Monopoly money isn't real money. You know what else isn't real money? How your medical costs are calculated. [View all]
A backpack believed to belong to the man who fatally shot UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was discovered in Manhattan's Central Park containing Monopoly money, multiple outlets reported, citing law enforcement sources.
Following the Wednesday, Dec. 4, killing of Thompson, 50, outside the New York Hilton Midtown, NBC News, ABC News and The New York Post reported on Saturday, Dec. 7 that the New York Police Department (NYPD) has since recovered a gray backpack officials believe may have belonged to the shooting suspect — who has still not been identified.
https://people.com/monopoly-money-found-in-backpack-believed-to-belong-to-unitedhealthcare-shooter-reports-8757955
Monopoly money is, of course, not actual money. You can't use it for goods and services, it has value really only in the context of a board game.
So what goes into your medical bills? What creates their value?
What is behind us spending much more on other countries in this chart, but living shorter lives?
When someone declares bankruptcy because of medical bills, they are declaring bankruptcy over medical bills yes, but how was the number reached?
When someone's wages are being garnished, how exactly is that amount that needs to be garnished obtained in the first place?
When medical debt collectors are going after someone to pay medical bills they bought to collect on, what exactly are they pursuing?
You might not like the answer...
For far too many cases, it is pretty much a random number that is very high.
Yet another TikTok video calling out the notoriously expensive U.S. healthcare system is going viral on social media. Shared by Adam Conover, a comedian and former host of the informative program "Adam Ruins Everything," in response to another TikTok about how medical bills mysteriously shrink when the patient asks for an itemized receipt, the one-minute clip explains why this suspicious phenomenon happens. The original video was posted by a TikTok user named Tre'jon Wilson and it shows him drinking something while the text overlay ponders whether the American healthcare system is a scam.
"Tell me why my hospital bill went from $4,000 to $950 all because I asked for a receipt and a list of everything I was being charged for," the overlay text reads. "They lowered my bill by 76%. Is it me or our health care system is a scam?" Conover took it upon himself to answer this question by stitching the original video and explaining why so many hospital bills are massive and why the charges seem to vanish when patients challenge them with the hospitals. "It's because the numbers on every hospital or doctor bill are straight-up fake and made up," Conover says in the video.
"If you have insurance, your hospital has to negotiate with the insurance company for the price of the services," he continues. "So they set these super high ridiculous numbers as a starting point for that negotiation. The insurance company says, 'bulls**t, we're paying you a third of that.' They haggle a bit and decide on a number.'" Conover goes on to explain why this system has the power to ruin lives. "Here's the f**ked up part. If you don't have insurance, the hospital still put that original, ridiculously high, just for negotiation number on your bill," he says in the video.
"So you could easily end up paying three, five, even ten times what the procedure actually costs," he notes. "The next time you get a medical bill, make sure you negotiate. There are even non-profits called medical billing advocates that will help you negotiate." Conover ends the video by directing people to an episode of "Adam Ruins Everything" titled "The Real Reason Hospitals Are So Expensive," in which he goes into detail about the questionable practices behind medical billing. His TikTok video touched a raw nerve for those already dissatisfied with the American healthcare system and many confirmed that negotiating the ridiculous amounts mentioned in hospital bills has brought them down to a much lower number.
https://scoop.upworthy.com/tiktok-user-explain-why-hospital-bills-shrink-when-asked-itemized-receipt
Danilo Manimtim, who has a job evaluating disability claims for the state of California, knows the health care system and keeps tabs on his health benefits. He knew he already had met his health insurance deductible for the year, so he expected a manageable out-of-pocket expense for the surgery. He calculated his coinsurance would be about $750.
Then the bills came. ($4057)
Manimtim's big bill stems from a simple decision that turned out to be a pitfall in the nation's complicated health care system: He scheduled his surgery at a nearby hospital — a hospital that happened to charge about $7,000 more for the procedure than his insurer would pay.
Manimtim has proof that it could have been different right under his own roof: Four months later, his wife, Marilou Manimtim, 66, got the exact same procedure at an outpatient eye care surgical center in Fresno called EYE-Q. It is a half-mile from Saint Agnes Medical Center but is not affiliated with the hospital. (And she was billed $204)
https://www.wgbh.org/news/national-news/2022/06/27/he-and-his-wife-both-got-cataract-surgery-his-bill-was-20-times-higher-than-hers
And one more that is also interesting, a group of people in Oklahoma wanted to buy patient debts off of hospitals in the area to forgive them. Hospitals in Oklahoma said "pass" though. Why? As a person in the group pointed out, the hospitals have no problem selling the debts to debt collectors, but why not them? A debt collector would not ask questions about the debt, but I think a person in the field of debt forgiveness would ask what exactly are they forgiving.
https://democraticunderground.com/1033804
And insurance is part of the scam.
You're going bankrupt, you're e-begging on GoFundMe, you're getting your wages garnished, and you're going to an early grave... and it's for a lie.
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