I live in the UK. My father had a stroke a couple of days ago. He’s in intensive care on a ventilator.
Total bill so far: £2 parking. Also the coffee machine in the relatives waiting room was out of sugar.
Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
121–130 of 370 posts
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#122I just got an itemized bill today for a minor fall I took a couple months back.. On top of the nearly $6k in other charges from the hospital, they charged $531 for one dab of superglue or "liquid stitches" on my forehead for something that would have healed by itself. One of my friends died two years ago from pneumonia. He didn't go to the hospital when symptoms first started because he was afraid of the bills that w…
I just got an emergency room bill. I had a severe sore throat and fever for 2 weeks, step tests came back negative. Then at night my back side started hurting so I went to the ER. I paid $850 at the ER and today I received another bill for $850. The only thing on the Bill just says > "Charges": $11,680 > "Adjustmnets: $9,980 I just got off the phone with them and they say that it will take 10 business days to receive…
if it was a work trip on company business, why wouldn't worker's comp kick in?
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#123I’m sure going to get downvoted for this but.... I just don’t pay my medical bills I pay my dentist and eye doctor bills since those are different. But I just let my insurance pay their part and I walk away from the rest. I haven’t had anything catastrophic yet. But have and do have bills in the 1,000s. My credit score is great in the 740+ range. I know big stuff they could take me to court or put a lien on my proper…
Do you go to a different dentist and eye doctor each time? Also, if you had to go to an emergency room, would you give them fake personal info so they can't send you bills?
I pay my dentist and eye doctors. Those are treated differently. There really isn’t eye insurance and dentists usually have normalish prices compared to other doctors.
I mean I can ask my dentist how much it’s going to be and he can actually give me a price before my procedure.
But as I stated above the insurance pays their portion so it’s not like nothing is being paid. Just not the 900% markup.
I don’t recommend doing this. I’m sure it will bite me eventually but it’s been 10+ years. And yes I haven’t had any major or catastrophic medical event in my life. So the bills haven’t been in the +10k range. I’m pretty sure once it gets there they will put a lien or sue me.
I go the same facility every time. I haven’t been denied. My family hasn’t been denied.
If I did go to an ER for something serious I would give them my real name and info. I do have insurance and it will pay a portion. Depending on the size I might pay it. I might not. Just haven’t had anything really large.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#124It's not the hospital alone. I went to my Kaiser optometry for my wife's glasses yesterday, and they said it would cost $375 for her pair. Her insurance would cover $175 + $100 discount, and the rest she has to pay. She has a Platinum coverage with Kaiser.
We went home and she ordered 5 pairs online for $50. The anti-reflective coating cost $90 at Kaiser, but only $6 online.
Fortunately, I don't wear glasses.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#125Just to pile on about how ridiculous medical costs are: After giving birth my wife was offered Ibuprofen. On the bill we were charged $80 for the 2 pills she took. This was before Obamacare. After Obamacare I twisted my ankle and the doctors insisted I wear a cheap fabric boot with stiff plastic plates while it healed over the next couple weeks. I asked how much it cost and they said $280. I took it off and refused i…
Yeah it's nuts.
Someone I know sprained their ankle. They recommended that he should use a cane for a while and said they had one to give him. When the bill came weeks later it was $200 for the cane that looked really close to what you can get for $20 at Walmart.
The really messed up thing is I drove him to the doctor and I carried some of the paperwork out (wasn't the bill) so he could use both hands to move around safely. When I was outside I held the piece of paper up and a gust of wind bent the paper in such a way that I ended up with a really nasty paper cut. Like a 2 inch slice on the inside of my finger. One of the worst paper cuts I've ever gotten.
So I went back into the medical center and I asked them if I could get a band-aid. They asked why, so I explained. I got a few smirks from them (they borderline laughed in my face) and they told me that they weren't allowed to give away medical supplies and that I should go a few blocks away to a CVS (a local drug store). Meanwhile just to be insured costs $450 / month for the bare minimum (which I don't pay for but I've payed many thousands in fines for not having insurance).
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#126We had a call with someone who works on the pricelist/chargemaster for a major metro hospital recently, they set their prices by taking the Medicare reimbursement rate, and multiplying by 8.
Hospitals that take a majority Medicare patients go out of business. Medicare patients are subsidized by the rest of a hospital’s patient population.
That’s a common but false talking point. Hospitals with above average Medicare patients generally get paid more than the general population. It’s also a question of what percentage of a nominal bill gets paid vs sent to collections.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#127Just to pile on about how ridiculous medical costs are: After giving birth my wife was offered Ibuprofen. On the bill we were charged $80 for the 2 pills she took. This was before Obamacare. After Obamacare I twisted my ankle and the doctors insisted I wear a cheap fabric boot with stiff plastic plates while it healed over the next couple weeks. I asked how much it cost and they said $280. I took it off and refused i…
DME is the absolute worst. Try getting a CPAP machine anywhere near MSRP. It's a joke. We are being fleeced.
No kidding. In my experience even the most aboveboard DME vendors very aggressively push replacement of consumable components/supplies on the absolute minimum schedule allowed by insurance. They make a performance of confirming that you're ordering things that actually need to be replaced, but it's blatantly obvious (even to me, a person who largely sucks at reading social cues and verbal subtext) that the rep is just reading it off of a script to cover the company's ass.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#128Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hospitals that take a majority Medicare patients go out of business. Medicare patients are subsidized by the rest of a hospital’s patient population.
That’s a common but false talking point. Hospitals with above average Medicare patients generally get paid more than the general population. It’s also a question of what percentage of a nominal bill gets paid vs sent to collections.
Given that it's a common misconception, would you supply some evidence for your position?
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
I went to the ER with chest pains seeming like a heart attack. They did an EKG, determined it wasn't a heart attack, then a blood test, which determined it was low potassium, and did a chest x-ray just in case. I received a saline IV and potassium pills as treatment, and went home after a couple of hours. The bill was about $18,000 for this. The insurance negotiated rate was about $1,500, of which I had to pay about…
They’re not shell organizations, hospitals just outsource tons of stuff, frequently including physicians. (In fact, in California, hospitals may not legally employ physicians to practice medicine)
Yeah, but when you pay for services you don't expect to have to write checks for every subcontractor your service provider users. They do that. You pay them. Everywhere but our messed up Medical System is like that.
Imagine if every time you went grocery shopping you had to pay for the people stocking the shelves, putting the carts back if you used one, the cashier, and each wholesale distributor. It's crazy and senseless. Just the way they like it so they can get away with so much more.
Re: Medical equipment pricing is completely broken when a sling costs $200
#130I just got an itemized bill today for a minor fall I took a couple months back.. On top of the nearly $6k in other charges from the hospital, they charged $531 for one dab of superglue or "liquid stitches" on my forehead for something that would have healed by itself. One of my friends died two years ago from pneumonia. He didn't go to the hospital when symptoms first started because he was afraid of the bills that w…
I went to the ER with chest pains seeming like a heart attack. They did an EKG, determined it wasn't a heart attack, then a blood test, which determined it was low potassium, and did a chest x-ray just in case. I received a saline IV and potassium pills as treatment, and went home after a couple of hours. The bill was about $18,000 for this. The insurance negotiated rate was about $1,500, of which I had to pay about…
I ended up in the ER a few months ago. The paramedics wanted around $2,500, the hospital (Dignity Health) wanted maybe $3,500, and the doctor had another few hundred in fees. Sadly that all felt pretty cheap.
Dignity Health deserves a special mention though. They obfuscate their billing as much as possible. The initial bill indicated they'd give me a cash discount and wanted something like $2500. Then they sent me another bill for $1800 if I paid promptly, with lots of weasel words to make it seem like I really owed more than $1800. So, of course I paid but I had no real idea if $1800 would be sufficient (in fact their online payment portal hinted it wouldn't be). The best part was getting a survey about the quality of their billing statements right after.