Are you kidding me?

[Scott Shepherd]

My father just had major back surgery. Just got the first bill. $28,000 for "supplies" for the Operating Room. Surgery was 3 hours.

That's supplies, not surgeons or any other people.

Exactly HOW can you have the nerve to submit something like that and still sleep at night? I know I couldn't.

Unbelievable to me. If it were me, people would be in jail for this type of behavior (sorry, I'm sure that will offend someone, but it's how I feel). I'm sure there are probably another $75,000 worth of bills to come in because they squeeze every possible penny out of it.

[David G Baker]

Kind of lets us know why medical insurance is so high. Take a wild guess at the cost of an Aspirin in a hospital, costs more than I paid for my first car.
$75,000 is probably a conservative figure.

[Dustin Lane]

It cost $80+ not long ago to 'administer' 650mg of tylenol in the ER. Hospital cost for 650mg of tylenol is less than a penny. Its unbelievable.

[curtis rosche]

ill tell u what the cost of cutting my finger off and 9 stitches was as soon as i see the bill

[Brent Leonard]

It's not the lawsuits. Sorry but you've been misled.

With a wife who has/does administrated, negotiated and handled the contracting phase in the buisness of medicine for a number of years, holds a Phd and has been recognized as a top person in her field of expertise,

I can tell you,

lawsuits are small potatoes to the cost associated with running medical facilities, regardless of what your brand politics tells you....

Hopsitals and such are EXPENSIVE to run.

[Jerome Hanby]

Assuming that other states are in a similar situation as Alabama, you have prices like that because of Medical Insurance. The insurance companies do NOT pay those prices, they have their own schedule of prices for various and sundries. Those prices only come into play for the uninsured (and I imagine the hospital's accountants at tax time to show the difference in the "normal" cost and what the insurance payed as a loss).

It's all pretty shady from my view point and the fix is the same as for most of our problems.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kind of lets us know why medical insurance is so high. Take a wild guess at the cost of an Aspirin in a hospital, costs more than I paid for my first car.
$75,000 is probably a conservative figure.

[glenn bradley]

Hopsitals and such are EXPENSIVE to run.

Now that your source is well qualified, how about a hint as to why hospitals are expensive to run. Does their electricity cost more than than the injection molding company down the street? Do their janitors make more than the outsourced folks?

I am being a bit silly here and understand that the costs are probably significant. You can't just jury rig an outlet strip nailed to the wall when you need more power in an operating room and the regulations alone have to be a chore to comply with. All kidding aside I would be interested to hear from someone in the know as to what a few of the specifics are on the big dollar items.

[Joe Hardesty]

Hopsitals and such are EXPENSIVE to run.

Oil exploration is expensive too, so I guess Exxon must really be struggling financially.

Hospitals have a captive market. When you are seriously ill, nobody asks "what's this gonna cost?" And most people with health insurance don't care anyway.

Hospitals are by no means an innocent part of the equation.

[Greg Cole]

ill tell u what the cost of cutting my finger off and 9 stitches was as soon as i see the bill

I lost (errrr cut off) a bit of the end of my left pinky almost 2 years ago. I waitied in the ER waiting room for 3 hours (with the pinky tip bone cut and all the meat about 1/3 the way down the nail all gone too).
45 minutes in the ER, 3 stitches to pull the flesh over the exposed bone, one vicodin and out the door. $3800.00.
And with no meat on the pinky tip and all scar tissue covering the end of the bone, I certainly know it when I tap that finger tip on anything but a keyboard.
My biggest beef with the health care industries is the insurance companies.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Oil companies don't have a "captive market"?

[Clifford Mescher]

I had a vision of riding down the street looking for the cheapest hospital price. Clifford

[Tim Morton]

My wife had Jaw surgery recently....it was an all day procedure with 3 nights in the hospital and the bill was over 50grand....our out of pocket was $200.

T

[Jerry Bruette]

I just purchased some medical equipment from a company that advertised the price on their website for $102. I asked if they could bill my insurance..mistake. They billed the insurance for $780. Insurance company says that because the company is contracted with them they can bill any amount they want, but will only be paid the amount they contracted for.
That amount comes to $209, after I pay my deductable it'll cost me $107 more than the prices advertised on their website. How does all this add up

I'm guessing plan "B" will be to purchase 209 forever stamps and send them $1 every month for 209 months and see if they like being messed with.

You ever wonder why hospitals and insurance home office buildings are so posh and over the hill???

Jerry

[John Schreiber]

It seems to me that the health care industry thinks differently than other industries. They watch some costs like a hawk and cut at every opportunity, but in other areas huge purchases and payouts are made which don't seem to be based on any financial sense.

I'll acknowledge that the issue is much more complex than I know, but I don't understand why costs in the USA are twice that of other countries and we don't have better outcomes.

[Greg Cuetara]

Actually quite a bit of the pricing is based upon medicare and medicade rates. The feds undercut the hospitals quite a bit therefore the hospitals up their rates so that they and go back to the feds and say there is such a huge difference they need to up the medicare rates and pay the hospitals more. Basically the hospitals are trying to dicker with medicare so they start high and hope to get something in between what they are asking and what they collecting now.

If you have insurance the insurance co. has their contracted rates based upon the demand in the area and the hospital you go to. In my area it might be 1200 for a cat scan but if you go to boston the contracted rate might be 300 becuase there is more competition and more scanning machines. If the hospital won't take the 300 the insurance sends their patient to the next hospital 1 mile down the road.

Then there are those that dont' have a job and can't pay anything so the hospital pays the bills or bills the gov't. The people who get screwed are those who either pay cash or those who have medicore insurance and have to pay a lot out of pocket.

It would be nice for everyone to just pay the contracted rates or for the hospitals to charge what they really want. It is a game the hospitals play to see how much the insurance will pay and what the insurance will cover. It might cost a penny for tylenol but how many of those tylenol does the hospital have to give away for free....someone has to pay for it.

Quite frankly we have the best health care in the world. If you don't think so why does EVERYONE in the world come here to have major surgeries or even minor surgeries. Why does every country in the world send their citizens here to study medicine....we must be doing something right. It is complicated but when every other countries medical system has failed again we must be doing something right. It might cost more in the US but you can have your surgery and don't have to wait for 6 months to see a doctor or wait years for the surgery that will take away pain.

When your son or daughter or family member is sick you can run right in and most of the time see the doctor that same day or the next day. Is that true anywhere else in the world?