There is no justifiable reason for any of this to be happening:
Deirdre Yapalater’s recent colonoscopy at a surgical center near her home here on Long Island went smoothly: she was whisked from pre-op to an operating room where a gastroenterologist, assisted by an anesthesiologist and a nurse, performed the routine cancer screening procedure in less than an hour. The test, which found nothing worrisome, racked up what is likely her most expensive medical bill of the year: $6,385.That is fairly typical: in Keene, N.H., Matt Meyer’s colonoscopy was billed at $7,563.56. Maggie Christ of Chappaqua, N.Y., received $9,142.84 in bills for the procedure. In Durham, N.C., the charges for Curtiss Devereux came to $19,438, which included a polyp removal. While their insurers negotiated down the price, the final tab for each test was more than $3,500.
“Could that be right?” said Ms. Yapalater, stunned by charges on the statement on her dining room table.
It costs $900 in the UK, $650 in Switzerland, and $350 in Costa Rica. And you know what Affordable Care Act does about this? Not a goddamn thing.
I learned this little lesson the hard way, too. I underwent the same procedure late last year---in fact, I'd intentionally put it off for a couple of years waiting to see if the Affordable Care Act would be upheld in the courts since, after all, colonoscopies are free of charge under the terms of the law. Anyway, a few weeks later I got a bill for $3,900 from the physician who performed the procedure. Thinking this must have been a mistake, I contacted my insurance company, wondering why they hadn't paid for the procedure as required by law.
"We did pay for it," the insurance rep told me. "That bill from your doctor was for the polyp removal and biopsy." Now, I already knew that insurance didn't cover this part of the procedure, and I was expecting to be billed something in the ballpark of $800. I know a few other people my age who've had biopsies performed, and that was, on average, what they ended up paying out of pocket. But nearly $4 grand? At the time, I thought this was outrageous---but as this story proves, guess I'm not alone.
Long story short, a few months have passed and I still haven't paid the bill, at this point wondering if it might be smarter just to sit and wait for the collection agency to call and try to bargain a lower price from them. But end of the day, the health care in this country is just too damned expensive. Doctors are allowed to gouge their patients, pharmaceutical companies and device manufacturers are allowed to gouge their customers, and insurance companies are allowed to gouge their policyholders. Because. They. Can. You wanna make health care more affordable, do something about that.
---Baron V
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