Shock and awe... got the bill for my recent appendectomy.

[CurtEastPoint]

Thank God I have insurance (for now...Cobra)

I just cannot understand why a routine procedure like this was billed at $29,000. I know the insurer will negotiate with the hospital for less but omigod. No WONDER bankruptcy due to medical bills is so high in the US.

[CreekDog]

1. I'd hate to see what it costs to put one in

:dunce:

[Ken Burch]

4. But hey, it comes with 3G coverage now.

n/t.

[meegbear]

10. There's an app for that.

[Ken Burch]

2. They should let people see the bill first

The shock would make your appendix burst through the abdominal wall all by itself.

[RKP5637]

3. Mine was about the same. I was covered, very lucky, but the bills kept

rolling in and in for several months. The charges are ridiculous.

[endless october]

5. i'm glad that you have COBRA.

i had to have a routine colonoscopy as my COBRA was getting started. without insurance : 5 grand. with : $750.

unreal. had i chosen not to continue COBRA, that would have eaten most of my savings. and i worked hard to save in case my job was cut.

i can't imagine what it's like for someone with a family.

my bass player once accidentally got the full bill for the delivery of one of his kids : $32 grand. $32 grand for a delivery. he has insurance, so it turned out ok, but wow.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. Having reviewed the costs of what Medicare

and the supplemental AARP insurance paid for my mother-in-law's final illness, I share your shock. We got the last statement from United Health Care yesterday and it is a real eye-opener. For example, the charge for the doctor who finally pulled the plug on the day of her death was over $800 for that last 15 minutes or so with us, doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING other than confirming that we were done with further procedures.

The total bill for the approximate month that she was in the hospital was well over $300,000.

[SoCalDem]

7. Geez Louise..

My aunt had an emergency appendectomy (years ago), and I still remember her complaining about how damned much it cost:)

she was in the hospital for 3 days..private room because she was such a complainer:evilgrin:

She even whined about the $2 a day for TV in her room..

total bill $350.00 ..

[Fleshdancer]

8. Compare this to my friend in Ireland...

He's an American visiting Ireland with no travel insurance or anything else that helps him cover his hospital bills over there. He had an emergency appendectomy that included complications (his doctors told him this was the worst case they had ever seen) and he was in the hospital for a good 5 days. HIS bill? $5,000.

I'm still not sure how or why since he isn't a resident, but I do know that his bill is less than my last emergency room visit (a total of 3 hours) here in the US. Fun times. :(

[anarch]

9. speaking for myself, if you're going to bill me $29,000, you might as well

go ahead and just bill me like $29,000,000, because the odds of me being able to pay it are about equal.

the world we live in is completely ridiculous.

[Toucano]

17. Same here.

A couple thousand dollars is at least fathomable. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But for me too, $29,000 may as well be millions.

[arcadian]

20. third, that

[Cleita]

11. In 1955, my appendectomy cost a total of $500 including three

days in the hospital. Even in today's dollars, I can't imagine it would cost $29,000.

:shrug:

What a racket! No wonder we are in such a healthcare mess.

[CurtEastPoint]

28. $500 in 1955 would be $3937 in 2009. WAY less than $29K.

$500.00 in 1955 had about the same buying power as $3,936.89 in 2009.
Annual inflation over this period was about 3.9%.

According to http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm

[kimi]

12. I visited a hospital recently

and was sort of shocked. My family and I get health care through the military so I was very out of touch with what hospitals out in the world look like. There was live music in the lobby, a beautiful fountain near the piano podium, wireless internet in the room, luxury decorating touches in the private rooms (and there were only private rooms), bedside computers, DVD/TV - well, it was lovely. I wonder how much of the bill is actual healthcare, and how much is the overhead for what looks like a resort.

[proudohioan]

19. I know what you mean; I had a similar experience....

in a new hospital in a somewhat rural area north of Denver; my father was going in for outpatient surgery, and when we got to the hospital, we thought we had accidentally stepped into the lobby of a fancy hotel.......... I had the same thought at the time: is this what our outrageous health insurance premiums are paying for?

[EnviroBat]

13. I had a heart cath a year ago.

$18,000.00 for a 15 min procedure. I have a felling my current insurance company wants to drop me like a hot potato.

[MineralMan]

15. You bet. Keep paying your bill on time. You're now uninsurable.

Just having the test makes you uninsurable. They'll cancel your insurance at the least provocation.

[Nay]

27. I had a 5-hour emergency room visit for major digestive issues--

$6,700. Unbelievable. They cleaned me out and did an MRI--that's it.

[sybylla]

14. I was just as shocked this summer after I got the bills for my son's health care

He had a bike accident. Had an ambulance ride, a CAT scan, an xray of his wrist and three stitches - just under $7000.

I could have bought him a car for that.

Luckily insurance took care of about half, what with our huge deductibles and copay.

[Dora]

16. Yep. I had one when I was uninsured in 1997.

Due to bureaucratic inefficiency, I came out of the experience $200 richer.

The total billing was something $30,000. I don't remember what I earned at the time, but it wasn't much and I had no insurance. I earned too much to qualify for total assistance from the county health system, but I qualified for partial support, if I could come up with something like $9000 of my own money first. I went to two meetings to plead my case, and in the second meeting the man turned off the tape recorder and "this is how it's probably going to happen -" and then he told me that the hospital was going to send the county my bill asking for payment. The person who received that bill, he said, was probably not going to take the time to look up my record to see if I had qualified for their support, and if so, how much support. He said that my bill would in all probability be paid without question. He told me to go home, try not to worry, and wait.

Six months later I had moved to another state for grad school when I received a letter and a refund check from the hospital. They were refunding the $200 "deposit" my mother had paid them at the ER. She told me to keep it.

Ironically, my husband had a medical bankruptcy due to two trips to the ER he made to the exact same hospital. The total bill for his two trips was less than mine, but his visits were a year later than mine (for rollerblading and bicycling injuries). The hospital had changed ownership in that year, and the new management sent his account to collections even though he had been paying regularly. He filed bankruptcy. Too bad for them - If they had been patient, he would have kept paying.

[Toucano]

18. Mine was $38,000 in 2004.

Of course, I got an abcess and was in the hospital for 2 weeks.

Super rough.

But the surgeon was talented and left very minor scaring. The vanity in me is pleased with that part at least.

[WCGreen]

21. I was in hosital for 19 days a month ago and my whole bill

was $ 120k. And that was for everything, bed, tests, pills. procedures, doctors...

[Thickasabrick]

24. OMG - I hope you are better!! nt

[WCGreen]

25. I won't be back for at least six months but I am starting to regain my stregth..

and health.

[MilesColtrane]

22. I better start reading medical textbooks.

Does anybody here have a couple of mirrors, and know how to do a spinal block?

[gkhouston]

23. Hey, I had a simple chest X-ray a while back. With insurance, $50. Without, $463. n/t

[jberryhill]

26. Wow....

...for that much, I'd expect a "happy ending" after the operation.

At least.