QUOTE="geekette, post: 2452952, member: 310"]
"I don't think I have ever known someone with regular health insurance that paid 0 from pocket for a hospital stay!
Does anyone today have a non-Medicare policy that would pick up the entire tab of a hospitalization? I would be thrilled to hear that some do have that kind of Cadillac insurance."
I did until I retired three years ago from being an RN at the University of Maryland Medical Center. I paid for the most expensive "Gold Plan" health insurance. The cost was about $450/month -- not cheap. However, there was no deductible for health care or for prescriptions and a $0 co-pay for hospitalization, tests, and treatments such as physical therapy as long as I used a University of Maryland Medical System facility. That included any of their nine hospitals plus outpatient facilities. Provider copays for office visits were modest.
Fortunately, I was never actually an in-patient. I *was* in the Shock Trauma Center for a few hours after falling and hitting my head (no lasting damage except increased fear of falling) and paid $0. Ten years ago I had a heart work-up in my hospital for arrhythmia -- cardiac catheterization, MRI of the heart, echocardiogram, multiple EKG's.... The problem turned out to be easily fixed with a beta blocker. Total cost to me was a $25 co-pay for an office visit -- unbelievable!
That wasn't considered in-patient, but the result would have been the same if it were. Nada.
I always suggest that if someone has a chronic, expensive health condition they check out if something within a major hospital system fits their job skills (accounting, HR, or security, for example). It's my perception that large hospital systems often offer the most generous healthcare benefits. After all, healthcare is their mission.
