Some Guy Posted His Hospital Bill Online. You’ll See Why Everyone’s Talking About It.

[Karee 4,191]

A 20 year-old man came down with appendicitis in October of this year. He posted the bill on Reddit and it has gone viral. The US Health Care system is a topic of much debate, not only in the US but around the world. A lot of countries get ‘free’ health care, so needless to say, this has stirred up a lot of conversation.

As if waking up in excruciating pain isn’t enough, this is the bill he received in the mail a couple months later. Take a look:

The original cost was over $55,000. Because the 20 year-old man was on his father’s insurance, the cost was lowered to $11,000.

Which is still an obscenely high bill to pay for such a young man. He was in the Recovery Room for 2 hours and it cost him $7,500.

The actual surgery cost $16,000.

This bill caused quite an uproar. A lot of citizens of other countries chimed in with their own experiences.

An Australian with appendicitis never even saw a bill.

A Canadian’s mother had foot surgery and her only charge was $60…for cable.

A Malaysian paid the equivalent of $25 for an appendectomy.

And then other Americans gave their two cents (or hundreds of thousands of dollars):

This American got cancer and had to file for bankruptcy. At age 24.

His cousin died because he had reached his “lifetime limit” for treatment. He was 27.

$2000 for a night’s stay, a juice box and a pill.

We don’t take political sides here in any way, but it’s hard to deny that these costs are absurd. No matter how you think this should be fixed, I think we can all agree that it needs to be.

What’s your opinion? Share this guy’s hospital bill with others.

Source:

http://twed.com/some-guy-posted-his-hospital-bill-online-youll-see-why-everyones-talking-about-it/

[SMR 368]

I'm not saying this isn't real, but there has to be more to the story. Lots of people get appendicitis and many of them end up in the emergency room. Yet most of them don't end up with $11,000 hospital bills. And this is taking into consideration that the man had insurance. So what made this so different?

[Penny Lane 8,159]

My mother fell off a 6 foot ladder onto a concrete patio and landed on her tailbone. The impact caused multiple fractures in her spine. It's amazing she can even still walk. She's had multiple surgeries and doctor's appointments for the last decade since it happened. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of meds she's on to make sitting/standing/walking tolerable.

It scares me to think what she would have been faced with had she lived here.

Also, I love how before the list of expenses starts, the letter thanks the patient for choosing their hospital. I'm sure he really shopped around with appendicitis.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Penny Lane

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

My mother fell off a 6 foot ladder onto a concrete patio and landed on her tailbone. The impact caused multiple fractures in her spine. It's amazing she can even still walk. She's had multiple surgeries and doctor's appointments for the last decade since it happened. Not to mention the ridiculous amount of meds she's on to make sitting/standing/walking tolerable.

It scares me to think what she would have been faced with had she lived here.

Also, I love how before the list of expenses starts, the letter thanks the patient for choosing their hospital. I'm sure he really shopped around with appendicitis.

When you feel like you've swallowed a box of razor blades, what else would you do!?

[Dakine10 5,452]

Maybe this is the problem

http://insuremekevin.com/2013/11/06/sutter-hospitals-happy-increase-health-care-costs-double-billing/

Excellent care…excellent invoices

Sutter hospitals are known for excellent care and, on the part of insurance companies, expensive care as well. Several insurance companies either won’t allow Sutter Hospital and Physicians in their networks or limit the physician network to restrain exposure to the expensive Sutter system. How much of the health care costs that an insurance company has had to pay on behalf of members was the result of inflated or duplicate billing procedures on the part of Sutter is hard to estimate.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Someone I know had surgery for appendicitis with complications and a 5 day inpatient stay and the bill was $4000, so this $11000 bill does look a little crazy since the item charges don't really indicate anything out of the ordinary.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

That someone you know probably had a different insurance plan than the person in this story. Young person like that may well carry a catastrophic plan with a 5K-10K deductible. When you have a high deductible, then that first large medical expense in any year will hit hard.

And yet, these plans often make sense financially. It does for me because the savings on the premiums along with a contribution towards my HSA from my employer that I would not otherwise receive more than fund my annual deductible. If I don't use it, I keep the funds and build up savings for later whereas not using a plan that covers more and has less of deductible, the premium money is gone.

[Dakine10 5,452]

That someone you know probably had a different insurance plan than the person in this story. Young person like that may well carry a catastrophic plan with a 5K-10K deductible. When you have a high deductible, then that first large medical expense in any year will hit hard.

And yet, these plans often make sense financially. It does for me because the savings on the premiums along with a contribution towards my HSA from my employer that I would not otherwise receive more than fund my annual deductible. If I don't use it, I keep the funds and build up savings for later whereas not using a plan that covers more and has less of deductible, the premium money is gone.

It says he's on his fathers plan, so he would have the same deductable and copay. It's possible his father chose to carry a catastrophic plan I guess. . May just be the prices Aetna has negotiated with that hospital, which, unfortunately, can always be a crapshoot for the healthcare consumer.

Posting the bill without giving the details of the insurance coverage doesn't tell us much, except that hospital billing is crazy thing. Which we already knew.

Edited March 28, 2014 by Dakine10

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It says he's on his fathers plan, so he would have the same deductable and copay. It's possible his father chose to carry a catastrophic plan I guess. . May just be the prices Aetna has negotiated with that hospital, which, unfortunately, can always be a crapshoot for the healthcare consumer.

Posting the bill without giving the details of the insurance coverage doesn't tell us much, except that hospital billing is crazy thing. Which we already knew.

The insurance paid just over 6K. The rest were "adjustment" - i.e. the real prices for the service rather than the hospital rack rates. There were $17.5K actually due, of which the insurance paid $6.5K and the insured is due to pay $11K. On a family plan, that might make sense if you have a 5K/10K deductible on an HDHP.

I had an ER and hospitalization experience last year and ended up shelling out close to $7K of what was initially an $85K bill. Again, no biggie since I have a healthy HSA that I have funded and continue to fund with the premium savings and the employer contribution. So even when paying a large bill like that, I still come out better than buying the tradional PPO plan.

This is not so much a story as it is the everyday reality of the American health care system. I'm way past being shocked about it. The system is cruel joke.

[belinda63 3,047]

Medical billing is a racket where they charge for every little thing and more than they can hope to collect. Spouse had two MRIs in the past three years. One place charged $400 the other $1100. This was for the same procedure. Hospitals overcharge intentionally to make up for the uninsured who don't pay. They have contracts with the insurance companies that say they will accept $x.xx for such and such a procedure (ICD-9 coding comes into play here). One insurance company may pay $200 for ICD-9 code XXXXX while another insurance company pays only $150 for the same code.

Overbilling and non-caring people also play a part. I had Medicaid with my last pregnancy and when I reviewed the bill I found a lot of things I was charged for that I never received. I called Medicaid and their answer was "You aren't paying for it why do you care?". Well I was paying for it since I was working and paying taxes.

[Dakine10 5,452]

The insurance paid just over 6K. The rest were "adjustment" - i.e. the real prices for the service rather than the hospital rack rates. There were $17.5K actually due, of which the insurance paid $6.5K and the insured is due to pay $11K. On a family plan, that might make sense if you have a 5K/10K deductible on an HDHP.

I had an ER and hospitalization experience last year and ended up shelling out close to $7K of what was initially an $85K bill. Again, no biggie since I have a healthy HSA that I have funded and continue to fund with the premium savings and the employer contribution. So even when paying a large bill like that, I still come out better than buying the tradional PPO plan.

This is not so much a story as it is the everyday reality of the American health care system. I'm way past being shocked about it. The system is cruel joke.

I saw that. I guess I was too slow to edit. So we are looking at a $55000 bill and $37000 adjustment (based on insurers negotiated rate). Nothing unusual there, most hospital bills will look like that.

Then we have the insurer paying about $6500 and the patient left with $11000. Looks bad on the surface, but without knowing the insurance plans deductable, HSA or anything else, it's hard to say.

Although health care costs are ridiculous, It does look like this hospitals' pricing is on the high side of things as well, which can make a big difference. It does make sense to have an idea of that if you have more than one hospital in your area. You can't really shop around in an emergency, but you can have a plan where you would go ahead of time.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I saw that. I guess I was too slow to edit. So we are looking at a $55000 bill and $37000 adjustment (based on insurers negotiated rate). Nothing unusual there, most hospital bills will look like that.

Then we have the insurer paying about $6500 and the patient left with $11000. Looks bad on the surface, but without knowing the insurance plans deductable, HSA or anything else, it's hard to say.

Although health care costs are ridiculous, It does look like this hospitals' pricing is on the high side of things as well, which can make a big difference. It does make sense to have an idea of that if you have more than one hospital in your area. You can't really shop around in an emergency, but you can have a plan where you would go ahead of time.

But that only works if you have multiple ERs in your vicinity which I know I don't. There's exactly 1 ER within 10 miles of my home - maybe even within 15 miles. There are a lot of them in a 25 miles radius but that's not necessarily an option if you have to get there fast. This whole idea of shopping around for emergency medical services is ludicrous.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

It is crazy that anyone should have to think, in an emergency, about which hospital they can and cannot go to due to cost.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It is crazy that anyone should have to think, in an emergency, about which hospital they can and cannot go to due to cost.

Hey, who you calling crazy?

[BatmanUSA 105]

The insurance paid just over 6K. The rest were "adjustment" - i.e. the real prices for the service rather than the hospital rack rates. There were $17.5K actually due, of which the insurance paid $6.5K and the insured is due to pay $11K. On a family plan, that might make sense if you have a 5K/10K deductible on an HDHP.

I had an ER and hospitalization experience last year and ended up shelling out close to $7K of what was initially an $85K bill. Again, no biggie since I have a healthy HSA that I have funded and continue to fund with the premium savings and the employer contribution. So even when paying a large bill like that, I still come out better than buying the tradional PPO plan.

This is not so much a story as it is the everyday reality of the American health care system. I'm way past being shocked about it. The system is cruel joke.

The system is a cruel joke.!

you are lucky to have an employer who contributes to your HSA..