NEW RELEASES
Get your e-book signed by Amylynn Bright
Amylynn's bookshelf: my-books



More of Amylynn's books »
Book recommendations, book reviews, quotes, book clubs, book trivia, book lists
Archives

Booo! from your insurance company

On Halloween I received the scariest thing in the mail. I’d been anticipating it, but it was still a shock.

I got the itemized bill from the hospital for Sassy’s surgery this summer.

Before I share it with you, I’d like to tell you that I’m already making payments on my portion of the Anesthesiologist, Neurologist, Orthopedic surgeon, and the MRIs.

When I opened the bill I laughed, a great snorting laugh of disbelief. The total is a hysterical, unreal number. Five pages of the most outrageous charges. Thanks to the internet, I was able to figure out what many of them are. It was like a reverse treasure hunt.

Here’s the total.

Total

Did you giggle too? It’s ok. Go ahead. I won’t be offended at all. The other option is crying. Can you believe that number? I mean sweet Jesus.

Let’s take a look at the biggest chunk, shall we?

The screws

Look at that – 1 screw for $3,304.30. There are 19 of them all at over $3k each. Then there’s “cap screw” at $382 a piece. I think it’s possible the person who does the purchasing for the hospitals might be the same person who does so for the government, buying $600 screwdrivers and such. I did some Googling about these screws. I found them on Amazon for considerably less.

Amazon

Now, I realize that the ones they put in my daughter might be slightly different from the ones you could get at the Ace Hardware, but they’re still just screws. How different could they possibly be? Look at this. A pack of 25 for $27.22 and free shipping cause I’m Amazon Prime. I could sell the other 6 and make a tidy profit of $2,000 and I’d be selling them at a discount.

Another giant piece of the bill was her daily “room and board” in the CCU.

room and board

Think of the apartment you could rent in NYC or Paris for 7K. The mind reels.

Lastly, she took a lot of pain medicine while she was in there. Understandable since they had just screwed 19 screws into her spine.

oxy

Ever since the days of watching Breaking Bad we’ve all wondered if we could pull off a Walter White. If each one of these Oxycodone pills would fetch $10.70 a fair penny could be made. Maybe not quite a storage unit of cash pallets, but enough to afford a pet tiger.

I count 16 charges for Oxycodone. My sister-in-law says I should call up and dispute one, just for the hell of it. Pitch a conniption and refuse to pay for a random dosage along with those two charges on 7/7 for $1 each. I don’t know what they’re for, but I feel like that’s where I should draw the line.

If you want to see the whole bill, you can click here. It’s like a hospital bill written by Stephen King.

Bill

3 Responses to Booo! from your insurance company

  • Kilian Metcalf says:

    I think you can get more than $10 on the street for oxycodone.

    What interests me is the variability in the charges for the same item, especially the IV fluids. I worked in PACU (aka recovery room) for 12 years and had no idea how much they charged for us to stay with the patient for hours while we waited for housekeeping to clean a room so we could transfer the patient.

    If it’s any consolation, the hospital will not be paid anywhere near the amount of money they are billing the insurance company. Your contribution is probably the only profit they will make off the whole thing.

  • Aunt D says:

    $78.40 for 2 doses of valium?! It really is criminal what medical care costs in this country, even with insurance. I commiserate with you. Kenny’s had 4 surgeries in recent years, with all the additionals you mentioned, like the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, the imaging tests, etc. It’s frightful indeed.

Leave a Reply

Copyright © 2013. All Rights Reserved.