Why Our Country's Health Care System Needs Restructuring

Because our medical bills from Isaiah's surgeries and treatment have started to pile up, I wanted to vent about the greed I've seen in our healthcare system. One surgery that Isaiah had was to put a port-a-cath in his chest so there is one central line to administer chemotherapy, IV fluids, and draw blood from. Duke University billed our insurance company $9748.15 for the surgery, anesthesia, and medicines used. Because Duke is a preferred provider with our insurance company, our insurance company & Duke have already negotiated monetary amounts for hundreds of procedures, medicine, and types of care. This agreed upon amount is $1167.89 - a difference of $8580.26. Duke University Hospital wanted to charge us more than 830% of the amount they negotiated with our insurance company. Duke is not the only healthcare provider who does this. I have bills from several other doctor's offices and hospitals trying to do the same. So I am not targeting Duke - just using them as an example.

Trying to charge the customer almost 1000% more than what they have readily agreed to accept as payment from the insurance companies is absurd. This greed is why our healthcare system is in shambles and will ultimately fail. I am blessed to be the father of three beautiful children, have a gorgeous wife who can put up with me, have an awesome career with a good salary - this same career provides me with excellent benefits. There are families who own businesses and can't afford insurance or who work jobs that can't or don't offer health coverage. Without insurance these same greedy hospitals would charge these families the exhorbant 800-1000% more for the same care they readily accept from insurance companies.

I didn't used to think much about universal healthcare coverage or the surrounding politics. Now I'm forced to see what these companies have tried to charge my family and realize that there are other families who are not "sheltered or protected" by health insurance. I don't have a great plan on how to correct this, nor do I support a certain political parties' plan - I do believe there is a better way to do things that will prevent hard working families like mine from collapsing financially. These families may not have health insurance or not enough, and then suddenly wake up one morning to go to a doctor to find out their two year old child has cancer ... money lost not being at a job to care for their child, medical bills piling up, potential risk of filing for bankruptcy, losing their home and cars. For those that still believe our current way is great please give me a call and I'll send you our medical bills.