A commenter at another blog told of cutting his finger quite badly and having to go to the emergency room, where he got eight stitches. He paid a copay of $125 for the visit and, later, another $25 to have the stitches removed. The total billing for the episode was $1,800.00 and he paid $150.00 of it.
Note that billing; nearly two thousand dollars to have eight stitches in a finger, a process that took somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 minutes.
My question for those who claim that "America is being held hostage" by the insurance companies, is this; who is creating the cost, the hospital that billed that insane $1800, or the insurance company that had to pay it?
Insurance companies pay costs; they don't create them.
very good question.. has anyone addressed this? No, I don't think so. Why does it cost so much? Is it becasue insurance just pays and doesn;t question it? Is it to cover the non-payers? Is it to cover the malpractice insurance cost in case something goes wrong?
ReplyDeleteAre Urgent Care places any cheaper than a full blown hospital Emergency Room? I don;t go to one of those unless I have no choice.
Oh, and my ER copay is $50. Maybe I'm lucky.