A testament to medical inflation

[dsc]

I am watching St. Elsewhere (I never watched it when it was first on so am watching it in rerun now) and it is their first season. An elderly man is in with a nose bleed that one of the residents think is Goshes disease necessitating a very expensive test. The cost of that test, $250. This was in 1982 which according to the inflation calculator would have been 548.49 in 2009 money. I doubt $550 would buy even a medium cost test today.

[enlightenment]

1. I had major thoracic surgery in the mid-1980s

10 days in hospital - 2 in the ICU. Various complications that necessitated extra treatments and care, etc., etc.

Total cost, including the doctors' fees - under $15,000. My insurance at the time covered all but $500.

I can't even fathom what that would cost today.

[EXneoCON]

2. Some quotes from recent personal experience....

I have no insurance; everything is self-pay for me: five thoracic and cervical spine x-rays - $89.00; one c- and t-spine CT scan - $400.00; doctor's office visit - $69.00 (with no diagnosis or prescription) one month's supply of Plavix (for a recent heart attack) - $245.00; three month's supply of generic Plavix (clopidogrel) - $70.00 (don't ask, don't tell) one heart attack, three stents, six days in the hospital stabilizing - $100,000.00+.

I've noticed a new trend in my area. Recently a medical clinic has opened that caters to those that do not have insurance. They will accept it, of course, but they also will see those of us without. The good news is that they offer substantial savings for those paying in cash (paperwork, personnel, logistical savings, etc.) The bad news is you do have to pay up-front, so the truly disadvantaged are out of luck.

Some doctor's offices will also reduce payments for self-insure patients. On the other hand, most still charge self-insurers far above what they will accept from an insurance settlement. Self-pay is generally at least double what is accepted from an insurer.

So, it's a mixed bag, price-wise. In some respects inflation has hit hard (CT, MRI, any really new tech). In other cases technology seems to have actually brought the prices down a bit (digital x-rays - no more film, developing chemicals, waste disposal of same.)

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Those types of clinics are happening here as well.

[EXneoCON]

4. A sign of the times, I would say....

[sinkingfeeling]

5. I can do you one better. Delivery of baby at major teaching hospital in 1970.

Included use of labor and delivery rooms, spinal-block, 5 days of nursery care for baby, 5 days in a semi-private room and care for Mom, and a circumcision totalled $1400. I've read the average, non C-section birth, is above $10,000 now.

[MilesColtrane]

6. I had an appointment a couple of weeks ago with an orthopedic surgeon.

The appointment and one cortisone shot cost $450.

That was the cash price.

I'm just glad he didn't order an MRI, because I probably wouldn't have been able to pay for it.