Bitter Pill

Had a blood test done (limes) $940. Hospital claims they can't "find" my insurance, wants me to pay. Other hospital in same chain say yes, I had coverage at the time.
 
Had a blood test done (limes) $940. Hospital claims they can't "find" my insurance, wants me to pay. Other hospital in same chain say yes, I had coverage at the time.

Probably just a simple clerical screwup ... something like Obamas weird Soc. Sec. number....its nothing sinister, just give them the corrected data...
 
Probably just a simple clerical screwup ... something like Obamas weird Soc. Sec. number....its nothing sinister, just give them the corrected data...

Someone didn't read the article! I know it was long and a lot of big words for you.
 
Had a blood test done (limes) $940. Hospital claims they can't "find" my insurance, wants me to pay. Other hospital in same chain say yes, I had coverage at the time.

Can't you ask for a detailed breakdown of all costs and challenge them? What happens if, when you have challenged them and have proven price gauging, you take it to arbitration to have an unbiased assessment made? Can you do that in the US?
In the UK you certainly can in some instances. There is an ongoing case of the owner of a piece of land trying to charge three times its market value and the courts are due to pronounce in April (I think).
We have (all of us) to stop this behaviour. We all need to say, 'this far and no further.'
 
I can see how this article would appeal to the low information voter who has been conditioned to believe that someone else should pick up the freight of their healthcare and want 2013 technology at 1900 prices.

You know what was really cool about this article and showed how unbiased it was when he talked about how the one drug cost $1400 and the hospital got reimbursed $2123 and he didn't mention the other costs of administering the drug. No nursing time. No capital equipment. It is as if the hospitals only cost was the drug.

Wasn't that cool?

Stay uninformed it will suit you well for what is coming
 
Had a blood test done (limes) $940. Hospital claims they can't "find" my insurance, wants me to pay. Other hospital in same chain say yes, I had coverage at the time.

Actually it is Lyme disease not "limes" disease.

Maybe you should have stayed away from deer ticks
 
Actually it is Lyme disease not "limes" disease.

Maybe you should have stayed away from deer ticks
Fuckin moron. You ever work in a lab?

I spent years working in them utilizing high tech instrumentation who's names you can't even pronounce.

I had some blood work done recently. Simple garden variety shit. Liver enzyme, blood glucose, HDL/LDL/Total Cholesterol, triglycerides, CBC and BUN (electrolytes). Cost to my insurance? $900.

Now these are all simple wet bench chemistries and can be completed by a competent tech in about 10 minutes.

Now out in the real world a half a dozen wet bench assays would normally cost around $25 each. So billing for this kind of schedule of test would be arond $150 and that includes about a 35% margin.

One of the test I frequently have performed is a Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure. It consists of a chemical extraction for 20 hours in a zero head space extractor followed by instrumental analysis of 43 analytes. 8 heavy metals analyzed in an inductively coupled argon spetrometer(ICP) and 35 organic compounds anlyzed in gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). From soup to nuts to complete the full TCLP analysis takes about 4 to 5 man hours to complete. The actual cost to perform the analysis is far higher than the blood work listed because of the far greater amount of skilled labor required (5 hours for the TCLP and 10 minutes for the blood work) and the TCLP requires the use of two very high tech instruments as compared to no analytical instrumentation for the blood work. Yet the costs are essentially the same. Why would the blood lab work which requires far less resources, time and technical knowledge cost just as much as a far more time consuming and precise instrumental analysis? That's because of the lack of transparency in health care work. When I order a TCLP analysis I can call the lab, ask for their fee schedule and negotiate pricing. Ever try that with a hospital? Go ahead, try it. Find out how much it will cost you, in advance for some lab work. Good luck with that.

So before you accuse others of being low information people on a topic consider the fact that on this topic you're a complete ignoramous who knows exactly jack shit nothing about the subject.
 
this is what happens when you place profit over human lives.

Prisons and hospitals should not be run on a for profit basis
 
Fuckin moron. You ever work in a lab?

Suffice it to say I know what I am talking about. I don't need to share my qualifications with you.

I spent years working in them utilizing high tech instrumentation who's names you can't even pronounce.

Low information voters are impressed by big words, but go ahead and try me tough guy ;)

I had some blood work done recently. Simple garden variety shit. Liver enzyme, blood glucose, HDL/LDL/Total Cholesterol, triglycerides, CBC and BUN (electrolytes). Cost to my insurance? $900.

Was that what the lab charged? As I have explained to other low information voters like yourself, charges are really irrelevant. What you need to look at is what the insurance company reimbursed, which I suspect is a fraction of what was charged. You act like you paid cash. Therein lies the problem. You don't pay cash. You expect the insurance company to cover it. Remember your little "blip". You aren't fooling anyone. You shit your pants when the doctor told you that there was a blip and you didn't care what it cost, until of course you learned everything was ok. You probably threw a PVC (and no I am not talking about plastic pipes). I am sure you would have had a bigger shit fit had your physician sent you home with no further evaluation.

Now these are all simple wet bench chemistries and can be completed by a competent tech in about 10 minutes.

Actually, all of this is automated now. Only thing a lab tech does is pop the vial into the analyzer. The only hard about it anymore is knowing what color tube to use

Now out in the real world a half a dozen wet bench assays would normally cost around $25 each. So billing for this kind of schedule of test would be arond $150 and that includes about a 35% margin.

One of the test I frequently have performed is a Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure. It consists of a chemical extraction for 20 hours in a zero head space extractor followed by instrumental analysis of 43 analytes. 8 heavy metals analyzed in an inductively coupled argon spetrometer(ICP) and 35 organic compounds anlyzed in gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). From soup to nuts to complete the full TCLP analysis takes about 4 to 5 man hours to complete. The actual cost to perform the analysis is far higher than the blood work listed because of the far greater amount of skilled labor required (5 hours for the TCLP and 10 minutes for the blood work) and the TCLP requires the use of two very high tech instruments as compared to no analytical instrumentation for the blood work. Yet the costs are essentially the same. Why would the blood lab work which requires far less resources, time and technical knowledge cost just as much as a far more time consuming and precise instrumental analysis? That's because of the lack of transparency in health care work. When I order a TCLP analysis I can call the lab, ask for their fee schedule and negotiate pricing. Ever try that with a hospital? Go ahead, try it. Find out how much it will cost you, in advance for some lab work. Good luck with that.

So before you accuse others of being low information people on a topic consider the fact that on this topic you're a complete ignoramous who knows exactly jack shit nothing about the subject.

What a nice little rant you put forward, I am sure that your fellow low information voters are extremely impressed. I however am not.

Are you saying there is such a thing as "LIMES" disease? Is that like "LEMONS" disease? Don't fuck with me on this shit, you are way out of your league
 
I was hoping that Time article would start more of a firestorm, and really get a national discussion going on this.

It's a bummer; I don't think health costs will ever be addressed in a meaningful way.
 
What a nice little rant you put forward, I am sure that your fellow low information voters are extremely impressed. I however am not.

Are you saying there is such a thing as "LIMES" disease? Is that like "LEMONS" disease? Don't fuck with me on this shit, you are way out of your league

You are quite a conceited little tit, aren't you? And with so little cause.
 
I was hoping that Time article would start more of a firestorm, and really get a national discussion going on this.

It's a bummer; I don't think health costs will ever be addressed in a meaningful way.

I am disappointed as well. People should be outraged!
 
I was hoping that Time article would start more of a firestorm, and really get a national discussion going on this.

It's a bummer; I don't think health costs will ever be addressed in a meaningful way.

Because like you nobody pays those "charges". Inform yourself and don't rely on one biased story in Time. Believe it or not there is more to it than is being described. Open your mind. Or stay ignorant. Your choice. You are fucked either way
 
Because like you nobody pays those "charges". Inform yourself and don't rely on one biased story in Time. Believe it or not there is more to it than is being described. Open your mind. Or stay ignorant. Your choice. You are fucked either way

Wrong. Everyone pays those charges, and they are part of what is bankrupting America.

Nice try, though. Well, not really.
 
I've been saying for at least the past 10 years that we needed to look at and do something about the cost... It's like somebody finally listened.
 
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