SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS????

[quietann]

I just got the bill for my tubal ligation. Six thousand dollars. For a 20 minute elective surgery (admittedly with general anesthesia). I'd priced it at $2500-3000, based on info from the web, and the fact that *if* my insurance had covered it, the hospital would have accepted the $2500 payment from insurance as "payment in full."

This sucks. I mean, I would not have had it done if I had known.

Comments

[scliff.livejournal.com]

There's a great article on decoding hospital bills and finding overbilling errors in the January 2003 issue of Consumer Reports, page 19. If it seems that wrong, especially in the light of your research, maybe it really is wrong.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Uh, your doctor didn't tell you how much it would cost? They usually can't be exact, but they can give you a range for an "average" procedure, and also the cost if certain things happen. I'm surprised that you didn't ask. . .

[quietann.livejournal.com]

He thought it would be about $3000.

ah....

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Did you ask him what the discrepancy was? damn. I mean, that really sucks.

Re: ah....

[quietann.livejournal.com]

update: having talked to the hospital, it now appears that the $3000 was *his* charge. The other $3000 was hospital charges. The hospital is going to try billing my *other* insurance (COBRA).

It's still way, way more than it should be.

[drglam]

Holy shit! THAT'S certainly gotten a hell of lot more expensive in the last 15 years!

[klingonlandlady.livejournal.com]

Some hospitals will lower the payment, if you try- you are a FT student, for one thing. Might be worth asking them, considering they get less from insurance.