Many Americans still receive unexpected bills or coverage denials and need better health literacy to challenge them, according to an issue brief from Commonwealth Fund. Investigators found, in a survey of more than 5,600 insured adults, that 45% of participants or their family members had received an unanticipated bill or copayment for a service they expected to be free or insured. Among those who received an unexpected bill, only 45% challenged it. The survey also indicated that Medicare beneficiaries (53%), Medicaid plan members (50%), Hispanic individuals (49%), and those with incomes exceeding 400% of the federal poverty level were most likely to challenge a bill.
No we fucking don’t need better “health literacy!” What we need are for regulators to crack down on these abusive business practices – and by “crack down” I mean “put insurers out of business entirely and switch to single-payer” – and for articles like this to quit fucking victim-blaming!
yes. there is this wierd idea in the us like everyone has to be hypercompetent. the default should not be lets teach folks how to redress issues. it should be lets make a system that has little to none of these issues with a well publicized number listed on every record that people can talk to someone who will help them get it sorted with the very few that might come up because our goal is a well working system.
