The Joys of US Health Care, Part XXIV

[kent_allard_jr]

Just got a bill in the mail: The hosptal wants $1,800, and that's just for the anaesthesia. Ghod knows what they'll want for the ambulance service, the hospital stay, the surgery, the CAT scan, the X-Rays and everything else that comes up.

Now I'm not too worried. I have good health insurance, and I'm sure they'll eventually come through and pay off most of my bill. I'll have to spend a lot of time leaping through bureaucratic hoops, though. And if I didn't have health insurance, of course, I'd be completely fucked.

This stuff makes me risibly angry at the Republicans in Washington, who have and will continue to do all they can to prevent the system from getting better.

Comments

[negativeq.livejournal.com]

ACK!!!!

[grlinabox.livejournal.com]

having surgery? things okay? what kind?

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm OK. I had an inflamed appendix removed two weeks ago. I've got a big scar, and a lot of lower-body hair was shaved, but otherwise I'm OK.

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

Is that just the bill for the actual drugs used to put you under, Matt?

Or does it include the time and skills used by the anesthetist?

Even if including both, this seems rather exorbitant to this Canuck doc.

::B::

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

I assume it's both, although I suppose some drugs could cost that much...

One of the problems with US health care as that a lot of the time the hospitals never get paid. So they charge huge amounts on the off chance that you just might decide to send money (to keep your credit rating from taking a hit, if nothing else). In Canada, where the payments are more reliable, they'd have little reason to engage in these games.