Damn. What an <i>infuriating</i> story.<p>Not so much for the subject of the story ... who could afford it ... but there are people out there who worked and scrimped for 20 years, and get wiped out by this <i>racket</i>.<p>"There were charges for physical therapy sessions that never took place and drugs he never received."<p>This is complete bullshit. How in <i>hell</i> does it survive the scrutiny of the courts?
This is why we should have fixed the problem and instituted single-payer healthcare.<p>If you keep letting insurers insert themselves into a process where they are not needed, they're going to find a way around whatever rules you make to drain common people of as much money as possible. Better to just remove them from the process.
It's sad reading these stories makes me hope that I don't get old and instead get mauled and eaten by wolves instead so I don't have to deal with this.
I've had slightly better experience with the Kaiser Permanente hospitals as the insurer and hospital/doctors are all part of one system and most of the costs are fixed. Even still there are incorrect billing issues at times that can take a month or two to correct. And the copay on specialty drugs can still be huge.