A New Appreciation for Health Care Costs
Just recently I discovered that I have a kidney stone... and let me tell you, these things are no laughing matter! So, of course I had to go see a Dr. and find out how to take care of this thing. The latest and most advanced procedure that he wanted to do was to use some sort of shockwave to break it up so I could pass it. However, the nice little price tag for that procedure was only $12,000!
Now, normally, with conventional medical insurance that would be taken care of, but our family does not have conventional medical insurance b/c we simply can't affor it. We do belong to a group that helps protect us from outragious medical bills, but it's not insurance; technically we're classified as self-pay. So, I didn't want to go that route.
So, I'm going to go with the second option which is much more involved, but is cheaper for some reason (which I really do not understand). They're actually going to go in with a scope and a lazer and bust it up that way, so that I can pass it. It will be done as an outpatient surgery. And here's where I get to the point of this blog. To even schedule the surgery, I have to put down $500 just to bring the lazer to the hospital. Now, fortunately, I think we're going to be able to handle that by the grace of God.
But what about those people who can't come up with $500 on the spot? It really hasn't been that long ago when we couldn't have done that either. What are they suppose to do? Would a guy just have to suffer for months with a kidney stone until he could raise the money to get the lazer?
I don't have any solutions to this health care crisis that we're currently in, but I do have a new appreciation for it. I hope that the leaders of this country that we put so much hope in, will be able to come up with a solution.
7 comments :
Yea that is strange that the shock wave thing that sounds so simple.. with no cuts or real indepth tubes or whatever cost so much.
I mean my entire pregnancy and hospital stay is half that!
And you better believe there is a lot more involved with giving birth to a child... getting an epidural... IV... cutting the cord... following the contractions for hours and hours... then the care for the newborn following the birth!
And thats cheaper?
Its robbery I think.
Theres no way that shock wave thing cost them 12 grand to use.
Dude I think it's crazy.
I remember when I was in my car accident 6 years ago, the ambulance took me to a hospital that had one of the best trauma centers in the area. It also happens to be one of the only hospitals in the area that cares for Medicaid patients and other low income patients. Luckily my insurance took care of it, but we were able to see what everything cost in the end...
For one thing the charges seemed pretty crazy. I mean, they charged me for putting a bandaid on one of my cuts in the ER. Every single little thing was a separate charge. They charged me for the thread that was used when I got stitches. They even charged me for when I was intubated and got a tube stuck down my throat!
Anyway, I was in the ICU for 14 days, and on the general care unit for another 7 days. Only 21 days in the hospital total. Because this hospital deals with low income patients, virtually everything is cheaper in general. We were charged somewhere in the neighborhood of $75k for the hospital, then another $25k for rehab.
What is unbelievable is, that is a true steal. If I had received the same care at another private, non-government-subsidised hospital, it would have easily cost $300k or $400k for the hospital alone!
Like I said, I was blessed - my insurance took care of virtually everything. But I didn't choose to be in that accident, and I can't help but wonder about the low income guy who doesn't have insurance. Where is he going to come up with $75k - or even $2 or $3,000?
Wow.. that is something! And the way they charge for everthing like that with extremely high prices is so wrong. I'm not one who believes in a lot of gov't involvement, but I'm starting to think they should step in and do something about it... even charging the insurance co.'s extremely high prices.
Health care, Wal-mart style...
My parents and I happened to be talking about just this a few days ago, and my mom explained to me how the HMO system interacts with hospitals.
I'm sure you're familiar with Walmart's sales system... Walmart will tell the marketer that "we can sell 1000 of your Sony Playstations, but we will only sell them at $150 (below whatever the MSRP is)". Of course I'm just making up those numbers but that is the general idea.
Same idea with insurance companies. An insurance company will approach a hospital (say, Seattle Grace Hospital) and say, "We have 3,465,839 people on our plan. We will add you to our policy for laser kidney stone surgery, but we will only pay $8,000 for the surgery." And since it's always good for a hospital to cover more insurance policies, the hospital usually agrees. The remaining $4000 is just "written off".
So then, let's say Joe Schmo has a kidney stone, and goes to Seattle Grace Hospital, and wants this "newest, latest" laser kidney stone removal surgery. His insurance is pretty good, but it doesn't cover laser kidney stone removal surgery, but he would really like that. Since his insurance doesn't cover it, Seattle Grace is going to charge him the full $12,000.
The same applies to Joe's brother, Bob Schmo, who is completely uninsured. Since Bob has no insurance, he'll have to pay full price - not only for the kidney stone surgery, but also for when his kid needs stitches in the ER, or when his daughter needs her appendix removed.
As you can tell, this really hurts the uninsured, i.e. those in poverty. People get hurt - we all know how inevitable that is. It's happened since the beginning of time. So when the person with no money and no insurance breaks his leg, he has to go to the ER and pay full price for the doctor's checkup, the x-rays, the cast, and so on. That's not cheap, especially for someone who does not have insurance. And just imagine something more serious - a bad car accident or a serious illness like cancer! Even on Medicaid, that can easily rack up into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I forgot to mention the Schmo sister, Flo Schmo. See, since Flo is a girl, she has to go to the doctor every year for her girly visits, or at least she's supposed to. But Flo is unemployed and uninsured, and without insurance those visits cost a lot of money. So she skips the yearly gyno visits, as well as her annual mammograms, her 5-year colonoscopies, her vaccine boosters, her yearly bloodwork, etc. This is bad because the Schmos have a family history of cancer and heart disease, but Flo's philosphy is, if she's not bleeding, she won't go to the hospital.
After many years of living this way, Flo notices a strange lump on her breast. She disregards it for several months, until it begins to hurt - a lot! Since she doesn't have a primary care doctor, she goes to the ER. There, Flo is diagnosed with end-stage breast cancer and lymphoma, as well as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, osteoperosis, and congestive heart failure. The doctors prescribe 5 medications for her. Naturally, the cost of those meds is covered by us, the taxpayers.
The system is definitely broken. But don't ask me what the solution is, because I don't know either.
First of all.. who is "WE" that put hope in the leaders of the country? I only know a few that have a smidgen of hope in the unoficially elected Bush gang, and all those people are clueless, or profiteering snakes.
You can thank right wing greed for the healthcare situation. These Republican politicians that feed you the "We're so moral" line are profiting off the healthcare scam. Who do you think writes the rules? What do you think healthcare industry lobbyists are there for?
Of course though, you are willfully ignorant of the reality of the situation and you are swayed by the BS they feed you, so you will never be ahead of the game. I live in the UK where healthcare is not only universal... it's actually effective.
You want to avoid kidney stones? Drink more water and dump the high fructose corn syrup crap.
It is proper to be suspicious of our political "leaders" but there actually is a sensible proposal in the US House called HR676 - A plan to improve and expand Medicare to all.
You can get information at www.pnhp.org or www.healthcare-now.org
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