Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us | TIME.com
an absolutely stunning-- but not surprising-- expose of US hospital bill costs.
i've had my own experience with the system about four years ago. one night i woke up with ghastly pain in my abdomen, like a series of heavy punches that left me breathless.
my spouse barely got me into the taxi and we sped to the GWU hospital; after producing my insurance, i was put into a hospital bed and then promptly ignored for about an hour. after my spouse complained, loudly, a doctor finally came out to see me, and then put me through a battery of tests: multiple x-rays, CAT scan, blood drawing, urine testing.
the pain got so bad that they eventually injected me with a painkiller, and i passed out. the doctor later told me that the tests all came back negative, and they could only guess that it was acute viral gastroenteritis...and that they couldn't do anything about it, because it was a virus. he then apologized for all the tests, saying that i probably didn't require that many x-rays for them to determine that there was nothing (otherwise) wrong with me. i was released, with the only thing of benefit being the painkiller (which i couldn't/didn't want too much of, as it was an opiate).
for this one harrowing night, i was charged $12K. thankfully i had topflight insurance (kaiser permanente; always great) and complained loudly to the hospital; between kaiser and myself, i got the charge down by half, and after kaiser paid for most of it, i was left paying $800.
so for my night of pain, where i was on a hospital bed for five hours, got about 10 min of time with a doc, a painkiller injection, and tests (some of which gave me a nice dose of radiation which turned out to be unnecessary)...i paid $800, and considered that a great deal.
i'm seeing a lot of the same issues here. what hospitals in effect do is charge like a monopoly, knowing that you're not likely to negotiate or turn down services...which you can't price-shop for.
makes me sick reading about it, and no pun intended.
an absolutely stunning-- but not surprising-- expose of US hospital bill costs.
i've had my own experience with the system about four years ago. one night i woke up with ghastly pain in my abdomen, like a series of heavy punches that left me breathless.
my spouse barely got me into the taxi and we sped to the GWU hospital; after producing my insurance, i was put into a hospital bed and then promptly ignored for about an hour. after my spouse complained, loudly, a doctor finally came out to see me, and then put me through a battery of tests: multiple x-rays, CAT scan, blood drawing, urine testing.
the pain got so bad that they eventually injected me with a painkiller, and i passed out. the doctor later told me that the tests all came back negative, and they could only guess that it was acute viral gastroenteritis...and that they couldn't do anything about it, because it was a virus. he then apologized for all the tests, saying that i probably didn't require that many x-rays for them to determine that there was nothing (otherwise) wrong with me. i was released, with the only thing of benefit being the painkiller (which i couldn't/didn't want too much of, as it was an opiate).
for this one harrowing night, i was charged $12K. thankfully i had topflight insurance (kaiser permanente; always great) and complained loudly to the hospital; between kaiser and myself, i got the charge down by half, and after kaiser paid for most of it, i was left paying $800.
so for my night of pain, where i was on a hospital bed for five hours, got about 10 min of time with a doc, a painkiller injection, and tests (some of which gave me a nice dose of radiation which turned out to be unnecessary)...i paid $800, and considered that a great deal.
i'm seeing a lot of the same issues here. what hospitals in effect do is charge like a monopoly, knowing that you're not likely to negotiate or turn down services...which you can't price-shop for.
makes me sick reading about it, and no pun intended.
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