:) I actually don't mind paying my share of this one. Just never noticed that copay, but then it's never come up before. But I was *so* indignant, lol :) And hey, five hundred twenty five is a bargain under the circumstances. Being alive is well worth it.
The speech therapist thing, well... I guess if that is what they charge? I asked my doctor about that later -- it seems that when I first came into the ward, nobody told the doctor on call that I was morphined to the gills for pain, and apparently I was slurring my words. Since stroke is a possibility with clotting problems I guess it was reasonable to request an eval. Would have been cheaper to ask me about it though :) I just feel better about my bill when it's my share of the whole stay vs somebody else's five-minute mistake. Dana On Wed, 1 Dec 2004 14:54:38 -0800, William Bowen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I got a bill from the hospital for $11k and change, just the stay and > > a visit from a speech pathologist. The speech pathologist was three > > hundred and some plus another two hundred and change for a "swallow > > evaluation." > > Dana, > > first off, DO NOT feel foolish about this. The fact is you were > following up on a suspected discrepancy and that is a good thing(tm). > > second, isn't it amazing what doctors can charge? :-) > > The fact that it turned out to be your co-pay is an entirely different > matter and in this case you should simply be glad the hospital was > charging for services you actually received (yes, I release it was a > very expensive cookie ;-) ) but your insurance is covering the "visit" > so no worries there! > > FWIW, When my grandfather died (about 10 years ago), the hospital he > died in (in Little Rock, Arkansas) tried to get my father to sign off > on an invoice to Medicaid (or maybe it was medicare) that included > services rendered after the date of death (like feeding and doses of > medicine, painkillers, that sort of stuff). When my father refused to > "participate in insurance fraud" they tacked the charges onto a bill > that eventually ended up as a claim against my grandfather's estate... > it was cleared up but could have been prevented had the hospital > simply charged for services/supplies actually rendered rather than > trying to defraud the government programs. > > > > Good thing I *had* a medical plan, huh? > > Yes! > > When we got the bill for my son's appendectomy earlier this year, we > had a bit of fun doing the math involving how much allowance it would > take to pay for the procedures he had, with insurance and > without...$21K was the total bill (two nights in the hospital, the > surgery (laproscopic), blood work, MRI, extra-antibiotics for > pneumonia (found during the MRI), follow-up from the doctor(s)... we > ended up paying nothing because he was admitted to the hospital after > an emergency room visit... > > didn't mind not having to pay that bill :-) > > -- > -- > > will > > "If my life weren't funny, it would just be true; > and that would just be unacceptable." > - Carrie Fisher > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Special thanks to the CF Community Suite Silver Sponsor - CFDynamics http://www.cfdynamics.com Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:138490 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
