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soul2share -> RE: Eye-Popping Health Care Costs (5/16/2013 5:02:13 PM)
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In October of 2010, I went to the ER with appendicitis. I knew what it was, it was 3:30 am, and I was right. THey did the surgery lapriscopically,(SP) I was in the hospital EXACTLY 48 hours. A couple of weeks later, I got the explanation of benefits for the surgery. It came to approximatley $32,000. What I thought was interesting was the notation on the bottom of it. They showed the original cost of $38,000 +/-, then they showed an approximate "hospital discount" of approximately $24,000, brining the total "cost" to approximately $8,000. Huh? Why not just charge the $8000 and be done with it?
Medical costs here in the US are out of control. Medications are just as bad. I had a job working for a prescription benefit manager, and you wouldn't believe the costs of medications. One that immediately comes to mind is Nexium....that medication is so overpriced it's not funny. And there's no generic for it, so if it's the only thing that works, then the patient absorbs that cost. I'm talking hundreds of dollars here. I am definitely that last person that encourages gov't intervention, but someone has to bring these companies under control. I could tell you stories about unrelated medical costs from doctors that would curl your hair. They are inflating their costs for services because the other payments they used to get from medicare and insurance companies are being cut and they are trying to find alternate ways of making up for those cuts.
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