Hospital stays are expensive!

[Fox Mike]

Received by hospital bill today and immediately went into shock. I was there for 8 days and the bill for the hospital alone, no doctors, was...$15,000.00
That figures out to $78.125 per hour. Thank God I have good insurance. I may have to pay $100.00.

 

[nvbirdman]

I hope Tom Bodett at least left the light on for you.

 

[picketpin]

My wife broke her back in a wreck in April. That was late Friday. She was released on Wednesday. $46,812.34!! If you got 8 days for $15K consider yourself lucky.

RWT

 

[FastEd]

That's just the game the Hospital plays with the Insurance Company.
You can bet your booties the payoff wasn't near that much.

 

[Taterman]

Was in a hospital back in May. Two nights in the hospital, CAT scan, MRI.... numerous follow up appointments. Way over my $2000 deductible already but only a percentage gets paid since then.
Not so lucky with good insurance here. We were scraping by to begin with, but this might bankrupt us.
The stack of bills is huge, and they're still coming in.

That must be some great insurance you have.

 

[bogus bill]

About 9 years ago I had my nose removed due to cancer. I couldnt guess what that cost my insurance but about a week later something let go and I started bleeding. We live about a mile and a half from the hospital. The ambulance ride was over $900 +! Three minute ride.

 

[Bayouhunter]

In June I had two visits to the E/R entailing 3 days in a room for atrial flutter, one two hour procedure (atrial ablation) cost $55,000 my insurance covered most $2,000 out of pocket for me. I was lucky no permanant damage and I'm back at work.

 

[Colonialgirl]

I haven't gotten a bill from the VA yet for my Laminectomy; The operation and four days in the hospital INCLUDING the day of the operation.
Never got charged for the Cataract surgery or for the blephoplasty (fixed saggy eye lids.)
I aint holding my breath.

 

[coach]

I paid less for my $45,000 recent surgery than I do for a co-pay for a doctor visit.
Absolutely nothing. Insurance is a good thing.

 

[427mach1]

I haven't gotten a bill from the VA yet for my Laminectomy; The operation and four days in the hospital INCLUDING the day of the operation.

I had the minimally-invasive laminectomy and was in the hospital 6 hours total. Walked in the house when I got home. Total bills were around $27,000, insurance covered almost all of it. Worth every penny.

 

[Mega Twin]

My wifes' over night stay in the hospital for her mastectomy was $28000.The doctor bills,lab.pathology bills are still coming in,8 months later.
We got one bill for an IV that was $10000.

 

[Pat-inCO]

I had one set when my mother died. She was in the hospital for ten days.
I paid everything that came in, as it came in, for six months. After that I
refused to pay for any of it.

Several doctors and the hospital raised hell and I told them the same thing:
Everything billed within six months WAS PAID. Anything after those six
months is a matter of poor business practices and is refused.

Took one notice each and they all shut up.
Except one doctor who billed me at eighteen months. I asked for the name
of his lawyer . . . . . . never heard from him again.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

I paid everything that came in, as it came in, for six months. After that I
refused to pay for any of it.

I have had a few ER visits, an outpatient surgery procedure and an overnight stay in the hospital recently (the last year). The bills are staggering. My insurance company has paid most of the bills but in some cases it took them almost 6 months to make payment. I just got a Doctor's bill for $145 for the procedure in November last year. Now the phone calls to find out if the bill is valid. I don't mind paying the bill but lots of times the bill is just some paperwork error. It is very hard to straighten this stuff out.

Sometimes I get collection agency calls about a bill long before the insurance company pays the doctor or hospital. Those are really annoying and hard to deal with. :shock:

 

[Bull Barrel]

A year ago a friend had 5 bypases. The bill was $500,000. He paid NOTHING.
Guess who paid for it? WE DID.
If I had the same procedure it would bankrupt me and then some.

 

[opos]

The whole hospital billing thing is a real song and dance..The hospital can bill whatever they want but they are paid based on UCR (usual, customary and reasonable) costs that are set and agreed to by the profession and the insurance folks and government....so they bill to set a precedent and then in reality take what they are given..now here is the catch..if you go to the hospital and don't have insurance..they bill you at "full price" and can show that "other billings for the same procedure was XXX..they don't tell you that they accepted much less for the UCR payments...they can also use the "uncollected" amounts as write offs shown as "discounts" when all the time the lesser amount is what they expect to get...big bookkeeping deal like the Government keeps books.

If you ever get in a fix and have hospital billing and no insurance..it is often a simple matter to tell them you will arrange to pay the UCR amount but no more..most will gladly grab that but you got to bring it up...still very expensive but the aspirin might only be $3 instead of $12.

 

[bogus bill]

When my folks passed I had to go through everything. I found the bill for my birth from the hospital in 1941. Total was around $40.00`s for a couple day stay!
This entire medical cost thing is the worlds biggest farce. They must pull figures out of their butt`s with absolutely no rhyme or reason. What happens is they charge you and your insurance to make up for the many that cant and wont pay.
What irk`s me is the lower help in hospitals get starvation minimal pay doing the dirty work and the elite must get 50 or a hundred fold. I bet identical twins could go into different hospitals with the identical problems and the bills would be many thousands of dollars apart in detailed billing. In most every field like say, car repair, they seem to have some sort of standard Manuel to go by. Do hospitals or doctors? I bet not. They go by as much as they can get and you will still owe for life or always think you do. I don't even try to figure out those bills anymore. My wife has had many problems and it seems we NEVER know where we really stand.

 

[coach]

It's all about what billing code they use for your condition/treatment. I'm not in that business, but I've seen enough to know if they don't get the codes right they don't get paid.

 

[ProfessorWes]

Because lawyers and bureaucrats make everything cheaper, don't you know . . . :P

A few years ago I spent the night in the hospital for what turned out to be a bout of acid reflux. (The doc I visited thought I was having, or had recently had, a heart attack because they screwed up the EKG. Heck, I told them I had frequent heartburn and everything, but they still insisted on doing the EKG . . . :roll: )

Ten a.m. the next morning, after an afternoon, evening and night of frequent blood tests and monitoring, they kicked me loose with a prescription for Prilosec and a bill for just over $10,000. Luckily, insurance paid all but $1500 of it, but I was still getting nickel and dimed for petty charges for this and that over the next six months.

 

[bogus bill]

Hospitals don't have a darn thing on the old Mafia.

 

[jeffmb]

Few if any people had insurance (when nobody cares what the costs are, they go up)

There were few if any high cost medical devices (MRI, CAT scan, ultrasound, etc.).

Absolutely. It's much easier to spend someone else's money. And hospitals will run cat scans and mri's every chance they get. The have to pay for that million dollar machine somehow.

 

[gramps]

I try to stay out of my doctor's office, and rarely have been a pt in a hospital. Drs, and hospitals practice medicine to cover their butts from litigation. In other words lots of tests to back up the diagnosis. Of course that runs up the bill. $10,000 or even $1,000 for a plain IV is ridiculous. I used to buy a bag of normal saline for $1.50, and another $1.50 for the tubing from the hospital, when I had sick animals in the late 80's. Surely water hasn't gone up that much!
gramps

 

[Colonialgirl]

Well, back to the VA; before my surgery (earlier in the year) I had an an X-ray and they recommended a MRI; The VA did the MRI and then decided I would need surgery, but wanted more extensive set of X-rays of my ENTIRE spine. ; "stand here" , "turn that way". "now the other way" , "lean forward", "lean back", etc etc; I think I glowed in the dark when they got through and would have set off radiation alarms at the airport. Never got billed for the MRI or X-rays.
I do think they may charge my Medicare Insurance but have never seen any thing on it.

 

[RSIno1]

This is my biggest fear on retiring. I'll have to switch my carrier or pay over $750 a month to keep our current coverage. Right now I've got one of those Cadillac plans. We've got no co-pays dr/hosp/emergencies/ambulance rides/new glasses every year/etc $5 for perscriptions unless it's a name brand then it's $10. Wife's bariatric surgery 100% covered Her cataract surgery 100% covered - only charge would have been if she wanted a bi-focal lens for $2500 - she passed.

before my surgery .... they recommended a MRI;
I do think they may charge my Medicare Insurance but have never seen any thing on it.

Going through this now I've got the bottom disc gone and the next 3 bulging. After the Xrays my Dr said maybe time for surgery (it's been going on for 25+ years - work injury). They sent me to a pain mgt Dr he wants an MRI that's in 2 weeks.
A few years ago I heard that Medicare actually bills back to the VA as your primary carrier. That was when we were trying to get a lot of vets to sign up for their VA benefits. Surprising how many we found who thought they had no benefits because they didn't do 30 years.

 

[Colonialgirl]

Well, back to the VA; before my surgery (earlier in the year) I had an an X-ray and they recommended a MRI; The VA did the MRI and then decided I would need surgery, but wanted more extensive set of X-rays of my ENTIRE spine. ; "stand here" , "turn that way". "now the other way" , "lean forward", "lean back", etc etc; I think I glowed in the dark when they got through and would have set off radiation alarms at the airport. Never got billed for the MRI or X-rays.
I do think they may charge my Medicare Insurance but have never seen any thing on it.

I love all the instructions you get.

If I could move all those ways, I probably wouldn't need the X-rays!

Well; The BEST part was when they explained that down at the L-3,4,5 level my spine was shifting 4-5 MM from side to side; Guess THAT was why it hurt ALL the way down to my feet when I sneezed.

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Hospitals have been a scam for years. About 1994 I was down in New Mexico visiting family. They took me over to El Paso Texas to catch a flight and it was an early flight so I stayed in a local hotel. During the day I was feeling pretty sick, in my solar polexis area. Through the night I was feeling worse and worse. The next morning I had the hotel take me to the emergency room. I went in and after a couple of minor tests pronounced that I was either about to have a heart attack or had just had one. They put me into Intensive Care. They were drawing blood gasses every few hours to confirm the heart attack and after a day the nurses were getting embarrassed over the deal. They kept me there for 3 days. I finally said enough and left. Well I flew back to Alaska and went to work but I forgot to get a release. They told me I had to go to the Dr. and get a release. So I went to a heart Dr. and after a check told me he seriously doubted I'd had a heart attack but suspected I'd had a gal bladder attack. They did a sonogram and confirmed I had stones. THIS AFTER I spent three days in a hospital running up a bill. Basically my conclusion is they saw a white guy in a Texas (mexican area) hospital with blue cross. :roll: :roll: :shock:

 

[Racer9]

This is all fictional! The great and wonderful Oz, err I mean Obama, fixed all this stuff!!! Healthcare is free now, haven't you heard?

 

[graygun]

This is all fictional! The great and wonderful Oz, err I mean Obama, fixed all this stuff!!! Healthcare is free now, haven't you heard?

It is for him and his swine cronies.

 

[redhawker]

When you consider an aspirin is billed at $45 or a band-aid is billed at $100 you can see how it adds up. The reason for this is two-fold. First, the excess is to cover those that don't pay (illegals, transients, people who somehow get through their hospital stay lying about their identity) and second, because the insurance companies don't want to pay near what they are billed the hospitals play the game of way over billing the insurance to get somewhere near what the stay is really worth.

The thing I find funny, and more so just for regular doctor visits, is that the doctor will bill you, for example, $150 for some in-office procedure. Any doctor in the area will bill you $150 for the same procedure. The insurance company will pay $50 because, as they say, that is the "Usual and Customary" rate for that procedure. My question is how can $50 be the "Usual and Customary" rate for that procedure when every doctor in the country is charging $150 for it?

 

[Jimbo357mag]

The real reason for the high 'per item prices' is that all the costs of the entire hospital operation have to be included into the items that are chargeable to the patient.

THAT'S what makes a pill or bandage cost a seemingly outrageous amount.

To the extent that the hospital's costs include folks who can't/won't pay, then that adds to the problem, but it would be there regardless, because of cost accounting methods. Costs generally skyrocket, because the consumer rarely pays. When insurer's pay, costs soar.

Perhaps this is why we needed a complete overhaul of the healthcare/health insurance system. Obamacare may not be perfect but considering the results of doing nothing I think it was a step in the right direction. Lots of time to make improvements now instead of just complaining about costs and those not covered.

 

[wolfsong]

EGO, being the good liberal that he is, supports "pay now, suffer later". When all the "hope and change" doesn't happen as promised, he then blames it on conservatives. Meanwhile, everyone suffers while having more freedoms taken away.