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Good200000 t1_itv54vr wrote

Hopkins playing tough against the biggest medical insurance company in the area. Hopkins would have lost millions in revenue dropping Carefirst and its members

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DemonDeke t1_ity1ijr wrote

I am glad for those affected that a deal was reached, but I can't get too excited about high medical costs. They get passed along to insurers who pass them along to us.

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fuckmethisburns t1_itxoksy wrote

True but it goes both ways, because of it's size, Carefirst was screwing the hell out of JH...

Carefirst is using it's size to screw a LOT of places. I know a large dentist practice that just dropped them because they wanted to pay HALF what other insurance companies pay...

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dcdave3605 t1_itvt544 wrote

Would love to see the actual agreement reached. If it's just a simple agreement for additional payment to JHH an overall increase will be passed onto the consumer through Premium increases during next year. Carefirst already pays higher reimbursements overall, when compared to the other large insurers in the state.

Hopefully there are some cost controls built in to mitigate passing it on.

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ninja_natalia t1_itvxqrt wrote

Don't worry, there won't be. There is almost zero regulation on insurance premiums in this country. Ultimately, people insured with CareFirst are still fucked just in a different way.

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RevRagnarok t1_itwbsdo wrote

> Carefirst already pays higher reimbursements

I was under the impression of the opposite, which is why my previous dentist dropped them...

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dcdave3605 t1_itxws7a wrote

Health insurance is what the article is speaking of. Dental is a whole other ball game. I imagine no dental insurance is paying sufficiently in the eyes of a dentist.

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RevRagnarok t1_ityxdnj wrote

Sure, but I thought that was also Hopkins' original claim/complaint.

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fuckmethisburns t1_itxovmy wrote

Carefirst pays LESS then others a LOT less...

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dcdave3605 t1_itxxvj4 wrote

In my experience when Carefirst is specifically providing insurance coverage and Not just Administration of claims for a benefit program , it pays more.

Cigna, Aetna have been significantly lower payer amounts.
Personally I've had jobs with various insurers and have found carefirst the most expensive, biggest network, that paid the most for claims. Aetna has been the narrowest network, cheapest premium and decent payment to providers. Cigna was expensive and they didn't pay much out. But alot of this is dependent on what the company benefit plan rules are, so there is too much variation.

My prior career, the doctors I worked for and the billing I saw showed a higher payment consistently from carefirst of Maryland and most of the carefirst bluecross blue shield PPOs out there. The exception being Anthem...which paid very little.

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becauseineedone3 t1_itz11ll wrote

Sweet. My unborn child is very pumped about not needing to change hospital systems right before her birth because a bunch of greedy bureaucrats can’t agree on how to slice a massive, massive pie.

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Complete-Ad9574 t1_ityuxag wrote

I am not shedding any tears for Hopkins. They charge what they will whether people can pay. Just look at the fact that they have never ending campus expansion. You don't get all those new buildings for free.

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BmoreBr0 t1_iu1s7qg wrote

YUP, I know it is fun to shit on the carriers (and they deserve every last stinking turd) but we also need to talk about the astronomical amounts the providers charge, i.e. large hospital systems like Hopkins, because they know they can get away with it 99% of the time.

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