What health insurance do rich people use?
If you’re a billionaire in the U.S. you pay for medicine in a very different way than 99.9% of Americans. You are likely to have donated millions of dollars to a local hospital and have a wing or pavilion named after your family. When you need medical care you get very special attention. I had a friend who was married to the beneficiary of a billion dollar trust. When she hurt her elbow once, she got calls from two surgeons telling her how to treat her very minor ailment. I was amazed when she told me she’d gotten surgical advice on such a minor injury and asked why. She told me her husband’s family donated lots of money to the local hospital and she got great medical care. Incidentally, both surgeons warned her not to have surgery.Other wealthy, but less wealthy, people also don’t need health insurance. They can afford to pay cash for the best doctors in the U.S. They belong to concierge medical services that buy them the best medicine in the country.The best doctors in the US do not accept health insurance because it limits the amount of money they can charge and controls the way they practice medicine. They work in concierge practices that only accept cash.Patients who rely on health insurance in the U.S. get inferior treatment from less skilled doctors.
Need to get antidepressants without parents health insurance?
So I'm living on my own but I'm on my parents health insurance. I need to get antidepressants without going through their insurance plan because they are worriers. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!
Do I need to tell my doctor my insurance ran out?
I was recently laid off from my job. My doctors bill every time I see him is $590 and he wants to see me twice a year. I'm not sure what my prescription is going to cost yet but I think maybe around $200 a month. With the insurance I could see the doctor for $25 and get my prescription for $75. However, for the last two months, after I lost my job, the prescription price has not changed. I would've thought the price would be increased by at least double. I have a doctors appointment coming up soon and I'm laid off so I don't have $590 to see him but if I don't say anything maybe I could get away with just paying the co-pay, if they don't catch it. Isn't there some form of automatic alert from the insurance companies to doctors offices saying the patient is no longer insured or is it the patient's responsibility? I have a feeling I could get away with this for a while but then it would hurt me later on.
I suspect I have vaginitis but I have no money and health insurance to see a doctor. I have uti medication.?
I don't know what area your from, but they have walk-in clinics where you can pay a small co-pay and they'll test you....hope that helps!
Pharmacy ran my meds through insurance & gave them to me, later said insurance denied, now I owe 480$ - help?!?
A few years ago I was getting 2 prescriptions filled. I had already given them my new insurance the last time I was there, saying that from now on this is my new insurance, i'm losing the old insurance. They said okay, now back to the day I picked up my 2 prescriptions, they said it was $5, I paid it and took my med. The next time I went in there, they said that the last time I was there, they gave me my 2 prescriptions but the insurance rejected it. Turns out they billed my previous insurance, the one I had just lost, instead of my new insurance. My new insurance was really bad and makes me pay for the prescription up front, then I get a check mailed back to me when I send the receipt in, but they don't cover much at all(I then found out). So then I was stuck with a $480 bill, I had already taken the medicine the month before, so it's not like I could say "i'm not paying $480 for this medicine, you can keep it"... because I already took it, the month before. I left that pharmacy because I thought that was extremely screwed up that they would do that. 2 years later I came back to that pharmacy, and i've been paying the large bill off ever since, over time. Now the bill is down to $150, and i talked to my parents and they said that legally I shouldn't have had to pay the bill, because I could have denied the medicine if they would have told me how much it was going to be. They hound me every single time I get my prescriptions filled there. I live in Washington state. Does anyone have any wisdom or guidance or information on something like this? Should I have to pay the rest of it, since it was their mistake? or should I have to pay any more? or should I request that they give me back what i've paid, because it was their mistake, not mine, and I would have said NO to the meds if I had known I would have to pay that much.
Do people without private health insurance get prescribed different medications than those with? If so, why?
No, and yes. The doctor will be happy and prefer to prescribe them the best and possibly the latest medicine.But often they can't afford it. Doctors will often try to work out a deal with the drug manufacturer to provide at a reduced cost or even free. Sometimes they have these programs, and sometimes the doctors know how to access them.Other times there are no alternatives but to go with an older drug that might be generic or less expensive. Or it might have more side effects. That's because it's what the patient can afford.I had insurance, and had to go back and ask for a different drug because of cost. About 10 or 12 years ago, maybe more. It was for shingles which the doctor thought I might have. I had tingling in my face and nose, I thought maybe I was having a stroke.In my case I went to the doctor and they gave me the prescription, I went to the pharmacy in the clinic to fill it. They said it was going to be $244 if I recall correctly. I said I have insurance. They replied yes that's with the insurance otherwise it would be… I forget the astronomical price.We discussed it and the pharmacist said well there's another drug that will do it. Asked what the difference was and he says really nothing, the new drug you take once a day, the old drug you have to take 5 times a day carefully timed out. I said that I own a watch.I went back to the clinic I told the nurse I wanted the other drug, waited to see the doctor and got the other prescription. Paid my co-pay at the pharmacy and off I went and everything was better.So yes, once again USA has among the best healthcare in the world… if you can afford it.
Will my parents find out I filled a prescription through our insurance plan?
I am 21, but am still under my parents' health insurance plan. I contacted the insurance company to see whether or not the policy holder is able to see if and what medications I was prescribed. The response I received was that, despite being under my parents' plan, that information can be viewed only by me, since I am over 18. I was skeptical to use it, so I decided the best bet was to pay out of pocket. I dropped my script off at a pharmacy, and returned to pick it up a couple of days later. I had not given them my insurance information, but they happened to find it and ran the medication through my insurance (I did not want to do it this way, but it saved me a little over $40, so I couldn't say no either), and I paid the co-pay when picking it up. I logged in to my portal on the insurance website and it appeared as a claim. Is it likely that my dad will find out I have been prescribed medication?
I have dual pharmacy coverage for my medications. What insurance company pays for my drugs?
It is not illegal to have two health insurers, as one answerer wrote. In fact, many folks have dual coverage. However, to submit a claim to each insurer as if they're both primary and not tell them another insurer covers you would, at the very least, be wrong. Under some circumstances, this would be insurance fraud. So it's very important that you follow the provisions of both policies and inform both insurers that another insurer covers you. Most insurers conform to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Coordination of Benefits (COB) model. This will mean that the COB provision in most policies require that your policy be your primary and your coverage under your spouse's policy be your secondary. (Caution: this may be reversed if the plan is "self insured" by your employer, so check the COB provision.) Because this is a policy (contract) provision, you do not have the ability to choose which policy is your primary. Assuming both policies agree that your coverage is primary, you should tell your pharmacy to submit the claim to your insurer FIRST, then submit the remaining balance to your secondary insurer. Under most circumstances, the primary insurer will pay up to its "allowed amount" for the drug or service, leaving you with a co-pay or co-insurance. This can then be billed to the secondary insurer. How it pays the remaining benefit depends upon the wording of the contract. In all likelihood, the check you received should be used to pay the pharmacy for your prescriptions; if you paid for them up front, then the money is yours. Read the "Explanation of Benefits" that accompanied the check for further information; if you're unsure, call the insurer. You didn't specify whether your insurer paid first and this check comes from your husband's insurer as secondary. If the claims were only sent to your husband's insurer and the COB provision in his policy makes it clear this is your secondary coverage, you're walking a very dangerous path. In most states, insurers are able to retroactively deny previously approved claims and retract the money from health care providers or from you, depending upon who received the payment. You may end up owing hundreds of dollars to the secondary insurer, in that case. I hope this helps.