They're really cheapy shoes. ... Still, you should see what my insurance company paid for the first set. It's criminal.
That's why I thought they'd be so expensive. I mean, in the hospital they'll charge $19 for "mucus-handling devices" and it's a tiny box of tissues -- and cheap, scratchy ones, at that! A hospital bill auditor saw a charge for FRED on medical bills across the country (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/sns-yourmoney-1009spending,1,4807585.story) and discovered it was an acronym for Fog Reduction Elimination Device. In English, that's a 2-inch-square piece of gauze treated with anti-fog solution used to wipe lenses of equipment in the operating room. "First of all, they can't bill it," Johnson said. "Second, it cost them maybe a penny and a half, and they're billing it at $57." !!
Someone recently told me that she got out of the hospital and checked her bill, and found all sorts of phony charges -- not just $19 tissues, but things she never even had at all (like the woman who was charged $125 for a circumcision last year after the birth of her child (http://www.crodr.org/main/content/display_report.jsp?WebLogicSession=RHNf4KvKttps00Rm2oNtApY2RPrsfSphcw7zcMYaMenX9uTcPXt8|-6477329549567279854/-1407922420/6/7005/7005/7002/7002/7005/-1&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=344725&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=333147&bmUID=1148411872559). It would have been a reasonable amount ... except that she had a baby girl!) My friend said she went over the bill with a fine-tooth comb and documented all the fake charges, and then contacted her insurance company, assuming the company would challenge the bill. Nope. The insurance company said they'd already paid it, and was totally uninterested in pursuing it!
If you multiply the hundreds of dollars my friend was charged for procedures and items she didn't have by the number of patients the insurance company covers, it must be millions or even billions in overcharges. And the insurance companies just don't care -- they just raise their rates and we end up paying enormous premiums while the insurance companies and hospitals are fat, dumb and happy. Why do you think both -- which were historically nonprofit organizations -- are privatizing and switching to for-profit companies at such a rapid clip?! They're both raking in the bucks, and we're caught in the middle.
Sorry about the rant, CJ! This just pushed my buttons!
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That's why I thought they'd be so expensive. I mean, in the hospital they'll charge $19 for "mucus-handling devices" and it's a tiny box of tissues -- and cheap, scratchy ones, at that! A hospital bill auditor saw a charge for FRED on medical bills across the country (http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/sns-yourmoney-1009spending,1,4807585.story) and discovered it was an acronym for Fog Reduction Elimination Device. In English, that's a 2-inch-square piece of gauze treated with anti-fog solution used to wipe lenses of equipment in the operating room. "First of all, they can't bill it," Johnson said. "Second, it cost them maybe a penny and a half, and they're billing it at $57." !!
Someone recently told me that she got out of the hospital and checked her bill, and found all sorts of phony charges -- not just $19 tissues, but things she never even had at all (like the woman who was charged $125 for a circumcision last year after the birth of her child (http://www.crodr.org/main/content/display_report.jsp?WebLogicSession=RHNf4KvKttps00Rm2oNtApY2RPrsfSphcw7zcMYaMenX9uTcPXt8|-6477329549567279854/-1407922420/6/7005/7005/7002/7002/7005/-1&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=344725&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=333147&bmUID=1148411872559). It would have been a reasonable amount ... except that she had a baby girl!) My friend said she went over the bill with a fine-tooth comb and documented all the fake charges, and then contacted her insurance company, assuming the company would challenge the bill. Nope. The insurance company said they'd already paid it, and was totally uninterested in pursuing it!
If you multiply the hundreds of dollars my friend was charged for procedures and items she didn't have by the number of patients the insurance company covers, it must be millions or even billions in overcharges. And the insurance companies just don't care -- they just raise their rates and we end up paying enormous premiums while the insurance companies and hospitals are fat, dumb and happy. Why do you think both -- which were historically nonprofit organizations -- are privatizing and switching to for-profit companies at such a rapid clip?! They're both raking in the bucks, and we're caught in the middle.
Sorry about the rant, CJ! This just pushed my buttons!