Random Thought of the Day

Quote: DRich

Who thinks our medical system needs to be reformed?

I had a back surgery yesterday and spent one night in the hospital, a total of 30 hours. I am home now with an estimated hospital bill of $262,814. I don;t even know if that includes the individual doctor fees.

Hopefully my insurance will cover most of that.

Congrats on making it home. You sure you didn't misplace a decimal somewhere?

Quote: DRich

Who thinks our medical system needs to be reformed?

I had a back surgery yesterday and spent one night in the hospital, a total of 30 hours. I am home now with an estimated hospital bill of $262,814.

A quarter million? That can't be right.
My brother was there for 5 days a
few months ago for a bunch of
procedures and it was $22K. How
do you even know the estimated
total this soon, it takes them weeks
to figure it out before you see it.
Something's not right here.

Just for comparison, Internet says a kidney transplant runs 400k, and a heart transplant 1.2 million.

Quote: Evenbob

A quarter million? That can't be right.
My brother was there for 5 days a
few months ago for a bunch of
procedures and it was $22K. How
do you even know the estimated
total this soon, it takes them weeks
to figure it out before you see it.
Something's not right here.

They gave me a form before the surgery showing the estimated total of $262,715. I found out that does not include the fees for surgeon and anesthesiologist. That is just the hospital bill.

Quote: DRich

Who thinks our medical system needs to be reformed?

I had a back surgery yesterday and spent one night in the hospital, a total of 30 hours. I am home now with an estimated hospital bill of $262,814. I don;t even know if that includes the individual doctor fees.

Hopefully my insurance will cover most of that.

Are you being serious? Can you post a copy of your bill with your identifying information redacted of course? I’m guessing same surgery at my hospital total bill is 10-15% of that.


Edit. I see it isn’t a bill. I’m not even sure what it IS! What insurance company insured you? What is your annual deductible?

That is very interesting - I have had 2 surgeries but both were outpatient, and I've never seen an estimated charge thing like that. My wife had an inpatient procedure last year and also, nothing similar to that. In fact before I had my ACL repaired I asked them straight up if they could estimate the total cost. They said no, haha.

Drich, I wouldn't worry too much about it. That is likely the "sticker price" that NO ONE pays. You have insurance, so they will "negotiate" a lower rate with the hospital, probably something like 20-50% of that number just to start with. Then the specifics of your insurance plan will kick in, deductible, co-insurance, out-of-pocket maximums etc. Depending on all the machinations of that crap, I bet you will be out somewhere around $5k out of pocket when it's all said and done (which will be months from now, if your insurance is as slow as mine [Blue Cross/Blue Shield of MA]).

Oh and if you have zero insurance, you're not paying that sticker price either. They will realize you'll never be able to pay it, and will negotiate it down to something more reasonable as well. Basically, the "sticker price" is pointless fiction other than for the insurance company to highlight it and say "HEY YOU SAVED THIS MUCH MONEY!!!!!!1!1!!111!"

I think my estimated out of pocket expenses are capped at $8.600 a year.

Quote: SOOPOO

Are you being serious? Can you post a copy of your bill with your identifying information redacted of course? I’m guessing same surgery at my hospital total bill is 10-15% of that.

That's what I said. 10% of that amount
is about right. One day in the hospital
for a quarter million, and that doesn't
include the surgeons fee? No insurance
company in the world would pay it.

I fail to recall now but it was somewhere near Biloxi or NOLA, that a nurse asked 'would you like the newborn taken to the day care so you can rest for awhile?' without disclosing that the stay in the room twenty feet away would be billed at $700 an hour or part thereof.

Some hospitals sell the debts to bill collectors who try to get lucky or even try to legally revive a bankruptcy-discharged debt by giving a prepaid debit card that automatically makes a token payment.

Quote: Evenbob

That's what I said. 10% of that amount
is about right. One day in the hospital
for a quarter million, and that doesn't
include the surgeons fee? No insurance
company in the world would pay it.

I know, it is crazy. It was a five hour surgery and I know they brought in neuro-monitoring specialists but I don't even know if that was included or if they bill separately.