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Serious Thumper
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Savage heart of darkness
Posts: 680
Cartersville, GA
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I usually try to stay out of this Hell's Kitchen area, but this is something I have to vent...
My wife got a bump on her leg about 2 weeks ago that kept getting worse. At first we thought perhaps it was a spider bite, wasp sting, etc., but over a 2 week period it didn't seem to be diminishing and it kept getting more painful. Finally she decided to go to the Dr to see what it was and check on any treatment. Her Dr took a look and decided that she couldn't do anything in her office, so she was sent to the hospital.
Once in the hosp, they took blood tests trying to determine the cause. They decided it had become infected and even abscessed, so multiple Drs consorted and decided surgery would be necessary to remove the infected tissue, just to be safe. Long story short, they kept her for 2 days & nights, along with IVs, radiology, etc... They ended up cutting out a plug about 1/2 inch in diameter and 1 inch deep. The resulting wound had to packed with expensive strips of silver nitrate or some such(?), that cost $70 per strip and needed changing 3 times a day. After 2 days she was released and allowed to come home. We were told that the strips would be required for several weeks.
Anyway, she has now been home for several days, even tho still in a good amount of pain. The next day we receive a phone call from the hospital billing dept, saying the bill is ready. We, of course asked about the amount? I was thinking... hmmm 2 days at today's hospital prices is going to be expensive, perhaps even $5k .. $8k or so? The gal in the billing dept then calmly informed us that our total was a mere $44k, but that did NOT include the radiology lab and surgeon fee!!! That's $22k per day for a minor surgery and hospitalization, or another way you could think of it is the cost of a brand new car everyday (and not a cheap car either)!
Stunned didn't begin to describe our feelings at that moment. This is especially true since we were forced to cancel our health insurance 5 years prior after it had climbed to $12k annually, with automatic increases every quarter due to our age. We are both retired, and decided that if things were left as is, the insurance company was going to clean out our savings and IRAs - money we had worked for and saved all our lives. I became 65 in april and have only just qualified for Medicare, but my 60 year old wife has nothing. I asked the hosp about a payment plan, but their idea of payments was essentially my entire SS check each month, and that is only after signing over our home as collateral. That means if Deb were to die first, I am still on the hook for payments or the hospital can seize my home and other assets for restitution. I must say, we are both feeling very victimized right now, but there seems little we can do against the empire.
I think back to my childhood (Leave it to Beaver days), and when I or one of my siblings got sick or broke a bone, Mom took us to the Dr. I don't even think we had anything like health insurance; you simply paid the bill or made payments until you were paid up. That's it - injured person is happy, Dr is happy, hospital is happy! I don't know if I can put my finger on it exactly, but between then and now, something has gone horribly wrong with medical care???
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