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Pacemaker/ICD
JUST GOT A COPY OF THE BILL $ 80,000.00 JUST FOR THE PACEMAKER/ICD
3 Comments
I agree - thank God for the NHS
by pippt36 - 2011-03-07 10:03:05
I am just so grateful that my hospital stay - (total 4 weeks at two hospitals), all tests and ICD implant were done under the NHS. How can people afford to pay so much? What happens if you have no medical insurance and can't pay? It seems so unfair. I am just so thankful that I have been able to have the ICD fitted to probably save my life, at no cost.
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Bill
by donr - 2011-02-28 10:02:39
You really don't want to know why. But I'll get the discussion started. Medicare/ Medicaid started it by refusing to pay whatever was billed & created the fictional "Usual Local Cost." Then they paid a percentage of that. The Gummint can force nearly anyone to take less than they bill for anything.
Face it - any organization that buys a lot of stuff from a single provider can negotiate a better deal. When the Gummint, figuratively at the point of a gun, TELLS the provider what they will pay, it knocks everything out of kilter. Then the billed amounts go up to cover the shortfall from the sub-par payers. Add in the ins co's piling on & it drives bills higher. Actually - if you plan to pay cash, you can even get a real break on billed prices. Our #2 Son required treatment for Rabies exposure. He was not covered by any ins - he was a starving college student. We negotiated the cost down to 50% of what was originally billed. FWIW, Rabies treatment is allowed by Medicare at full billed cost.
I look at the EOB's for all of our medical care - what the providers are paid as a percentage of what they bill is criminal. Further, what they are denied payment for is just as bad.
As an example - an EOB I looked at today for my Mother's Day visit to the ER. The billed amount was $3500. They were paid $515. Something is wrong w/ the economics. We all know that the true cost of that visit lay somewhere between the two.