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Post by robjh22 on Oct 25, 2021 12:55:56 GMT -5
Unashamedly, James.
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Post by John B on Oct 25, 2021 12:57:39 GMT -5
Strangely enough, that is also the title of James' autobiography. |
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Post by Russell Letson on Oct 25, 2021 12:57:58 GMT -5
I see that James out-Googled me, but I'll leave my post unchanged. The medical-bill story is from 2019, amplified by a 2020 CBS story. Here's the ProPublica version: features.propublica.org/medical-debt/when-medical-debt-collectors-decide-who-gets-arrested-coffeyville-kansas/I have noticed a number of stories over the last couple years about aggressive debt collection on the part of hospitals and medical-services providers, including garnishment and lawsuits. The "body attachment" tactic is a neat work-around for the debt collectors, since all it takes is failure to show up for a hearing. The crucial issues behind this are the costs of medical care and insurance and the complexity of the whole system. I look forward (he said ironically) to sorting through the billings generated by C's recent ambulance/ER/hospital-observation adventure. We have excellent insurance and can handle co-pays, co-insurance, and such, but the fun starts when the out-of-network stuff shows up, sometimes weeks after the main bill. (Thank you, private-equity sharks, for buying up ambulance and ER outfits, and hospitals for allowing practitioners to operate as contractors inside your walls.) |
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Post by Cornflake on Oct 25, 2021 13:24:11 GMT -5
"Hyperbole of this kind reminds me why I dropped my membership in the ACLU years ago."
I did a lot of free work for them for years. We finally parted ways. The immediate cause was immigration issues. The underlying cause was ACLU's gradual transformation from a civil-liberties organization into a social-justice advocacy group.
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Post by Shannon on Oct 25, 2021 13:25:46 GMT -5
I see that James out-Googled me, but I'll leave my post unchanged. The medical-bill story is from 2019, amplified by a 2020 CBS story. Here's the ProPublica version: features.propublica.org/medical-debt/when-medical-debt-collectors-decide-who-gets-arrested-coffeyville-kansas/I have noticed a number of stories over the last couple years about aggressive debt collection on the part of hospitals and medical-services providers, including garnishment and lawsuits. The "body attachment" tactic is a neat work-around for the debt collectors, since all it takes is failure to show up for a hearing. The crucial issues behind this are the costs of medical care and insurance and the complexity of the whole system. I look forward (he said ironically) to sorting through the billings generated by C's recent ambulance/ER/hospital-observation adventure. We have excellent insurance and can handle co-pays, co-insurance, and such, but the fun starts when the out-of-network stuff shows up, sometimes weeks after the main bill. (Thank you, private-equity sharks, for buying up ambulance and ER outfits, and hospitals for allowing practitioners to operate as contractors inside your walls.) I'm sorry you have to go through all of this. If it makes you feel any better, it is just as confusing, twisted, and frustrating for the front-line provider (like me) who is just trying to give the best care he can and get paid something for it. To quote the great philosopher Bill Clinton: I feel your pain. I'm not sure who wins in the current set-up, other than perhaps the insurance companies themselves and private companies who buy medical provision entities. Sorry for the thread hijack. I have some opinions on the COVID matter, but haven't the time to sort and post them at the moment. |
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Post by robjh22 on Oct 25, 2021 13:47:02 GMT -5
Guys, no one is going to jail in America today for failure to pay a medical bill, no matter what anyone claims (and CBS's headline claims, or at least insinuates, the contrary.) www.cbsnews.com/news/coffeyville-kansas-medical-debt-county-in-rural-kansas-is-jailing-people-over-unpaid-medical-debt/This isn't the National Enquirer we're talking about (though didn't they break the John Edwards story that ended his campaign for VEEP?). This is CBS, for crying out loud. And I see now that the story is all over the internet, "Jailed In Kansas for unpaid medical bills" being the headline. I can't promise that there isn't some crazy Justice of the Peace in Backwater, State of _____ who is going off the rails and off his meds and jailing people because they can't afford to pay their medical bills. But it's wrong, illegal and unconstitutional if and when it does happen. |
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Post by Don Clark on Oct 25, 2021 14:05:34 GMT -5
Why don’t we all drink some disinfectant? That was Trumps first fix for the problem. 🤣
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Post by aquaduct on Oct 25, 2021 14:13:39 GMT -5
Why don’t we all drink some disinfectant? That was Trumps first fix for the problem. 🤣 Except it wasn't. |
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Post by Russell Letson on Oct 25, 2021 15:15:44 GMT -5
Rob, as dangerous as it is for a layman to get into a disagreement with a lawyer over matters of law, how much of your objection might be rooted in the preposition "for"? I can see from the original coverage, as well as from other accounts of similar situations, that the jailing is "for" failure to appear at a hearing, and that the arrest warrant is triggered (in the case of the Kansas town) by a second such failure. On the other hand, the required appearance is the result of a creditor--or a debt collector--requesting a debtor's exam that would help determine how the debt might be satisfied. And here's a paragraph from the ProPublica story that is the basis for the CBS coverage: If the debtor missed a hearing on contempt, Hassenplug would ask the judge for a bench warrant. As long as the defendant had been properly served, the judge’s answer was always yes. In practice, this system has made Hassenplug and other collectors the real arbiters of who gets arrested and who is shown mercy. If debtors can post bail, the judge almost always applies the money to the debt. Hassenplug, like any collector working on commission, gets a cut of the cash he brings in. This is an interesting convergence of legal and private business practices, and also interesting is that the object of the hospital's and the lawyer's attention are so often the working poor and the disabled. And that a $280 debt generates $500 bail. And that interest and fees (including court fees) get added on top of the original debt.* And that the judge returns bail money not to those who put it up but to the debt collector, who takes a cut. Now, if these anecdotes are fabricated or exaggerated or incomplete or otherwise falsified, then I'll join the blame-the-media parade. But the ProPublica reporting doesn't strike me as tabloid clickbait. * Even before the debt-collection machinery adds its bit, such as the case of the woman whose care "ran up a $2,514 bill. More than a decade later, she was still chipping away at a balance that, because of interest and court fees, had more than doubled to $5,736." If guys named Carmine and Vinnie from Jersey did this, we'd know what to call it. |
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Post by Cornflake on Oct 25, 2021 15:16:14 GMT -5
If the Chinese released the virus on purpose I'd like to know that. The idea seems pretty far-fetched, since it could easily hurt them as much as anyone else. They're not stupid. Otherwise, I'd like to know the origin so that we can try to prevent a repeat, but it's not something I much care about.
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Post by robjh22 on Oct 25, 2021 16:29:09 GMT -5
Why don’t we all drink some disinfectant? That was Trumps first fix for the problem. 🤣 Really? Do you have a source for that? |
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Post by james on Oct 25, 2021 16:43:44 GMT -5
I begrudgingly sacrificed a Vanity Fair free page view and as Russell said, "What the article does not say is what the title of this thread asserts."
As for the quotation that was chosen for that particular ProPublica spin-off story/video on the CBS site, the usual advice, to read the article and not just the headline also seems applicable.
My soon to be unwritten autobiography is provisionally not titled "It's Complicated".
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Post by John B on Oct 25, 2021 16:45:15 GMT -5
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Post by aquaduct on Oct 25, 2021 16:54:39 GMT -5
So he didn't actually say that after all. Thanks for the clarification. |
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Post by Marshall on Oct 25, 2021 17:08:30 GMT -5
If the Chinese released the virus on purpose I'd like to know that. The idea seems pretty far-fetched, since it could easily hurt them as much as anyone else. They're not stupid. Otherwise, I'd like to know the origin so that we can try to prevent a repeat, but it's not something I much care about. It's certainly worth knowing one way or the other. A friend of mine says he wouldn't put it past the Chinese government. He says they don't care about their own people and could stand to lose a few Mil in any pandemic exchange. I tend not to agree.Nevertheless, I don't trust the altruistic motives of the Chinese government on anything. |
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Post by aquaduct on Oct 25, 2021 17:17:57 GMT -5
In other news, the Loudoun County transgender rapist in a skirt will be sentenced next month.
Just sucks the air out of all the bullshit leftist whining doesn't it?
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Post by Cornflake on Oct 25, 2021 17:33:48 GMT -5
"Nevertheless, I don't trust the altruistic motives of the Chinese government on anything."
Neither do I. I just respect their intelligence and I generally side with Occam until facts show I shouldn't.
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Post by brucemacneill on Oct 25, 2021 18:02:20 GMT -5
Why don’t we all drink some disinfectant? That was Trumps first fix for the problem. 🤣 Really? Do you have a source for that? I drink some every day at 4:00pm, generally Dewars or Glenfidich depending on how rich I feel at the ABC store. So far it seems to be working. I'm OK despite being vaccinated. Still no boosters available here. Maybe next month, they say. |
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Post by Marshall on Oct 25, 2021 19:55:38 GMT -5
In other news, the Loudoun County transgender rapist in a skirt will be sentenced next month. Just sucks the air out of all the bullshit leftist whining doesn't it? Good. As well he should. And somebody on the schoolboard that transferred him should also have accountability and liability on some very uncomfortable level. But it doesn't swing the pendulum totally the other way. Damn. There's no middle ground in this country anymore. |
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Post by Cosmic Wonder on Oct 25, 2021 19:58:28 GMT -5
I have discontinued watching the news on TV and rely on the WSJ almost exclusively. Garbage in, garbage out. Mike |
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