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How a lot does a two-night hospital keep in Washington actually value?
A few months in the past, I developed chest pains and was flown from Bainbridge Island to Harborview Medical Middle in Seattle. I spent two nights on the hospital, was examined for doable coronary heart assault or stroke, and my insurance coverage firm, Kaiser Permanente, was billed $95,487 for transportation, assessments, medicine, and a “semiprivate room.”
Nevertheless, Kaiser lined $17,346.74 and I paid $550. Why was there such an enormous discrepancy between the costs and the precise cash paid?
After I turned sick, my spouse known as 911 and an ambulance took me on a 5-to-10-minute journey to the helicopter touchdown pad. Kaiser was charged $5,966.20 for that ambulance transport however paid solely $822.97.
Whereas being flown from Bainbridge to Harborview, I nervous in regards to the transportation value. May this flight be as a lot as $1,000? Will Kaiser pay for this deluxe transportation service?
The invoice for this quick helicopter journey was a bit greater than the $1,000 I anticipated: I used to be billed $40,986. Then, my insurance coverage was billed $34,932.50 and finally paid $4,516.22 — about 12% of the asking worth.
I went by way of numerous mind and coronary heart assessments, together with a really painful chemical stress take a look at. No issues have been discovered, and I pleaded to be launched. I missed a peaceable night time of sleep, curled up with my cat. I felt good, had no chest pains and I walked the hallways of the Norm Maleng Constructing for train and loved the artwork shows.
The explanation that I didn’t get a lot sleep in my $6,350.39 “semiprivate room” was that my roommate was fairly stressed and had the nurses coming and going a lot of each nights. I used to be billed a further emergency room service value of $2,639.50 per night time. The whole room expenses billed to Kaiser have been $6,350.39 per night time. Was my roommate’s insurance coverage firm additionally charged $6,350.39?
Sadly, a lot of the assessments the docs thought of vital ran additionally into the hundreds of {dollars}. The invoice for the CT scan, for example, was $19,422.98. The 30-minute chemical stress take a look at, which I believed would certainly kill me, was billed at $8,210.70. The cost for an EEG was $1,434.94.
The pharmacy service expenses have been $2,457.45. At residence, I take 4 prescription drugs day by day at a value of about $3. Since pharmacy companies weren’t itemized, however lab work and numerous assessments have been itemized, I’m curious to know what precisely Kaiser paid for. To be truthful, non-pharmacy expenses could have been added. However $2,457.45 for pharmacy companies?
I fondly keep in mind the night time I spent with meals poisoning in a Brussels hospital and it didn’t value me a single euro.
So, what precisely is the true value of every thing a affected person is charged for? Does coronary heart imaging actually value $5,345.95? Do all hospitals cost about $1,794.04 for an MRI and do all insurance coverage firms pay about solely 15%?
Regardless of this surrealistic relationship between companies billed and precise cash paid, I thank the working workers at Harborview for his or her care. Throughout my two-night, three-day keep, all of the docs and nurses have been nothing however useful and confirmed concern with my psychological and bodily well-being. I’m lucky to be insured, and I’m very grateful that virtually every thing we shoppers purchase has a set worth.
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