When I had my Femoral artery bypass surgery two years ago, the total bill came to a little over $71,000. Three days in the hospital. My out of pocket cost was around $550 with Medicare and gap insurance.

quote:

Originally posted by patw:
I still can't get over the $2400 ambulance ride.

Any idea what it costs to put an equipped ALS ambulance and crew into service? The cardiac monitor we use is $35K, a power cot and power load system double that. Add to that that they are crewed 24/7/365 waiting for a call, possibly your call.

And that $2,400 was likely what was billed, not what was paid.

What bothers me is that if she were held responsible she would need to pay $60k, but the insurance only had to pay $20k. That is $40k less going to the hospital.

It sounds to me like the hospital has a major incentive to queer the claim and collect the full $60.

Conflict of interest anyone?

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
What bothers me is that if she were held responsible she would need to pay $60k, but the insurance only had to pay $20k. That is $40k less going to the hospital.

It sounds to me like the hospital has a major incentive to queer the claim and collect the full $60.

Conflict of interest anyone?

Agreed.
The article sounds like it was written to point out the crazy billing practices that mostly end up heavily discounted under the insurance industry practices.
If she really had such poor insurance as a practicing physician and didn’t understand how to get the help to resolve this, she’s clueless.
I suspect much of the article is BS.

The fact that games like that have to be played is the real story.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 220-9er,

Anthem sucks. Been two years with them unfortunately, employer insurance. They won't pay for labs unless you use the hospital lab, the employer. Do Qwest or LabCorp and you get billed. Stupid. My PC has Qwest in house and before Anthem we never had lab bills. Now we have take a lab order and travel to the one hospital the area to do labs.

Unfortunately in the past 12 months we have had two separate ambulance rides, one in state and one out of state incidents, and Anthem won't pay for any ambulance rides. $1500 a pop.

Found real early with this insurer who all the first tier providers were in the area. Had to change some of our longtime providers so we wouldn't have to pay for medical care. So now the first thing we do is make sure the provider is in first tier, the provider office/employer is in first tier and talk directly to insurer, Anyhem, and verify the coverage for the needed medical care that's needed. If we don't we'll end up with an unexpected bill from someone that insurance won't pay. Been very frustrating.

quote:

So now the first thing we do is make sure the provider is in first tier, the provider office/employer is in first tier and talk directly to insurer, Anyhem, and verify the coverage for the needed medical care that's needed. If we don't we'll end up with an unexpected bill from someone that insurance won't pay. Been very frustrating.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
All great fun when you are having chest pain. There are some exclusions when there is a perceived emergency for example.

quote:

Originally posted by Fenris:
What bothers me is that if she were held responsible she would need to pay $60k, but the insurance only had to pay $20k. That is $40k less going to the hospital.

It sounds to me like the hospital has a major incentive to queer the claim and collect the full $60.

Conflict of interest anyone?

It’s how the racket works. The insurance companies want people to be covered by their insurance policies. Their stick is you pay the full invoice amount if you decide not to be part of the racket.

I think the hospital and insurance company just extended the doctor professional courtesy that none of us would get.

quote:

Originally posted by Appliance Brad:

quote:

Originally posted by patw:
I still can't get over the $2400 ambulance ride.

Any idea what it costs to put an equipped ALS ambulance and crew into service? The cardiac monitor we use is $35K, a power cot and power load system double that. Add to that that they are crewed 24/7/365 waiting for a call, possibly your call.

And that $2,400 was likely what was billed, not what was paid.

I have been working as a fire/medic for a couple fire/ems depts and for private ambulance companies for over 30 years. ALS and BLS both have different billing amounts but no where close to $2,400, at least in Florida. You can see what they charge for calls,depending on the type, on their website.

Equipment, like a monitor, certain meds, fire equipment, etc., comes from grants but personnel and other equipment is from taxes. Granted the transport costs help with finance and keeping equipment/stations operational.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Why are stories like this seemingly so prevalent in the US? I don't hear about stories like this in other countries. How is this ever going to get put under control? Some of this behavior sounds criminal.

Because these stories fit the current narrative that health care costs are a crisis.

My daughter has cancer she has received testing and or treatment from three different hospitals from Johns Hopkins in MD, a Georgia hospital and MD Anderson in Houston. Her recent surgery was outpatient didn’t spend the night, the bill was $63,000 our portion $130. We have paid our out of pocket maximum but still we haven’t had many issues. I have called a few times for some bills I questioned. My health insurance has done a great job with the documentation.


We can all complain about the insurance companies and hospitals, but is it first hand knowledge of today’s current climate. Or did you get the opinions for previous experiences years ago and or what you’ve seen or heard like this story.