$20,000 for an outpatient surgery.

[justgamma]

My daughter broke her wrist. They put an external contraption on it. $1780 for that. It could be reused except for the pins, but they don't. $900 to take it off. (Unscrew 4 screws to take it off and pull the pins out) $14,400 for the hospital surgery room and to let her stay in a room for a few hours.

Now she's fighting with the insurance company to get them to pay some of the bills. It might as well be 20 million. Same difference. She can't afford any extra money. I'm paying on what I can.

Ridiculous!

[panader0]

1. My daughter got her nose broken sliding into home plate

when the thrown ball hit her in the face. I pulled it straight and hoped that it would be OK. My ex (her mom) insisted she go to the doctor. Instead of just setting it in his office, the doctor insisted on the hospital and anesthesia, knocking her out to set a broken nose. Now, I've had my nose broken before, and the med student pulled it once, and that was it.
The cost for my daughter was around 4K. Without insurance from her mom, I'd have been sunk.

[Mira]

2. What makes me think this will be a long post of woes?

We are so abysmally F***ed when it comes to health care. All the money available was spent on Dick Cheney.

[hobbit709]

3. Friend of mine got stuck with a $16K bill at the hospital

when he was admitted on an EMS call. When they asked him to pay the bill he told them they better just write it off to charity because he had no money and no job at the time. They asked if he had $200 dollars cash and they would write it off. His response was "Put it in writing". They did, he gave them the 2 bills and walked out.

[barb162]

4. Is the insurer trying to deny the claim?

[Systematic Chaos]

5. It's a joke every way you look at it.

I'm to the point where I'm refusing most treatment for my problems because all it amounts to is half-assed nothing that doesn't even help me in the end. It's VERY hard for me to help myself right now, but I am doing my best because it's all I have (other than my wife who is a wonderful support system but she can't do everything either, you know?).

I wish you and your daughter the best of luck and that when she gets her casts and stuff off, she'll have full use of that arm! :grouphug:

[Warpy]

6. It's hard to negotiate during a crisis

but that's exactly what we're supposed to be able to do as "health consumers." Our system, as you now know, is totally insane.

If she has insurance, they need to pick up the tab. If she doesn't, she needs to get on the blower and tell it like it is to the hospital. Most will work with you by reducing the ridiculous charges and setting up a payment plan.

Yes, it feels humiliating the first time you admit to them that you aren't made of money and will need help. However, they know they can't get blood out of stones and that the adverse publicity they face when they jail us over non payment has not been worth it so they will work with us.

I'm afraid that's the best help I can offer right now. Her insurance company needs to cough up, that's why she's paying them. If they don't cough up enough, she needs to start to negotiate with the hospital.

[FLyellowdog]

7. Insurance companies are insane anyway.

Many many years ago I had to have lithotripsy (blasting ?) for a kidney stone. The procedure was done on a Friday. Don't remember the exact cost, but thousands of dollars. When the bill came, it showed a double billing...hospital said I'd had TWO procedures done, one on Friday and one on the following Monday. I notified both the hospital and the insurance company that the invoice was wrong... Guess what? The insurance company paid for BOTH even though I only received one procedure. Go figure. :shrug: