Hospital Math

"f86sabre" (f86sabre) 09/09/2018 at 19:09 • Filed to: None

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The first bills from my wife’s 13 day stay in the hospital have started to post. We hit our insurance company’s o ut of pocket max of $5k around 10 hours in. The main bill for the stay is $150k and that doesn’t include several individual line items. She will likely be in 5 days for this visit. So add another $60k on there. Very glad I have good insurance.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:19

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Jesus. That's fucked.

For Sweden > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:19

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$145,000 = 5, 800 $25 checked baggage fees.

BJ > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:19

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Jeezus H. F. Christ! I can't imagine. I just can't imagine...

fintail > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:20

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Single payer is evil socialist communist conspiracy!

Svend > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:21

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Bloody hell, do they pluck those numbers out of thin air?

Here in the U.K. My step-father just came out of hospital after 14 nights in, full labs, few chest x-rays, etc... no cost.

Good job you have insurance and sincerely hope she improves soon.

Nibby > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:21

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healthcare in US is so fucked

f86sabre > For Sweden 09/09/2018 at 19:22

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Delta, like most big companies self insures. United Healthcare largely just administers the program. So yeah, thanks to the 5800 folks  who checked a bag.

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:23

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Glad we have MediCare here in Canada! 0_o

For Sweden > Svend 09/09/2018 at 19:27

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It costs the same in the UK, you just don’t see it.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:36

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Your insurance will probably only pay a fraction of that based on negotiated rates for services. I foresee lots of fuckery with your insurance in the near  future. The hospital will try to bill you directly for things they won’t pay.

facw > For Sweden 09/09/2018 at 19:37

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The UK spends somewhere around half of what the US does per capita, so chance are it is cheaper as well (European doctors make significantly less than American ones, among other things ), though it’s true that it’s not actually free.

Svend > For Sweden 09/09/2018 at 19:37

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This how much I paid for healthcare last year.

facw > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:40

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Yep, my shoulder surgery  ran somewhere around $50,000, and that didn’t involve any hospital stay (I was there for around 6 hours). My insurance paid out more than $80,000 that year (Thanks Obamacare!)

Nick Has an Exocet > Svend 09/09/2018 at 19:43

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It’s an apples to oranges comp arison to compare tax for medical to actual medical service . However, the actual care costs in the UK are certainly lower (I imagine about 50% of the US rate) . Just the fact alone that you don’t really have huge advertising for services is a huge help. In 2016, healthcare advertising in the US was a $9.7 Billion market .

ttyymmnn > Svend 09/09/2018 at 19:46

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Bloody hell, do they pluck those numbers out of thin air?

Sometimes, yes. I’ve had experiences where the doctor says, “We’ll bill the insurance a certain amount and see what they cover.” Then, when insurance doesn’t cover the whole amount, the doctor writes off the balance. So it behooves them to charge as much as they can in the hopes that they make the most they can.

ttyymmnn > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 19:47

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Affordable Care anybody?

For Sweden > Svend 09/09/2018 at 19:47

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That’s a tax assessment, not the cost of an individual procedure.

That’s a bit over $2000 in US Dollars.  If you didn’t spend several days in hospital, f86sabre got a better deal than you did.

f86sabre > facw 09/09/2018 at 19:49

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There were lots of Tesla’s and AMGs in the parking lot. Saw one classic slant nosed  Porsche as well. I know those don’t come cheap. All driven by docs. 

f86sabre > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 09/09/2018 at 19:50

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Yep. Looking forward to that. 

Svend > For Sweden 09/09/2018 at 19:50

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That’s my tax breakdown of what I paid last year and where my tax money went.

There is no breakdown for medical use.

I didn’t seen medical treatment this year but that money goes towards other people’s treatment just as theirs goes to mine if I need treatment.

The fact that medical treatment is one if not the highest causes in bankruptcy in America should speak for itself. 

Quadradeuce > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 09/09/2018 at 19:56

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Exactly. The numbers you see are MSRP. Insurance companies never pay full retail. Our insurance statements actually show the discounts, which is nice.  But if I tried to pay directly, they would try to stick me with full retail prices.  That needs to change.

For Sweden > Svend 09/09/2018 at 20:00

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Only about 4% of American bankruptcies are the direct result of medical bills: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2018/03/26/the-truth-about-medical-bankruptcies/

They go bankrupt for much more mundane reasons, such as lost income from missing work for months, losing jobs that require full abilities, temporarily moving family to a treatment facility, hotel rooms, meals, etc.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 20:09

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Holy crap! Staying alive costs a fuckton. Oh the things I could do with $5k in 10 hours...I never wanna go to hospital again if it costs this much.

Wacko > For Sweden 09/09/2018 at 20:10

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The only way anyone in America gets a better deal on health insurance is if they never need to use it.

Last year I spent two weeks in the hospital, and had 2 operations.  

Dogsatemypants > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 20:10

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It would be great if there were an opt in for a single plan, operating in all 50 states, with payment on a sliding scale based on income.

DipodomysDeserti > For Sweden 09/09/2018 at 20:36

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Put down the Svedka, you’re drunk.

https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/health-spending-u-s-compare-countries/#item-average-wealthy-countries-spend-half-much-per-person-health-u-s-spends

Tapas > Svend 09/09/2018 at 20:38

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Yes, it is literally pulled out of thin air.

The cost of service is highly inflated, especially when insurance is paying for it.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 09/09/2018 at 20:50

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I was about to say the same thing. When my daughter was born, we had both primary and secondary insurance. The primary policy paid their negotiated rates. The secondary paid nothing since the negotiated rates for the primary insurance were higher than the negotiated rates for the secondary. The hospital still came after us for the difference in cost.

It wasn’t until I managed to get representatives from the hospital, the primary insurance, and the secondary insurance all on one conference call that we got it settled. The secondary insurance (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) basically told the hospital that if they wanted any future contracts with them, the hospital better be happy with what they received and leave us alone.

They did.

for Michigan > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 21:49

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If it’s anything like what we see at my office, your insurance will probably cut them a check for 20-30% of the billed amount and make the other 70-80% disappear . But if you didn’t have insurance, they’d just expect you to pay the full amount out of pocket.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > For Sweden 09/09/2018 at 21:51

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What’s that like delta in 45 minuets of bordings.

Manwich - now Keto-Friendly > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 22:07

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Well at least you have “low taxes” down there in the US.

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 22:14

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We don’t have health insurance. We do self insurance by putting 5 grand aside each year in a dedicated account. But for everything else...like anything of an emergency nature or life threatening... that’s why we pay a 1.5% Medicare  levy as part of our tax return. So the actual healthcare in this circumstance requires no additional payment. Australia...

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > f86sabre 09/09/2018 at 23:03

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O.o holy shit

i’ll quit bitching about the $350 i have to pay before my insurance picks up the rest of the bill now

GLiddy > f86sabre 09/10/2018 at 01:05

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Medical costs are nuts. When my mother died in 2007, she was brought into the ER and they worked on her for maybe 30 to 45 minutes. No ambulance ride or emergency surgery. She essentially passed while in the exam room from a pulmonary embolism. There were no heroics involved. The ER bill, which Medicare picked up mainly, was $30,000. But since we didn’t have to go out-of-pocket on it, we didn’t contest or challenge it.

A couple months back, I had some benign growths removed from my scalp. Dermatologist took maybe 30 minutes excising them and stitched me up. I received a statement and the total would have been over $2500. Luckily we get insurance through my wife’s work at the university the clinic is affiliated with , so there’s quite a markdown, so I only had to give the $30 copay.  (God help us though if we seek care out of the university’s own hospital/clinic system.)

FSI > f86sabre 09/10/2018 at 01:39

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Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > f86sabre 09/10/2018 at 03:44

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These days? Get a lawyer.

f86sabre > GLiddy 09/10/2018 at 08:14

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That is something we have going for us. My company is international so our in network reach is pretty broad. 

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Quadradeuce 09/10/2018 at 08:54

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I feel like a simple law saying that hospitals must provide services at the same price to everyone including insurance companies would do a lot of good in our screwed up system. Suddenly band-aids wouldn’t cost $50

Quadradeuce > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 09/10/2018 at 09:51

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This is the side of the health care debate that never gets enough attention. We need to figure out how to get hospital pricing under control. Otherwise it doesn’t matter who’s paying the bill. Private insurance, single payer, doesn’t matter . There are no free lunches.

Roadster939 > For Sweden 09/10/2018 at 15:32

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Yes, it costs the same. The big difference is that there aren’t 2 or 3(or 10) additional parties extracting some profit from the transaction. In the UK you also don’t have the corporations involved in the process simply raising prices just to raise their revenues and profits quarter over quarter, year over year.