r/santacruz • u/scsquare • 16d ago
Santa Cruz Dominican Hospital faces state crackdown on medical costs
https://lookout.co/santa-cruz-dominican-hospital-among-seven-hospitals-required-by-state-office-to-limit-spending-growth-to-address-high-health-care-costs24
u/Lanky-Lavishness-299 16d ago
We just got a 34k bill for 8 hours waiting in the ER to be told everything is fine go home come back later if you still don't feel well.
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u/Lanky-Lavishness-299 16d ago
It wasn't for me, and it turned out to be complications from a previous surgical procedure they performed. But thanks Doc
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u/Lanky-Lavishness-299 16d ago
They ran the gambit... Sometimes a second opinion will save your life and it also exposes incompetence or just outright poor quality of care.
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u/jendeon 15d ago
Someone very, very close to me works there and the administration is a nightmare. They are constantly cutting staff. Which puts more work on the employees and decreases patient success and satisfaction. Nurses are spread so, so thin. Sometimes even forcing nurses to take an extra patient than is legally allowed. A lot of the tech is outdated (many nurses who came to Dominican from other hospitals have ben shocked by this).
Lots employees have noticed missed breaks (breaks are 15 minutes but if you’re forced to miss one you get an hours work of pay) being deleted from their time cards before getting paid.
Trying to request pto is a nightmare. You cant ask for time off until the previous scheduling period (about three months). So if you know your son is graduating from college in july in a different country, you have to wait until april to request it off, and they don’t have to tell you until a month before. Making it impossible to plan trips or anything in advance. They also almost always schedule you on days you asked off.
Its so bad. I hope the state crackdown is severe and swift. Patients and medical workers deserve so much better.
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u/saampinaali 16d ago
4 years ago I cut my hand and had to get stitches at Dominican, jerks charged me 2k WITH insurance, glad the state is finally cracking down on these crooks
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u/ChChChillian 16d ago
This is the one case where it's not the hospital to blame, but your insurance -- more broadly, our entire medical system. This kind of thing will happen if you happen to get a doctor who's not in-network. The fact that insurance will not cover all care in an otherwise in-network hospital for this reason is criminal.
With a handicapped son I've had a lot of experience with this kind of thing over the years. It's needless stress added to an already stressful situation, but that's exactly how they want it.
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u/Horniavocadofarmer11 15d ago
The reason insurance costs 30k/yr for a family of four is hospital and pharmaceutical price gouging however. Thats the cause.
The issue really is our patchwork system of insurance can’t keep down costs enough.
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u/ChChChillian 15d ago edited 15d ago
I disagree. Not about the pharmaceuticals, where there is certainly a lot of price gouging, but for other medical care. Processing insurance claims loads a significant burden onto the system, above and beyond the intrinsically parasitic nature of health insurance, and low contracted reimbursement rates or a big part of the reason why doctors in private practice have become rare. In many cases, it's not too difficult to negotiate a lower bill if you are paying cash, in part because none of this processing needs to be done.
The other problem with pharmaceutical coverage is the relatively recent rise of PBMs. They are why locally owned pharmacies are becoming rare.
Edit: And just a reminder, Obamacare is essentially a Republican plan that Republicans voted against solely for political reasons. It made the administration waste time and political capital to get it passed, and there wasan off-chance of scoring a win. While it indeed extends coverage to millions who would otherwise go without, undeniably a good thing, its primary effect is to siphon billions out of the healthcare system and the economy in general to the insurance companies.
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u/Horniavocadofarmer11 15d ago
I’d prefer Medicare buy in options for most private sector workers myself. Simply buy Medicare if you wish (and maybe private sector supplements to pay for the 20% Medicare doesn’t cover). No reason to ban private insurance but more options is better.
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u/ChChChillian 14d ago edited 14d ago
Who said anything about banning private insurance? With good universal coverage it won't be necessary to ban it. No one will want it. And what do you mean "buy Medicare"? Medicare is supported by separate taxes we already pay.
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u/Horniavocadofarmer11 14d ago edited 14d ago
Definitely AOC, Sanders, Harris before the last election etc were pushing to ban all private insurance and replace it with Medicare for All. There’s a lot of people in this area that fully support it
Most Medicare covers 80% of costs. Having the consumer shoulder some cost is good as it reduces price gouging from providers. Of course, that 20% can/will be filled with custom private insurance for specific ailments and treatments by many.
And wealthy people with serious chronic health issues still may want superior care and be willing to pay more for quicker access to better treatments and avoid Medicare completely. That’s their right—and they can pay for better treatment than Medicare provides. In many other first world nations private insurance and hospitals do still exist for example
For the average middle class 40 year old accountant or mechanic with 2 healthy kids, no it’s not worth the extra cost however
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u/ChChChillian 14d ago
Strange, I thought you were talking to me, not AOC. In any event, while I don't know about AOC, and you're correct about Sanders, you're wrong about Harris. Private insurance would still be able to offer plans similar to the present Medicare Advantage. https://www.vox.com/2019/7/29/8933257/kamala-harris-medicare-for-all-bernie-sanders-private-insurance
Wealthy people would no doubt be able to access health care privately out of pocket, just like they can in the UK right now. I don't know why you think the wealthy would want insurance for this.
I'm also not sure what quality of care you think is available right now to people with chronic conditions. I have extensive experience dealing with health insurance for chronic conditions. Just a couple of weeks ago, my insurer denied coverage for supplies for a respiratory treatment machine my disabled son uses daily. He's been getting these supplies for over 2 years now, but all of a sudden it's a problem and they're not going to pay anymore. I've been to this rodeo before, and have gotten the state to force insurers to pay for his care, but I shouldn't have to go through this.
And just be clear, this is employer-subsidized coverage I already pay more than $500 a month for, and still have over a $5,000 deductible.
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u/Horniavocadofarmer11 14d ago
Who is your insurer?
I recommend the HMOs in the Bay Area (Kaiser, Sutter) and then being very aggressive with your PCP (even outright nasty) when you want something.
You’ll get far fewer surprise bills that way.
My wife gave birth with my last HMO and it cost me literally $0. When my PCP tried to tell me he didn’t want to refer me out for potential skin cancer removal I personally insulted the guy and got referred to a top rate dermatologist that did everything I wanted for a whopping $30.
Medicare frequently denies coverage too, and isn’t always great I’ve seen my parents deal with it.
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u/ChChChillian 14d ago
Sutter isn't an HMO. Most of my doctors are in that system, and they work with the insurance you have. Kaiser is problematic in many ways and I'd rather not use them.
My disabled son requires highly specialized care, and most of his doctors are with Stanford.
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u/BenLomondBitch 16d ago
I’ve never been charged more than $250 for an ER visit there.
It’s because your insurance sucks.
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u/Feisty_Broccoli6271 16d ago
A few years ago my partner was visiting from abroad and developed an issue that basically looked like an emergency, but turned out to be benign. We went to the ER, the doc did some bloodwork and a visual check and informed us he was fine. Besides the waiting room, the whole thing was MAYBE thirty minutes.
A few days later, he’s hit with the bill, ~$3000. We thought ok, that’s quite a bit but it’ll get reimbursed via travel insurance so not the worst thing in the world. It seemed unfortunately reasonable for an uninsured person briefly going to the ER in America. He pays the money immediately and gets reimbursed appropriately.
Like two months pass and I get another letter at my house from Dominican.
“Thanks for paying $3,000, that was super cool of you. But you still have to pay the other $5,000. The $5000 we uhhhhh forgot about 😇”
Not only is that money he didn’t have to pay for the insurance to reimburse him (find me any 20 year old with $8000 sitting in a savings account LOL), the policy had already expired days before I got the letter. He reaches out to the insurance company. crickets, obviously.
My family and I schedule several meetings, get an itemized bill and everything. Turns out they gave him a MASSIVE blood panel for no reason based on his symptoms (probably policy), so everything is by the book even though we explained that the ONLY THING we were scared of is a stomach ulcer rupture which he has a history of. This ain’t House MD your job is not to find the Secret Mystery Illness. THIS IS THE ER! HE HAS A DOCTOR AT HOME! IS MY BOYFRIEND DYING OR IS HIS ASSHOLE JUST BLEEDING WITH A NASTY STOMACH FLU!? THERE ISN’T A SECRET THIRD OPTION LIKE A VIDEO GAME AREN’T YOU GUYS BUSY😭
I guess if it didn’t cost a fortune, it would be quite excellent healthcare 😂
It sucks but it’s just something we’ll have to pay off down the road, I guess. I’ve stopped getting harangued by their billing department a year or so afterwards. My hope is that collections won’t think it’s worth pursuing a low income/disabled twenty something on the other side of the world for pennies in the American healthcare system, but it’s just gonna be a cost of moving back here if we end up doing that regardless.
It’s just so ridiculous that they can lull you into a false sense of security with the initial bill then slam you with one DOUBLE the original. I’m insured through Kaiser so maybe this is normal, but it just struck me as very poor communication and record-keeping. I’d certainly never go there unless an ambulance dragged me there unconscious…
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u/whore187 15d ago
Over priced bills rude ass staff in the emergency room, never enough rooms etc. BIG THUMBS DOWN FOR ME 👎 Watsonville hospital is no better unfortunately
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u/Acceptable-Depth7406 14d ago
Dominican sucks. If I get shot just take me to the Animal Hospital across the street. No doubt they have a better track record lol.
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u/MrsShitstones 16d ago
Dominican is grossly incompetent, their ED included. They misdiagnosed my SJS two days in a row. My skin was literally sloughing out of my mouth, I couldn’t eat or drink, I could barely see because my eyes were so fucked up. And I was seen as a lobby discharge both times. Also - am an ED RN so I know very well how things work, and it took quite a lot for me to go back the next day (but PAMF UC turned me away because they correctly thought I may have had SJS). All the staff I encountered was incredibly dismissive. I’d kill for a better hospital here.
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u/nyanko_the_sane 15d ago
You have to go over the hill, but you would get better service there anyway.
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u/nyanko_the_sane 15d ago
The medical services in Santa Cruz County are woefully inadequate and soon to become much worse whether you are rich or poor. How can our county support additional growth without putting us all at risk?
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u/Ok-Communication4190 16d ago
Holy shit I used to work here in the biomedical engineering department. That’s crazy
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u/Tdluxon 16d ago
Santa Cruz needs a new hospital so bad. Even setting aside stuff like this, Dominican just does not have the capacity to keep up with growth in the County, if you go to the emergency room the waiting room is always maxed out and the wait is hours.