The bill came for the Daughter’s two-day stay at a local hospital:
Over $4,000 for the emergency room
Over $4,000 for the MRI brain scan
Over $12,000 for the MRI spine scan (which they probably didn’t finish when she balked after an HOUR)
Over $4,000 for various labs
Over $4,500 in “accommodation fees”
Plus drugs and physical therapy
The hospital actually got $4,889 from my insurance company, with over $25,000 eliminated by the “Insurance Contractual Adjustment.”
That made the total due from us $100.
THAT is why I LOATHE it when I’m without insurance.
One can argue whether it was all necessary, to eliminate what she might have had, but evidently did not. Had she suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome, rather than the viral infection she likely had, it would have been terrible.
One more thing on this topic: the Wife and I were at the hospital all the time, but not always at the same time. I HIGHLY recommend that you get a notebook when you go to the hospital with someone – and you SHOULD have someone, if at all possible. You are likely going to see so many different people, it’ll be difficult to keep track of what each one said.
I’m always coming across people – writers, artists, musicians especially – who have no insurance. It’s usually in the context of someone who has had some illness or injury, and is now facing some catastrophic bills. This is why I’ve supported the single-payer insurance plan that never got off the ground in the bulk of the US; Obamacare is definitely a half a loaf, but, I’m hoping, better than nothing for those people going forward.
The Investigator’s baby bills were very eye-opening! Health costs are skyrocketing and it’s going to take more than Obamacare to fix it.
Four years ago, I had surgery on my spine, the first of Three. The bill for the first surgery was 266,000 dollars, for seven and a half hours of neurosurgery. Thank God, I have insurance!
Obamacare is absolutely better than nothing. The fear of going bankrupt because of a medical emergency is alleviated, which is a significant stress reduction. I have high blood pressure and need to be on medication; for years, I had no insurance and could only go to the doctor twice a year because I had to save up the $90 just to get in. It was just to keep my prescriptions current; otherwise, I wasn’t getting any real care and no one was monitoring me. Now I have a new doctor and Medicaid, and it’s amazing how deeply it effects one’s peace of mind just to know I can go to a doctor.