Yup, a scam all the way around.
I avoided doctors and hospitals for most of my life because of that. Insurance companies take in your premiums, invest it in the stock market, make bank on YOUR money, and then set about finding ways to deny your claims and avoid paying them so they can keep your money AND the increase they generate in it by playing the stocks.
Around 6 years ago I think, I had to go to the hospital. That, too, turned out to just be a money-stealing scam. They tried to WAY overcharge me,with "services" I never received. They charged me with the highest "trauma level" possible, the one that normally ends in a life-flight... but there was no life flight attached to it. They charge me for a "suture tray" that never, ever entered the equation. And on and on, such things like that. In the end, they tried to charge me 5000 bucks total, and all I got out of it was a referral to someone else, no treatment at all.
I found that sort of thing to be morally wrong and reprehensible, so I refused to pay a clearly padded bill. I told them I'd pay for services rendered - the referral (which I never went to, it left me so disgusted with the practices), but not for services NOT rendered, only charged. They were mightily unhappy about my stance, but I don't care - I'm never going to that hospital ever again anyhow. No particular reason I should maintain a good relationship with thieves and cutthroats.
When my heart started kicking up, I was reluctant to go to any doctors at all due to that negative interaction. But i eventually did, just in another healthcare network. This one isn't too bad. They did the job they were paid to do, and that's really all I expect. It may have helped that in the interim, I got insurance - I figured that if I ever needed a doctor, it would be good to have a go-between between myself and them when it came time to settle the bill.
However, in this new "relationship", I've discovered the wonderful world of thieving pharma companies. One of the medicines I have to take every day now is Eliquis. It costs about 650 dollars A MONTH (60 pills, so about 10 bucks PER PILL - I think I might be able to buy LSD for less!). Oh, it can be sold for a lot less than that, but there is the matter of the pharma company ( the bottle says "Bristol-Meyers Sqibb" AND "Pfizer") feeling a need to fleece a captive herd - the folks that NEED their snake oils. Generic companies were already tooled up to start producing generics a couple years ago when the patent on Eliquis ran out, but BMS-P took the generics companies to cout to block production of generics -they hadn't fleeced the victims enough yet.
The courts "extended" the patent for a few more years - until Nov 2026 I think - so that BMS-P could continue raping folks' wallets as they had become accustomed to. So, in the mater of Eliquis, we've got to wait a couple more years for any chance of relief from predatory pharma companies.
To top it off, my Eliquis is made overseas so the pharma companies can cut their costs and maximize their rapacity. It says right on the bottle "Product of Ireland".
The insurance I have covers 100% of the costs, so I'm flush there, and have pretty fair insurance. The problem there is that eventually I'm going to have to shift to Medicare, and when I do, I lose this insurance entirely. Then it's going to be "co-pays". So, I'm holding off on getting Medicare as long as possible, hopefully I can hold out until generics are available. The earliest chance of that will be November, 2026.
My primary care physician quit the practice. they sent me a nice little letter saying she was quitting the practice, and none of the others there was taking on new patients, so I was shit out of luck, and thank you for your patronage! I tried to find another, but could not fins any locally. The closest was 30 miles away. I asked my cardiologist to refer me to a new PCP locally, but he said not to worry about it - his office would take care of whatever ails me. In effect, my cardiologist is now my general practice primary care physician.
I guess they had a hard time finding any local PCPs, too.
It's a scam, a racket. I went over 60 years without bothering with doctors. I just treated myself and managed to survive it. For example, in the "referral to a specialist" incident mentioned above, when the hospital failed to provide any treatment or relief, I ignored the referral, went home, and treated it myself. I had it cured in 4 days total from leaving the hospital.
So, I'm currently researching for natural blood thinners and beta blockers that can be found in the woods around here, in case the lights go out... or in case I have to go onto Medicare but the pharma companies extend their monopoly yet again and continue trying to rape my wallet.
Ginseng is one of the "hits" I've uncovered, which is why I ransacked the woods above my house for ginseng last fall, and brought berries back to plant in shady corners of my yard. It takes it 18 months to sprout, so I won't know if it "takes" until next spring. Even then, it takes 3-5 years to mature enough for use, so we'll see, Other folks around here poach it to sell (some years it goes for about 800 dollars a pound!), but I only dig it to use, so I don't have to clear-cut every patch of it I find like they do. Ginseng poachers beware - if I see you poaching it on MY patch, there's a load of lead in yer ass in the cards for you. It's mine, and I'll take you out of this world for stealing my medicine! My health trumps your wallet when it comes to my own land.
I don't plan on dying until I'm dead, greedy pharma or not.
.
I avoided doctors and hospitals for most of my life because of that. Insurance companies take in your premiums, invest it in the stock market, make bank on YOUR money, and then set about finding ways to deny your claims and avoid paying them so they can keep your money AND the increase they generate in it by playing the stocks.
Around 6 years ago I think, I had to go to the hospital. That, too, turned out to just be a money-stealing scam. They tried to WAY overcharge me,with "services" I never received. They charged me with the highest "trauma level" possible, the one that normally ends in a life-flight... but there was no life flight attached to it. They charge me for a "suture tray" that never, ever entered the equation. And on and on, such things like that. In the end, they tried to charge me 5000 bucks total, and all I got out of it was a referral to someone else, no treatment at all.
I found that sort of thing to be morally wrong and reprehensible, so I refused to pay a clearly padded bill. I told them I'd pay for services rendered - the referral (which I never went to, it left me so disgusted with the practices), but not for services NOT rendered, only charged. They were mightily unhappy about my stance, but I don't care - I'm never going to that hospital ever again anyhow. No particular reason I should maintain a good relationship with thieves and cutthroats.
When my heart started kicking up, I was reluctant to go to any doctors at all due to that negative interaction. But i eventually did, just in another healthcare network. This one isn't too bad. They did the job they were paid to do, and that's really all I expect. It may have helped that in the interim, I got insurance - I figured that if I ever needed a doctor, it would be good to have a go-between between myself and them when it came time to settle the bill.
However, in this new "relationship", I've discovered the wonderful world of thieving pharma companies. One of the medicines I have to take every day now is Eliquis. It costs about 650 dollars A MONTH (60 pills, so about 10 bucks PER PILL - I think I might be able to buy LSD for less!). Oh, it can be sold for a lot less than that, but there is the matter of the pharma company ( the bottle says "Bristol-Meyers Sqibb" AND "Pfizer") feeling a need to fleece a captive herd - the folks that NEED their snake oils. Generic companies were already tooled up to start producing generics a couple years ago when the patent on Eliquis ran out, but BMS-P took the generics companies to cout to block production of generics -they hadn't fleeced the victims enough yet.
The courts "extended" the patent for a few more years - until Nov 2026 I think - so that BMS-P could continue raping folks' wallets as they had become accustomed to. So, in the mater of Eliquis, we've got to wait a couple more years for any chance of relief from predatory pharma companies.
To top it off, my Eliquis is made overseas so the pharma companies can cut their costs and maximize their rapacity. It says right on the bottle "Product of Ireland".
The insurance I have covers 100% of the costs, so I'm flush there, and have pretty fair insurance. The problem there is that eventually I'm going to have to shift to Medicare, and when I do, I lose this insurance entirely. Then it's going to be "co-pays". So, I'm holding off on getting Medicare as long as possible, hopefully I can hold out until generics are available. The earliest chance of that will be November, 2026.
My primary care physician quit the practice. they sent me a nice little letter saying she was quitting the practice, and none of the others there was taking on new patients, so I was shit out of luck, and thank you for your patronage! I tried to find another, but could not fins any locally. The closest was 30 miles away. I asked my cardiologist to refer me to a new PCP locally, but he said not to worry about it - his office would take care of whatever ails me. In effect, my cardiologist is now my general practice primary care physician.
I guess they had a hard time finding any local PCPs, too.
It's a scam, a racket. I went over 60 years without bothering with doctors. I just treated myself and managed to survive it. For example, in the "referral to a specialist" incident mentioned above, when the hospital failed to provide any treatment or relief, I ignored the referral, went home, and treated it myself. I had it cured in 4 days total from leaving the hospital.
So, I'm currently researching for natural blood thinners and beta blockers that can be found in the woods around here, in case the lights go out... or in case I have to go onto Medicare but the pharma companies extend their monopoly yet again and continue trying to rape my wallet.
Ginseng is one of the "hits" I've uncovered, which is why I ransacked the woods above my house for ginseng last fall, and brought berries back to plant in shady corners of my yard. It takes it 18 months to sprout, so I won't know if it "takes" until next spring. Even then, it takes 3-5 years to mature enough for use, so we'll see, Other folks around here poach it to sell (some years it goes for about 800 dollars a pound!), but I only dig it to use, so I don't have to clear-cut every patch of it I find like they do. Ginseng poachers beware - if I see you poaching it on MY patch, there's a load of lead in yer ass in the cards for you. It's mine, and I'll take you out of this world for stealing my medicine! My health trumps your wallet when it comes to my own land.
I don't plan on dying until I'm dead, greedy pharma or not.
.