In Fla. you really PAY when your Dr. messes up!

[Nomad]

Doctors stick it to patients in Florida
http://cbs4.com/local/I.Team.Medical.2.712964.html

According to this article, if a doctor or hospital makes a medical mistake...too bad, so sad. You and/or your insurance company pay for the procedure AND the one that might be needed to fix it.
This seems outrageous to me! Kinda frosts my shorts!
Apparently this is how it is in Fla., but not throughout the country.
Experience? Thoughts?

 

[Lothlorien]

My doctor does a lot of what is called Peer Reviews. If doctors do unnecessary procedures (which occurs more frequently than you realize) the ins. co can refuse to pay for the procedure. This, of course, is not considered medical mistake. If the doctor makes a mistake, he should pay to fix it. Most likely, if he's made a mistake, you will sue and get the money to fix the problem and that's why ins. companies are no longer paying for the second procedure. Ins. companies are just evil!

My advice, if you are being advised of ANY type of procedure, call the insurance company. Get something in writing for exactly what they will pay and what they won't pay. Also, get the procedure and all that goes along with it, including if there's complications, in writing from the doctor also. This way, there won't be any surprises after the procedure is done.

 

[meowbunny]

Sadly, doesn't surprise me a bit. Since moving to Florida, I've come to the conclusion it is very pro-business.

ComCast is in Florida, but it's "different from other states." You can't just transfer your account from other states (you can in most others). You have to open a whole new account. Ditto Verizon. Ditto Bank of America. You lose a tremendous amount of previous services and pay more for the privilege.

So, why should doctors not get a good deal, too? The medical profession as a whole is pretty big business and pretty big and big business do quite well here.

 

[flutterbee]

I don't think this is just Florida. Medicare and another insurance company (one of the largest, but I have never heard of it) have recently announced that as of a certain date they will no longer be paying hospital and doctor bills because of certain medical errors...they have a list. Supposedly hospitals are scrambling to put new safeguards in place.

Blows the mind, doesn't it? If an electrician comes out to your house and messes up, he's going to come back and fix it for free. But, hospitals and doctors mess up and you have to pay for the surgery and hospital stay to fix it.