Eldon (WA)
Well-known Member
My wife had minor surgery on her shoulder a couple of weeks ago. She was going thru the itemized bill...they used a small screw to re-attach her bicep...$1800 for the 2.9mm screw!
- Thread starter Eldon (WA)
- Start date
Eldon (WA)
Well-known Member
Well she was a little green for a few hours after.....
James Howell
Well-known Member
2.9mm screw - $.05
Knowing where to put it - $1799.95
Knowing where to put it - $1799.95
My very practical (rough translation= cheap) had a knee operation about 25 years ago- she was outraged at the bill (even though insurance was paying most of it). One item was a Bronson Clamp- $800. She said "I want my Bronson Clamp." They: "You don't even know what it is." She: "Well, I paid for it, I want it. My husband can probably use it in his shop." They went back and forth a bit more, they finally reduced it to a couple hundred and said she just "rented" it.
Eldon (WA)
Well-known Member
Oh no! That and a whole bunch of other stuff was listed elsewhere...to the tune of over $40,000 for a 1.5 hour procedure..
Billed expenses to our insurance co last year were just over $125,000! Allowed expenses, a little over half of that. No wonder the premiums are out of sight....
Adirondack case guy
Well-known Member
The whole healthcare system is TOTALLY out of control.
When I was receiving Radiation treatments for canser,44 of them, the hospital had a $29.oo charge on their billing for some obscure item. Medicare, said that item should be a hundred bucks and sent the hospital a check for 80 bucks. Our United Health Care plan sent the additional 20% of the $29.oo charge, BUT after that the hospital billed us a second time for the extra 20% of the $100 bucks that Medicare gave them. The hospital was over paid by medicare and then wanted even more of the difference from us . We didn't pay it and soon we received a letter from a lawyer demanding payment. Called the lawyer and explained situation to no avail.
Got second notice from lawyer, The wife called the accounting department at the hospital and used words not usually heard from a woman and finally got their attention. Reams of paper work involved and believe it or not UHC paid the difference.
If a mechanic presented you with a bill,to fix a minor issue; would you protest it and pay him 70% more???? WABOBS.
Loren
When I was receiving Radiation treatments for canser,44 of them, the hospital had a $29.oo charge on their billing for some obscure item. Medicare, said that item should be a hundred bucks and sent the hospital a check for 80 bucks. Our United Health Care plan sent the additional 20% of the $29.oo charge, BUT after that the hospital billed us a second time for the extra 20% of the $100 bucks that Medicare gave them. The hospital was over paid by medicare and then wanted even more of the difference from us . We didn't pay it and soon we received a letter from a lawyer demanding payment. Called the lawyer and explained situation to no avail.
Got second notice from lawyer, The wife called the accounting department at the hospital and used words not usually heard from a woman and finally got their attention. Reams of paper work involved and believe it or not UHC paid the difference.
If a mechanic presented you with a bill,to fix a minor issue; would you protest it and pay him 70% more???? WABOBS.
Loren
Tom OConnor
Member
I can relate to that in a way. Had a charter flight into Atlanta Hartsfield Airport once and one of the people said I don't know why the pilot needs to charge so much, I have been watching him and all he has
done since we took off was talk to some air traffic controller, push a few buttons and turn some knobs? She didn't think that I could hear her but I had all the mic's open on the head sets and I replied to
her "you are absolutely right madam. The only thing different was I knew what that Air Traffic Controller was talking about and I knew which knobs and buttons to push and when to push them." A person
always wonders when they are on a gurney and looks up at the bright lights if that might be the last thing that he ever sees. Hopefully when that doctor puts you under he also knows how to bring you
back and you wake up you are all fixed. Another way to look at it is think about overhauling a tractor with out shutting it off. Also remember that there is no truth in billing.
done since we took off was talk to some air traffic controller, push a few buttons and turn some knobs? She didn't think that I could hear her but I had all the mic's open on the head sets and I replied to
her "you are absolutely right madam. The only thing different was I knew what that Air Traffic Controller was talking about and I knew which knobs and buttons to push and when to push them." A person
always wonders when they are on a gurney and looks up at the bright lights if that might be the last thing that he ever sees. Hopefully when that doctor puts you under he also knows how to bring you
back and you wake up you are all fixed. Another way to look at it is think about overhauling a tractor with out shutting it off. Also remember that there is no truth in billing.
casecollectorsc
Well-known Member
- Location
- E central SD.
You can get a hip replaced in Spain for $8500.
Oregon Tractor Jack
Member
Insurance companies count on you NOT reading the billing and disputing the bill. Every time I have some major medical expense, I read the medical billing and the insurance payments carefully. You sometimes have to call them twice before they get it right. Part of external_link Care was the assignment of codes for every possible medical problem you might have. Get a dog bite by a German Shepard, there is a code for it. The insurance companies are the ones that add it so they could "data mine" your health history. If the hospital or doctor's office types in the wrong number for what ever treatment you had, it will be kicked out by the insurance company and you will billed for the full amount unless you call them on it. I have had this happen repeatedly.
OTJ
OTJ
Oregon Tractor Jack
Member
Insurance companies count on you NOT reading the billing and disputing the bill. Every time I have some major medical expense, I read the medical billing and the insurance payments carefully. You sometimes have to call them twice before they get it right. Part of external_link Care was the assignment of codes for every possible medical problem you might have. Get a dog bite by a German Shepard, there is a code for it. The insurance companies are the ones that add it so they could "data mine" your health history. If the hospital or doctor's office types in the wrong number for what ever treatment you had, it will be kicked out by the insurance company and you will billed for the full amount unless you call them on it. I have had this happen repeatedly.
OTJ
OTJ
old
Well-known Member
- Location
- Camdenton Missouri
Yep and the reason is very simple any thing the Gov sticks there noises in get super high priced. So unless things change the cost will keep going up
TomH in PA
Well-known Member
No doubt made of titanium. Galvanized wouldn't hold up.
Eldon the trouble is the cost of getting anything "Approved" as a medical device. The screw cost maybe $10 bucks but it could have taken ten years of testing and trials to get the FDA to approve it to be used. Then you add in the cost of liability insurance/malpractice cost then you have $1800 screws.
pat sublett
Well-known Member
I have a daughter that is an RN, she made a living at home for a while with a computer and phone arguing with hospitals and insurance companies. One guy?s wife had a heart attack and they charged him $2000 for snake anti-venom.
That's not necessarily true. Very late 80's a for profit HMO got caught charging $119.00 or a suture needle that cost them $1.19. The excuse at the time was that they had to charge like that to cover people who were poor. That was right about the time that they also got caught refusing to treat life and death people in the emergency room if they had no proof of insurance. Then about 93 the guy who had been treating my wife for injuries from a car wreck was outraged at what the hospital was billing her for his services. Worked out to about 10 times what he was being paid. The pharmaceutical companies claim that the cost of meds is so high because of testing and development when most of that is covered by government research grants. It isn't the insurance providers that have got cost up so high. If they were making that much of a killing some of them would not be pulling out of the health insurance business. Others wouldn't have gone broke.
Rick
How much quality control do you think went into the design, manufacture, inventory and sale of that screw? Anybody who works in the medical device field can tell you that it's pretty high. I'm sure that screw is serialized as well so if there's ever a problem with a batch, they can tell exactly where every one went. You can blame government regulations and ambulance chasing attorneys waiting in the wings for something to go wrong and pounce. Also blame the idea that EVERYONE in this country is entitled to the Cadillac of health care for the cost of a Chevy.
had a rod and eight screws installed in lower leg and ankle about 10 yrs ago ,when they showed me the xrays, I half jokingly asked why the didn't at least countersink it , I can feel it through the skin sometimes it feels as if its almost ready to stick through the skin,I do agree health care costs have gotten way out of hand , maybe because no one questions them on them and also way to many getting free health care so why should they question it,
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
Regardless of how you cut its totally out of line,probably charged $100 each for aspirin.Tell the them next time to give you the size of the screw and you'll stop by
ACE on the way to the hospital.
ACE on the way to the hospital.
Look, everyone can see the whole "healthcare industry" is a mess, but there are few answers for fixing it. Even the "not for profit" hospitals need to make a large profit to cover their losses and to get the CEO's and their pals to that Argentinian golf resort for that vital conference. The answers we have to the problems, even the simple ones like interstate health care insurance competition, are fought tooth and nail by the people who have politicians in their pocket. Don't expect any big changes folks.
Copperhead don't play
Member
Had a minor outpatient procedure done. In and out the same morning. Hospital billed me for 27 different drugs.
BarnyardEngineering
Well-known Member
- Location
- Rochester, NY
It's still cheaper than trading in on a new one!
Traditional Farmer
Well-known Member
- Location
- Virginia
All boils down to you're paying for those that don't pay.
And paying for those who work for a living and still can't afford insurance without deductibles that will eat you up, as well as paying for hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats, and insurance companies, and lawyers, and administrators, among the multitude of weasels who have figured out a way to get their fingers into the pie (and dollars out), all too often at taxpayer and insurance company expense.
I look at it as akin to public school education: if you had to pay the full cost of educating your own children, there would be some helluva change in education within months. If everyone was personally responsible for their health and healthcare, yes a lot of people would die earlier than they and their insurers can currently be 'milked' for, but reform would be swift, extreme and functionally affordable for common folks,
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