Medical Costs Bankrupt Patients; It's the Computer's Fault 637
nbauman writes "Don't get cancer until 2015. The Obama health reform is supposed to limit out-of-pocket costs to $12,700. But the Obama Administration has delayed its implementation until 2015. The insurance companies told them that their computers weren't able to add up all their customers' out-of-pocket costs to see whether they had reached the limit. For some common diseases, such as cancer or heart failure, treatment can cost over $100,000, and patients will be responsible for the balance. Tell me, Slashdot, how difficult would it be to rewrite an insurance billing system to aggregate a policyholder's out-of-pocket costs? 'A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said: "We knew this was an important issue. We had to balance the interests of consumers with the concerns of health plan sponsors and carriers, which told us that their computer systems were not set up to aggregate all of a person's out-of-pocket costs. They asked for more time to comply."'"
Q&A (Score:5, Funny)
Tell me, Slashdot, how difficult would it be to rewrite an insurance billing system to aggregate a policyholder's out-of-pocket costs?
That depends entirely on whether the insurance company wants to remain in business or not. Next question.
Re:A cynic's view (Score:5, Funny)
Oh, come on.
Do you really think insurance executives know how to add?!?!?!?
its not the computer, its the politics (Score:2, Funny)
Obama wants to delay the effect of his healthcare bill until after the election so that voters don't get angry and punish the democrats for it.
That is all it is... nothing more or less.
Wow, what a coinidence (Score:4, Funny)
My computer isn't set up to pay the bills. It isn't set up to pay the penalties for not paying the bills either. I was too busy programming an interface to my asset protection plan. It's beautiful. You should see it. Rounded corners and everything, and the interest on my overseas accounts is lined up in formatted columns and everything. It doesn't do medical billing outlays though. So sorry. I'm sure you'll understand.
Re:Oooo, ooo. Pick me teacher. I can solve this on (Score:4, Funny)
Hey, quit injecting your facts and experience into their wild speculation.
Re:That's the beuaty of it (Score:5, Funny)
And my appendices were taken out within 3 hours of diagnosis.
How many did you have?
Re:No so much (Score:5, Funny)
If the answer is "Yes," then you're some kind of barbarian, and we're done here.
You misspelled libertarian.