Updated Nov 19, 2009 - 7:11 pm

Unpaid medical bills near $1B per year in Washington

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And many of those costs get passed along to people who do have insurance. Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler says the average family pays about $917 a year in added costs. He calls that a "hidden tax."

A new report from Kreidler also says there will soon be about 1 million Washingtonians without health coverage. He's advocating for national health care reform, which Republicans and Democrats are busy hashing out in Washington, D.C.

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• Informed wrote...

  and if.....

  Obama gets his way we will still be paying people's health bills. So what’s the difference? Even if they don't include illegals, the illegal population will just do what they have always done, GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM. (Lets sing a song) Life is so good in America, get free medical in America. When the IRS sends you your declaration of medical coverage which they will threaten you with a monetary penalty for refusing to fill it out and send it back to them, just put down that the emergency room is your healthcare provider.

  November 19, 2009 8:19 pm

  125365

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• mytwocents wrote...

  Stop letting ILLEGAL's use the E.R. as their primary care.....

  SIMPLE ..... Stop letting ILLEGAL's from using the hospital E.R. for NON-emergency uses.

  If it is NOT life threatning - patch them up, demand and collect some money then call ICE to get them out of our nation's systems.

  November 19, 2009 9:32 pm

  125378

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• Steinsbu wrote...

  mytwocents wrote

  HEAR HEAR FOR THAT...RUN THEM ALL OUT It's really coooool to hear all the politicians talk about the underground society and how they only take the jobs that Americans don't....Well try us on for size, maybe the price of apples goes up a little, since the farmers will have to finally pay minimum wage, what a concept, make it fair for all.. Oh yea, lets now include healthcare ans they will also have L&I, another great concept. Now the farmers would be real employers.....

  November 20, 2009 5:54 am

  125419

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• len98531 wrote...

  please explain to me

  why i cant buy healthcare from another state for half the price of buying it in this state? all i can figuire out is that it it some way benifits the insurance commisioner...i have an open mind, but dont see the downside of buying from the lowest bidder from out of state, just like the auto insurance options that we have...perhaps a liberal can help me out

  November 20, 2009 8:23 am

  125447

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• SeattleNative wrote...

  len

  One reason why it's more expensive here in Washington State is because the liberals running the show have mandated that all forms of "alternative medicine" are to be included in any health plan sold in this state. Acupuncture, naturopathy, chiropractic, therapeutic massage...it all ads up. Oh, and the fact that we open our doors to illegals.

  November 20, 2009 9:03 am

  125477

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• len98531 wrote...

  SeattleNative

  you're preaching to the choir on the illegal slien coverage, but i guess my question is that i can, right now, purchase a good healthcare plan if ui resided in another state for 150 or so dollars a mo., where a comperable plan in WA would run me at least 600, and if it came down to it i could ,and have in the past, paid for chiropractic out of my own pocket. so is the state line/insurance thing a WA only regulation or a federal one? and who benifits most from that sort of control? i'm just trying to follow the money

  November 20, 2009 9:26 am

  125490

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• AJ McCarrell wrote...

  Len

  No one has to benefit per se. Most of the money goes to pay for the increased costs brought about by bureaucratic red tape. To give you an idea of the magnitude.... My wife is a portfolio manager of low-income housing units. The government actually spends close to $10,000.00 per apartment per month in bureaucratic red tape that include ridiculous amounts of paperwork, extra employees to handle the extra reporting, government employees to handle incoming reports, mandatory management fees, inspections, etc. It is a complete nightmare. Medicine is even worse. The overhead costs of the hospitals, as well as the underpaid medicare costs are the primary drivers. In order to take medicare patients, the doctors have to accept 40% of actual cost as a mandate, the other 60% gets passed on to everyone else.

  November 20, 2009 10:50 am

  125531

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• BikerDude wrote...

  Figures

  I know of one or two people that have never paid a medical bill even after going to the emergancy room. When they get he bill they just toss it in the trash. The funny thing about it is that they are also receiving money from the government to live on even though they have a fulltime jobs. Lot's of handouts going on here maybe I should put my hand in the ring and see what happens instead of working hard every day and paying my dues.

  November 20, 2009 11:06 am

  125544

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• SeattleNative wrote...

  Len

  Each state mandates private medical insurance requirements, with programs regulated through the state Insurance Commissioner's office. Washington State mandates all that extra alternative medicine coverage. Other states may or may not. There are some medical insurance programs that are regulated by the federal rather than state governments, those primarily being employer-paid non-profit health plans. Those plans are NOT required to provide all the state-mandated services.

  November 20, 2009 11:37 am

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• jeromy wrote...

  stupid people listen

  this IS the reason to pas HR reform you bunch of tards!

  November 20, 2009 10:28 pm

  125788

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• 15230

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