$600 in 10 minutes

[Puzzle]

One of my coworkers recently had a sty removed from his eyelid. He said the doctor examined him for about 5 minutes before the procedure, which took another 5 minutes.

The statement of benefits has arrived: the doctor charged nearly $300 for the "visit" and $300 for the procedure. He just pays the deductible, but I find this OBSCENE.

[SPKrazy]

1. does he have a sty anymore?

what's the going rate for that specialty and procedure, could well be that it is what the community standard is.

So how much is the doctor's time and the procedure worth? :shrug:

[DarkTirade]

2. I could totally earn that much in that short a time...

if I could ever learn to supress my gag reflex.

[YDogg]

4. IBTLjaw

[DarkTirade]

9. That's only a problem when... err... I'll stop talking now.

:yoiks:

[Orrex]

6. Spend a little time in GD:P

Your gag reflex will be wholly obliterated in short order.

[DarkTirade]

7. Gah, no.

I don't do the feces thing. That's just gross.

[Orrex]

8. LOL!

Great answer!

[Longhorn]

3. My cancer caregivers have billed about $90,000 since my diagnosis in March.

However, the insurance company has paid about 40 percent of that. I really don't understand why the doctors bill so much more than they know they are getting paid. Do they get to write off the difference and pay less in taxes? :shrug:

[DS1]

10. My god!

I was wondering what it was costing you a few weeks ago, 90,000 is just amazing. Still, you're making great progress, keep it up! :hi:

[Longhorn]

11. Oops, I was wrong! They have billed almost $101,000 now.

They bill about $15,000 per round of chemo. I've paid $1000 in co-insurance (max for the year) and probably about $500-600 in co-pays. My employer doesn't contribute to the insurance but even at $775 a month for the two of us, I'm very lucky to have this insurance (which I only got a year before my diagnosis!)

Thanks for thinking of me! :hi:

[DS1]

12. You just keep kicking ass with your treatment

There's lots of rooting for you.

[Midlodemocrat]

22. Mr; Midlo's cardiac care was over $650,000 when all was said and done.

Defibrillator alone was over $150,000. Thank God we had insurance. It would have wiped us out otherwise.

[Yavin4]

5. I Had A Wax Buildup In My Ear

Went to one doc. He referred me to another doc who basically washed out my ear with a hose. That was $450, and I had to pay $100. That whole process took about 10 minutes.

[GirlinContempt]

13. I don't get why anyone pays anything at all

[Wapsie B]

14. Healthcare in this country is like organized crime.

[JVS]

20. Honest pay for honest work.

I recently leared that a heart valve replacement pays the surgeon $6000. This seems a very fair wage to me. One could argue that an operation that takes only 6 hours should cost less, but the way I see it. There is the preparation and planning, the stress of the operating itself, and the follow up in recovery. Does the doctor live a bit of a swanky life? Sure. On the other hand, I wouldn't want a family member operated on by someone who has to perform one of these every day and worries about his finances. Anyone who adjusts a ticker should be well rested and comfortable so they can concentrate on doing their best work.

[Shell Beau]

23. Not to mention the liability doctors face. Their malpractice insurance rates are pretty high too!

[GirlinContempt]

25. Oh, in the US of course.

Then again, so is running a coffee shop. What if you brew it too hot????

[Shell Beau]

26. My doctor alone pays over $100,000 a year in malpractice

insurance. He makes a whole lot, but he pays out a whole lot too.

[GirlinContempt]

28. Such a thing would never

occur to me, but then again, neither would paying for necessary health care :shrug:

Read my post to JVS explaining that I don't think Drs shouldn't be paid. That would be insane, unless of course it was a completely different kind of society/economy, which is not the assumption I'm working on.

[Shell Beau]

29. Unfortunately that is how it is here!

But I do believe that docs do deserve a high pay. They take on a lot. They save lives. But I do think people should be able to afford to get their life saved.

[GirlinContempt]

33. I think they should be resonably paid

But, when you think that for many people, $600 represents 60 hours of work (before taxes), $600 for 10 minutes, or even an hour, is going to seem outlandish. And, I don't really blame them. $600 could pay the rent and buy a months worth of food and transportation, things they couldn't afford if they had to pay it out. Personally, I think it should just be available. Period. To everyone, regardless of age, sex, colour, class or creed. I know that isn't how it is there, and it makes me sad. I think it's hellishly unfair, wrong, and icky.

[GirlinContempt]

24. I'm not suggesting that they shouldnt be paid

I'm suggesting that I don't understand why Health Care is treated like McDonalds: A menu, prices, you can afford it, or you don't eat. Doctors other places make perfectly reasonable, nay above reasonable, wages without being paid by their patients directly. And the patients themselves benefit from avoiding enormous outputs in what are likely stressful, difficult times. Wage scales also prevent what can basically amount to extortion.

[1]

15. well, single-payer issues (which are not available right now) aside...

my mother had a small problem with an eye. that eye became infected. and she lost that eye.

i know it shouldn't be this way, but if i could have paid $600 or everything i had at the time to save her eye i would have.

i don't know your coworker's situation, but i deem eyes to be extremely important. i would pay any price to save an eye.

i would cut off fingers to save an eye...

[Puzzle]

16. Sure, but that situation is not at all the same thing.

this was $600 for a very minor procedure that took 10 minutes.

And it's not about how much someone would pay, or at least it shouldn't be. It's about health as a right not a privilege.

[1]

18. you don't know that....

you have no idea about what is a "minor" procedure and what could be a procedure that could save an eye.

10 minutes could have been all it took to save that eye. $600. shut up.

i can't go all abstract with you about "health as a right not a privilege" when i am talking about someone i know and love.

[GirlinContempt]

19. I think we would all

pay whatever is needed to save someone we love grief and hardship. But also, I do not think it is abstract, especially when someone you know and love has suffered because healthcare is treated as a commodity, not a basic human right.

[Puzzle]

30. Did you really just tell me to shut up??

That's something I won't do, especially not just because some anonymous person on the Internet tells me to. Unbelievable.

The minor procedure I referred to was the one my coworker got, and yes, I do know it was a minor procedure, having had it done myself years ago.

Sorry you can't discuss what the OP is about when you choose to answer it. I'm sorry for what happened to your mom - and for those who will have worse medical problems because they can't afford treatment.

[Midlodemocrat]

17. One time, my friend Max, ate a worm.

[blueknight]

21. i had a colonoscopy

the total bill was $1400.00 and something dollars. my insurance paid everything but 10 dollars. the bastard doctor sent me a bill for the other $10.:mad:

[Shell Beau]

31. Full of protein!

:9

[MissMillie]

27. yeah, not surprised

my mom saw an ENT for a terrible taste she's been having in her mouth.

He stuck a tongue depresser in her mouth, looked at the back of her mouth and declared she had Acid Reflux (she doesn't). Took all of 30 seconds.

The bill summary came from her insurance. She was charged $450 for a surgical procedure.

:wtf:

[Blue Diadem]

32. Our shocker was $4500 for 18 minutes.

and that was over 15 years ago. My son had put his hand up to catch/stop the screen door as my daughter had run in and let the door go. His hand went through the glass, cutting his wrist. After an ER visit where the severed tendon was anchored, we were given an appointment with a plastic surgeon who would rejoin the tendon.

At the plastic surgeon's, he went into the procedure room, received an injection under his arm to numb him and the tendon was repaired and his wound stitched. Total time from leaving the waiting room to coming out to the appt./billing desk was 18 minutes. The plastic surgeon bill was over $4500..and that didn't include the ER visit.

I don't remember what the ER charged, but most of the actual time consuming work was done there.

The thing I've really noticed is that insurance never pays what is billed. Most recently, DH was billed for a stress test, over $2000 but the insurance only paid around $900.

[Beaverhausen]

34. I'm sure his insurance didn't pay that amount

They surely paid far less. At least all my statements show they pay less.

[pitohui]

35. the doctor will have to accept the payment he negotiated to accept from the insurer

the statement of benefits is usually just colorful science fiction, only the uninsured pay so much