Posted: 1/8/2002 12:16:40 PM EDT
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Perhaps I'm just naive (and I know some of you would agree with that [;)]), but I was quite surprised by a hospital bill I received recently. What happened is that I injured myself in an accident and went to a local hospital's emergency room for treatment. The care I received consisted of a quick screening in the ER (a nurse asked me a few questions and took my blood pressure) and a four sutures by a doctor in the "Urgent Care" area to close a small laceration of my scalp. There were no X-rays, MRIs, or other fancy diagnostic tests; it was just a few minutes of work for a doctor with a needle and thread to stitch me up. The only drugs used were a shot of some sort of local anaesthetic and whatever antiseptics were used to cleanse the wound. How much would you expect the above treatment to cost? (BTW, I'm not complaining -- the doctor did a great job and I don't expect to have any out-of-pocket costs for this.) |
| Since ERs are the solution of choice for people without insurance (takers), it is up to you (producers) to pay for your treatment, and theirs. As such, your bill for 4 sutures can run as high as $600 (let me know of I'm correct), while the crack whore can save her cash for another rock. Sorry, man. That's just the way it is. |
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Wow, you guys are good. I was expecting around $200 but it was actually $527. The market for medical care is an odd beast indeed. In fact, it's really not much of a "market" at all since consumers don't have enough information to do any real "shopping". And then there's also the fact that the people receiving the care often aren't the ones paying for it (at least not directly). And then there are all the obstacles for providers to entering the market -- it's not as if hospitals can pop up as easily as, say, Wal-Mart stores or McDonalds can. At least Hillary never got to make things worse. [BD] |
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Quoted: Garandman, you win the respect and admiration of your fellow AR15.com members... not that you didn't already have it. [:D] Well, OK, that's nice too.... ...but I was hoping more for one firearm of my choice from each of the members collections. [:D] Well, since that didn't work out, I'll take teh 'respect and admiration" thing. [:D] |
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Actually though high, it's par for the course. My son's mosh pit accident to the scalp got him about $350 and all he got was a dressing and a tetanus shot. 5 min face time with the doc. Of course it was 2 hours to get to the exam room and another 30 min wait there. Even the ER staff is often outsourced, so you could a separate bill from them as well as any radiologist, pathologist, surgeon, or your regular MD if they see you there. All of this depends on your condition. The costs of the hospital infrastructure and staffing are very high, whether that one extra patient (you) walks in or not. Those costs have to be spread around, Which might explain the fiction of charging $9.50 for a tylenol and other war stories. So did they ask if you have guns? |
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Of course it was 2 hours to get to the exam room and another 30 min wait there. It was the other way around for me: 30 minutes from the time I walked in the building until I went to the exam room, then a 2 hour wait in the exam room to see the doctor. I was tempted to turn the lights out so I could take a nap. [sleep] So did they ask if you have guns? Nope. But they were wondering why my head was wrapped in aluminum foil. [:D] |