Speaking from a patient that has had more hospital bills than probably everybody on the Off Topic board COMBINED, Insurance companies are not the problem THE HOSPITALS, DOCTORS AND THEIR POLICIES ARE THE PROBLEM. I could go into so many billing issues, double billing, multiple doctors doing the same thing at the same time all billing their individual fees, hospitals charging wrong due to coding errors and so forth to the tune of $123,000 in hospital and doctor bills that I owe since 2004 and there has NEVER been one single day that I have not been covered by the BEST plan offered by Kentucky State Government.

For example, I am patient of Blue Surgery Group at UK Hospital. MANY times I have been told to come to UK by my Blue Surgeon on staff to be admitted. I show up to the ER, because that is Hospital policy, I am then sent to the ER seen by an ER doctor and then a 2nd ER doctor as they are full aware that I was told told to come there to be admitted by Blue Surgery after triage, but I am still billed by both ER doctors that do nothing except tell me that Blue Surgery will be down to see me and admit me.

I was in Celina TN this past December and was air lifted out on December 3rd for emergency surger due to an infected abcess in my abdomiinal wall where they drained almost 4 liters of infected fluid. The doctor at the hospital in Celina and the doctor at UK hospital both said it was critical that I get immediate surgery because if it ruptured I could have died. The insurance company agreed that it was critical but because I was flown across state line, what is that about 8 miles from the hospital in Celina to the KY state line which is just past Holly Creek, and it was not pre-approved that I am stuck with the $28,000 helicopter ride. If I was flown to Vanderbilt instead, where nobody knows my case or how the plumbing inside me has been re-routed, versus to where a surgeon knows my plumbing inside and out, they would have paid the full bill.

I was even billed for two surgeons in one of my surgeries where one surgeon did nothing but OBSERVE the procedure, but he still billed my insurance. I did not ask for this surgeon to OBSERVE. My surgeon, who is the best in the state, certainly did not need anyone to OBSERVE him perform his duties. But because this cheesepuff decided to sit in and observe one of my surgeries he felt it was his duty to bill almost $4,000 to my insurance company for his services - AND MY INSURANCE COMPANY PAID IT.

These are just a few of the gross problems with the medical billing and other stuff that has put us $123,000 in debt to medical bills even though I am "supposed" to have a $5,000 MAX out of pocket annually, 2003-2011 is 8 years times $5K is $40,000 if we never paid a nickle to date. Long way between $40,000 and $123,000. There are a lot of people getting rich