Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Thursday, October 01, 2009

At a conference today . . .

I don't know whether they will grant me connection to Your Intertubes. If they do, and anything mildly interesting is going on, I'll post something. If I don't, you know why. Or rather, I do have something to say but it might not happen until late today.

1 comment:

kathy a. said...

grr. last week, i fretted about my son's illness and noted that his doctor's office [and the medical foundation of which it is a part] has a 40% discount for "self-pay" for the uninsured, which still ain't cheap but it's something. today, i got a bill for that other 40%. apparently their billing system processes the discrepency between amount paid and the usual charge *before* it processes the waiver of the 40%.

i'm assured that will be cleared up [knock wood], but to me, it's another example of how for-profit insurance schemes have twisted health care: the patient gets screwed, and has to take action to correct the problem. i could easily see overlooking a bill like this since i know i paid the agreed amount in full, and then ending up in collection; i can also see patients throwing up their hands and paying, either out of confusion or because they aren't up for a fight.

this was the medical group's screw-up, but my speculation is that "bill early and often" is a consequence of their difficulties getting insurance to pay.