7 May 2024 11:05 am
Everyone has a story, I wish more people would talk about how they made it or didn't. It's useful to those who are trying to find their way in this rat race.LowIQTrash » 06 May 2024, 11:29 pm » wrote: ↑ Living the American Dream (Case Study #1): Overbilling insurance
@Fuelman read this and learn how the real pros do it!
Let's consider this enigma: how does someone who is SUPPOSED to make a low 6 figure salary end up having a NW in the low to mid millions in less than a decade's worth of work? (This person is an alternative healthcare practitioner, her annual income is supposed to be around the $140K - $180K mark)
Well it turns out that this person does a neat little "trick": whenever a client sees her and finishes her session, she bills insurance for 2, sometimes 3 "visits." This is, in fact, why some practitioners do very well and fit into that upper middle class crust of semi-retired peeps and others just languish and end up being the equivalent of MCWS (middle class wage slaves).
Could you obtain a NW in the lower mid millions with a $400K annual income with fewer than 10 years of work? (Mystery solved!)
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Let's face it: patients don't really have money. In fact, they would prefer to pay you (the hypothetical healthcare provider) as little as possible. Not so with insurance - as most of you know, hospitals bill for an insane amount and healthcare insurance companies have entire departments devoted to haggling down the hospital bill.
Naturally, small/independent clinics like hers can basically get away with charging "non-outrageous" fees but at the same time, claim multiple visits in lieu of 1. And nobody in insurance will bother to investigate because they're trying to fight off the millions or billions in charges from large providers.
(I believe a lot of law firms get away with this as well - they will quietly "revise" the # of hours billed when the client isn't looking. So if a client used their service for 5 hours, they might bill for 6 or 7. If the client is a large corp then it's unlikely the large corp will waste time fixing what would constitute a "rounding error" on the income/expenses statement)
Ours is more of a story of the accidental millionaire. Just a few decisions (choices) made all the difference. Why did we walk away from a $200k+ income in the beginning of 2021? I was 60 and the wife was 57. Two things mainly, a matter of the heart and total **** burnout.
The matter of the heart was about my Mom. We knew she was starting to fail at 80. There was no one else to step in so lucky for Mom, she raised a son that cared enough to step up and make sure these last years are somewhat meaningful. ( If you have elderly parents, check in on them, you might be surprised at what you find out)
The burnout came from both of us working 55-60 hours a week from 2010 to 2021. One good thing that happened during that time frame was being super savers. Like the majority of people, we were playing catch up and had several years we socked away $80k. It pissed the wife off but now sees the reward and after being a front line COVID worker in the ICU in 2020, it wasn't hard to convince her to bail.
What are the chances of building a house in 2014 in Oregon for a little over $400k and selling it in April 2021 for just over $1 million? If we had waited another year the price went up another $200k. Problem is, 6 months after we sold, the Vaccine Mandate hit the hospital and the wife would have lost her job. Her being the primary bread winner, our story would have changed considerably. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around our luck.