Poor girl, she's 28 and should be out enjoying life but instead she is caring for two elderly parents and working her tail off to support them financially. They had insurance... they thought.
Federal law requires that patients can not be denied emergency treatment due to an inability to pay. The hospitals write off the uncompensated care as bad debt. These costs cut into the revenues of healthcare corporations. Take for example Tenet Healthcare: From 2007-2009 the company reported net operating revenues of $26B but only $145M in profits. A profit of one-half of a penny for every dollar in revenue is not a good business model. Their annual report said: "...unless our business mix shifts toward a greater number of insured patients or the trend of higher co-payments and deductibles reverses, we anticipate this high level of uncollectible accounts to continue." Tenet and many others will continue to pass those costs on to the insured. Either insurance premiums will rise, co-payments will rise, basic coverage will be reduced, or any combination of the three. I wonder how many John and Jane Doe's have been admitted to the hospital this year.
My father suffered a major accident that paralyzed him. He was in the hospital for one year. Luckily, he was a teacher with a union, and had good insurance. If he weren't, we would have been financially ruined.
I broke my arm pretty bad back in February and was out of work for 4 months. That surgery alone was well into the 6 figures. Our deductible and copay killed our FSA. My wife and I have been paying for physical therapy and pain management sessions out of pocket for the last year. We have great coverage and make good money, but even with that there is nothing left in our reserves for another life event. Next year the FSA limits are being lowered and I'm only getting more accident prone...