If a business performs a service for me and won't tell me ahead of time how much it costs, can it afterward decide I must pay whatever it wants? One trillion dollars? For those without insurance, is there some contract agreed to with the hospital?
For those with insurance, in which contract do I end up bound to pay an amount that isn't told me until after I've already made the decision to purchase the service? Are there limits to these amounts in that contract or somewhere else?
Check this out. I had decent and expensive insurance when my wife had surgery. We hit the max Out-of-pocket, which according to my employee docs was about $6500.
However, when I get the information from my insurance company it has totally different copy information with a OOP of $7300.
I talked to my employer several times and eventually filed a Dept. of Labor complaint because everyone is telling me it's ultimately my employers problem to fix.
Fast forward 3 months and after multiple go arounds and hours of phone calls they finally fix it. So what does my insurer do? They claw back fully paid payments for stuff that was done after my OOP was met. I have to call multiple doctors and argue with the insurance company for every bill.
Going a bit off topic, but this is one difference many are perhaps not aware: personal bankruptcy isn't a thing in many European countries. In my home country you don't have a mechanism for simply shedding your debt. Generally any debt is garnishable. Your best hope is debt restructuring with part of the debt forgiven (in perhaps 10 years).
On one hand this probably makes financing considerably cheaper as the risk for the bank is quite a bit lower. On the other hand you do not want to have personal liabilities anywhere near a risky venture.
Hospital networks usually have you sign a waiver agreeing to pay for all costs before treatment begins. It's a bit strange to be waiting in the ER and a have a billing handler ask you to sign a form on a clipboard before you can get service.
Yes. It is nearly impossible to determine the cost of treatment up front when the health cause is still unknown.
You could be there for a common cold or for phase 4 lung cancer, with costs ranging widely even just for the diagnostic procedures. You're agreeing up front to pay for the service involved to determine and eventually treat your symptoms.
If a business performs a service for me and won't tell me ahead of time how much it costs, can it afterward decide I must pay whatever it wants? One trillion dollars? For those without insurance, is there some contract agreed to with the hospital?
For those with insurance, in which contract do I end up bound to pay an amount that isn't told me until after I've already made the decision to purchase the service? Are there limits to these amounts in that contract or somewhere else?