$6,691 for 3 tiny stitches? Can't I get a nice e36 for that?

[spdy330]

I had 3 stictches on my finger a few years back and I too waited in ER for hours. My bill was over $1500.00. $150.00 out of pocket that insurance did not pay.

We all know this is how all the doctors drive very expensive cars and live in big houses.

[RobMason]

Originally Posted by spdy330

We all know this is how all the doctors drive very expensive cars and live in big houses.

And we should all know how much the CEOs of the Insurance Companies make. Multimillionaires.

http://www2.indystar.com/articles/2/...-3402-031.html

[Cygnusx1]

I was billed $900 for the anesthesia for my colonoscopy. My insurance was covering zero$. They claimed that anesthesia was NOT a requirement for the procedure, so they were not covering it and I had to pay. I asked if they wanted the $900 up their a$$ with or without anesthesia? I got no reply.

[stimpy]

Originally Posted by Cygnusx1

I was billed $900 for the anesthesia for my colonoscopy. My insurance was covering zero$. They claimed that anesthesia was NOT a requirement for the procedure, so they were not covering it and I had to pay. I asked if they wanted the $900 up their a$$ with or without anesthesia? I got no reply.

lol

[fatjoez]

Originally Posted by O-cha

+1 to that, I got two stitches for something (only reason I went was because it was across my eyebrow and I didn't want one of those tough guys scars) and hey charged me 300 at the hospital. A few leaks later I got a bill for another 300$ from the physician. I was like.... wtf.

That's like going and getting an oil change, paying for it, and then getting a bill in the mail from the mechanic a few weeks later.

L O L

Originally Posted by Cygnusx1

I was billed $900 for the anesthesia for my colonoscopy. My insurance was covering zero$. They claimed that anesthesia was NOT a requirement for the procedure, so they were not covering it and I had to pay. I asked if they wanted the $900 up their a$$ with or without anesthesia? I got no reply.

holy..

LOL

[Alexander]

I win...

Two months ago I felt like I had broncitus or pneumonia, fuck spelling... Anyways I told the ER doctor my symptoms, and he prescribed me for your standard anti-botics.

A month later I get a bill for over $3000. Apparently they ran a bunch of "tests" and lab work against my wishes. They tried billing my insurance company, TRICARE, and tricare told them to get fucked so they billed me. I laughed and told them to get fucked, I then paid $92 a week later for them to go away.

[PAMidge]

Healthcare is also cheaper when people go to their primary physicians for non-emergency complaints.

The system is broken, but so are the patients.


Be more upset about the pharmacies that pop up on every street corner and scam Medicare for hundreds of millions of dollars exploiting a hole in the way Medicare pays first and asks questions later.


Don't be upset at the doctors if you got good service & care, often times they have no control of the bill - except for when they are contracted by the hospital as opposed to being employed by the hospital. Be upset about your insurance companies and world constituents that drive up the healthcare costs. Be upset about the people that come in to the ERs daily seeking pain medication for sale on the street. Be upset for the people that come to the ER and MAKE UP symptoms so that they can get a million dollar work up just to convince them that there's nothing wrong with them.

Your concerns are valid, but the problem doesn't even start with the hospitals or doctors. It begins with an awful insurance system based on greed, a legal system that forces physicians to practice defensively as opposed to appropriately, (the list of corruption goes on); all which force hospitals to increase costs just to get a lower negotiating number and eventually makes it back to the non-Medicaid or self pay patient.

[tafan321]

Originally Posted by Alpine3

What stitches? lol

Put some eyes on there and some lipstick and you got yourself a girlfriend.

[Psukhe]

Looks to me like the epic fail is the OP for not having insurance

[Alpine3]

Originally Posted by tafan321

Put some eyes on there and some lipstick and you got yourself a girlfriend.

rofl

[ellipsis212]

Originally Posted by Psukhe

Looks to me like the epic fail is the OP for not having insurance

yes and no. insurance would be treating the symptom but OP has a point about the disease, if you will.

[osteome]

Originally Posted by Aonarch

Apparently they ran a bunch of "tests" and lab work against my wishes.

If you are going to go to the doctor and expect a diagnosis, then tests will often be required. Granted, physicians tend to do more testing than absolutely required as there is the constant threat of some ambulance chaser waiting to cash in if something, no matter how remote or unexpected is "missed".

There are many problems with health care, but one of the measure our government, especially the more liberal side of house, has failed to address it tort reform. This is shocking as so many in government are attorneys by training. I am NOT bashing all lawyers, just the ambulance chasers.

If the ER doc is concerned that he is going to be somebody's lottery ticket, then "extra" testing is going to occur. Typically the insurance company or the hospital is going to eat it...and pass it along.

On the other hand, there are a lot of patients that demand every test under the sun, with most of them getting it, for the same reasons above. Defensive medicine has become the norm.

Then again, perhaps Jim Henson wished that his doctor did a test or two more when he showed up with a cold....

[osteome]

Originally Posted by spdy330

We all know this is how all the doctors drive very expensive cars and live in big houses.

Some of us drive expensive cars, but live tents (well at least for a year at a time)

Medicine is like any other business: The higher the overhead, the higher the cost for services....