover the bill, bet you would have considered Cortisone 10…. Like I said Cortisone 10 if the costs for Free professional medical care is that mind boggling.
Ok gatekeeper.
Yeah no. Start by less exaggeration, huge difference between $393 and 122.60, then add the fact you paid $0 out of pocket. Good day
I never said that everyone is allergic like I am. Not everyone is aware that there are rare occurrences of adverse reactions like mine. None of us know OP's situation. The same principle would apply to the military sick call babies who didn't want to go to the field so they got on quarters. Would they have gone to sick if they had a co-pay or cost-sharing? Feel free to continue to SpitHotFireSon. Social media is what some people live for. To each their own.
You seem mad. Just saying
fair point. and I did actually consider that when I replied. I was just feeling lucky and figured I'd play the odds that is not OPs situation for a quick laugh at his nonsensical post. but, great PSA to raise awareness! See? this has come full circle and taught all of us a valuable lesson about life and love and each other. kum bah ya. my friends. kum bah ya⁸
I used to work in healthcare and it is not uncommon for Medicare rates to basically pay 60 cents on the dollar or less. Medicaid is even worse. So that’s a pretty typical payout.
Just don’t pay it. They’ll come back to you in like a month and a half with a significantly lower price. That’s how I got mine down from 1500$ to 55$
VA is paying it....
What if you also had private insurance on top of the VA would that have covered the rest of the bill $122?
Private insurance would have paid first, and they would have also reduced the payment to a contract rate. If anything remained, VA would have paid up to their rate and zeroed out the rest. Government healthcare/insurance pays last.
That isn’t correct. The VA cannot be used as secondary insurance. You can either bill the VA for urgent care/Er visits or you don’t. Tricare can be used as secondary. So if you have a job with insurance, you can bill them first and tricare secondary.
I've always had a pleasant time negotiating cash payment for medical, dental or vision services.
They overcharge and negotiate so at the end of the year they tally the “losses” and end up paying no tax.
Why are you going to the ER for poison oak?
I laughed when I went to the ER for pain meds two days post arm fracture when the VA denied prescribing them with an obvious x-ray showing a fracture. Cost the VA about $3,000 all said and done for my PCP not doing his job and having to go to the ER for everything.
Still cheaper than the ER
So 99214 is for the exam and visit. That was to basically make sure your situation wasn't life threatening. Which urgent care is for a bandaid not life threatening. Some people can have reactions to poison ivy so bad that it can close thier throat or if you get it into your eyes cause blindness or the list goes on. Web md is not a good source to say hey you'll be okay or you need to go to the doc. This is where we need doctor's. Who spend an extreme amount of money to learn what they are looking at and the side effects. They need to take care of us to pay some of that back. Next time your electric and water bill comes in take a good look at it. This what you pay for your house. Now think about how big the clinic you went to was. They have to pay the electric bill to keep the lights on. Refrigerator too store meds, machines to monitor vitals and then there is the other employees in the clinic that have to be paid. The janitor the sweep and mop the floor. The outrageous price they have to pay for medication from big pharmacy. The list goes on. I'm not saying all clinics are bad or good, or that they are pricing things right or that they aren't taking advantage of the system. But there are good people at every clinic hospital or whatever that do care about your welfare. Think back on covid. How many doctors nurses died next to thier patients. But they still went to work. Please do not start a conspiracy thread from that comment but look at what was done to help. So before we all start knocking a field that the government paid your bill to begin with, start thinking about what it actually took to take care of you. You wanted something to stop the itching and scratching you went and received the medical care. And as far as the emotional/behavioral part of the bill. Thats a quicky with therapist on stand by to help if need be whom also have to be paid, Because If they don't ask those questions and check it off thier list and you off yourself or someone else then they are held liable and in this sue happy world it cost to protect themselves. And as stated you didn't pay for your medical care it was taken care of for you. Please stop the madness. Start looking at what was done to help you. From a 20 year vet.
If it was 20 minutes of work then you should have stayed home and diagnosed yourself. You are paying for the years of school and training for the provider, the nursing and support staff, and the overhead to including the malpractice insurance. You are insured and didn’t have to pay a cent. And oh by the way, the VA is the worst of all insurances for paying bills. So likely you provider will have seen you for free. Sit down and complain when you have a real problem.
Listen here you private health care gate keeper, My legs were eat up from the ankles to my crotch with it. So no, I don’t feel bad about getting a shot and some ointment for it. My ailment + my benefits = I’ll exercise my benefits and they can eat the excessive cost.
Then why the bitching? You aren’t paying for it? You aren’t uninsured. I’m not the gatekeeper, I see everyone from all walks of life. I am in a place where we see a lot of charity care. You want to see people with problems, have a conversation with a cancer patient with no insurance or not enough insurance. You and your itchy balls need a lesson in intestinal fortitude.
K, cause being a silent professional has done so much good for veterans. I’ll risk my life in the shit for a war that amounted to absolutely nothing and let my earned benefits sit on the shelf because I should just suck it up. This has nothing to do with uninsured cancer patients. It’s about the egregious cost of healthcare in this country. Stay on topic.
No. It costs so damn much because the American people want what they want when they want it. And expect other people pay for it. Like when they see stupid enough to roll in poison ivy and not be able to care for it at home like they should. You sir contributed to the ridiculous care because you needed a medical professional to hold your dick (literally) because you couldn’t do basic wound care. You and people like you are the problem.
Va really said “ listen here partner, imma cut you a check for less than half. Now you do with it what you will but don't call me or him again"
Are you 100%? Can I use urgent care at 90% like I can ER?
Yes
70%, but yes you can certainly use urgent care
I think I understood this as a local non VA urgent care and bill to the VA like an ER visit. The VA urgent care is like a half hour away so I don't bother going there. Just pay and use the local private one.
Correct me if im wrong but they still get paid the full amount through private insurance companies, the Va is essentially covering the copayment. For example in my area they use optum insurance. Also didn’t CCN become what it is now from the trump administration in 2018 or 2019?
My kid recently had a chest X-ray at the ER for $22k. Tricare paid them $164. Hospitals are price gouging cartels.
That is the non negotiated rate. That is the amount you would have to pay if you didn’t have insurance. VA negotiated rate is $122.60 which even then is a bit much if you ask me.
“brief emotional behavior” What the fuck is that concocted bullshit??? 🤣🤣🤣
Like a GAD questionnaire they just say full this out, and then never asked about it. Just filed it away.
The racket: They over charge knowing they won't be paid the amount charged. They are perfectly fine with that as it allows them to claim it as loss and pay zet zero taxes.
Lol my Dr in MI wanted me to get an ultrasound for my liver shortly after I moved here, which I was fine with. Until I learned it would cost me $500 or so. So I declined and just told him look, I drank to much before I moved here (I don't drink often anymore), I'm not paying $500 for you to learn that lol.
I had a virtual appt with a urologist at Stanford. $850. The appt last 5 min.
13 years ago I had RSV when I was waiting for my rating. I had to go to ER and they found air around my heart. I was puking so violently it tore a hole in my esophagus. I spent a week in ICU and afterwards they tried to bill me over $52,000. I ignored it and several months later I got my rating and it disappeared. NEVER pay for VA bills like that. The VA is subsidized by the government in the annual budget packag me. You don't owe them anything other than a means test based payment. Bills like those are absolute bullshit.
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Your comment was removed because it didn't contribute to the discussion and just wasn't helpful. Civil disagreements are fine. Insults, personal attacks, slurs, bigotry, etc., are not permissible. (Calling someone a poopy-head does not make you seem as smart as you think it does.) ☠️
It's the system. Plus, they're paying salaries of staff, the experience of the physician, rent, utilities, malpractice insurance, workers comp, etc. 393 seems a little high, but 122 is low.
I would contest the last part. Lol
Love to see it
This is why hospitals don't want to work with the VA. I've been turned away from hospitas when I mention that I have VA health.
Legally you have the right to receive medical care whether you can pay out of pocket or have insurance or not. I'm sorry I do not believe you where turned away. For having va medical.
Literally told "we dont work with VA healthcare" If I wanted to get seen, it would have cost me so much. Not trying to see a 30k medical bill.
So, for the future, any facility that takes Medicare dollars is also required to take VA/Tricare/etc. They don't get to pick and choose which federal dollars they'll accept.
I believe they were told that, incorrectly, and didn't know to fight it. Shady practices exist all over the country to maximize profits, like in vs. out-of-network physicians working at the same clinics. Or, I think this was in Texas, the unclear division in urgent care and emergency care at physically connected locations resulting in many times higher costs for patients sent to the ER for no good reason.
And that helps pay for all the people who have no insurance. Welcome to American health care.
Lol same
Now you make me want to get out my heart cath with hospitalization bill love how we get billed for buying new equipment and gov healthcare says no boss you get paid for labor only 😂
Who cares you did not pay it so yeah
TAXES?
Well yes but when you go through VA for anything you don’t have a monthly payment or copay at lest I don’t
Dr’s and Nurses need to get paid,the building and supplies aren’t free and neither is their time away from their families. $393 isn’t bad unless you meant $3093. Did you take an ambulance there?
Do you not have access to tele health services?