So along comes an itemized statement of charges from the Mayo Clinic, for the surgery, the anaesthesia, the this, the that and the other. Are you ready?
Are you sure you’re ready?
Be forewarned: it may not be possible to be ready.
Okay, so you’re really ready…
Thirteen thousand dollars.
That’s right: $13,000.
Think of that. The whole adventure from start to finish took about three hours.
$13,000/3 = $4,333.33 an hour
{sigh} Reminded, once again: we’re in the wrong business.
One has to wonder what cost analysis went into this pricing. I mean why not $12K….or $15K. In other words who makes the price? I’m with you…good work if you can get it….
The pathology on the tumor seems to have been among the high points. The post anesthesia recovery was $2060. Something called “FAC OR BASE LEVEL 2” — I have no idea what that is — was $7310. Something called ER/PR SEMI QUANT MANUAL, 6 units: $1731. There’s a whole series of drugs that, except for Lidocaine, ring no bells with me: charges range from $52 to $72. They charged $121 for a three-inch strip of Dermabond, which is superglue for the skin. The post surgical bra: $131 for something that looks exactly like one at Amazon for $42 to $52 (admittedly, the hospital is probably also charging for the cost of a nurse to wrestle a half-conscious or unconscious woman into the damn thing).
In comparison, the surgeon’s bill was quite low. I don’t suppose I begrudge the anaesthesiology bills: it’s sure a lot better than a pint of whiskey and a bullet between your teeth. And you can die from those drugs, easily: you do want to pay someone generously for the service of keeping you alive. Still. Forty-three hundred dollars an hour…wow.
YOWZA!!! I sure wasn’t ready. Well, thank goodness for medical coverage.
Sure hope most of it’s covered. If not, I’m in DEEP trouble, especially since I get to repeat the entire show again.
*eyes boggling*
(Intelligent comment to come, potentially)
I wonder about all the unseen costs that go into pricing of many things we pay for.
rent/mortgage
salaries
utilities
inventory
non-paying customers/bad debt
What else?
I have forgotten what I was told decades ago, when I worked at a shoe factory, what all goes into costing each product [shoe style]. I do vaguely remember, there were things I never thought of.
A few years ago my husband had spinal surgery – what irks [!] me, is the top guy we saw was not necessarily the one who did the surgery in total and yet I see the costs and just wonder.
As my med-student half brother would say… the prices are there for nothing else but to help pay the outrageous costs incurred by them going through pre-med, med and graduate school. I blame the edu system. Then after that, is to pay for wrong claims and the insurance/litigation/misfiled malpractice lawsuits. In a lot of other countries, med school is pricier, but not outrageously so like in the US, so doctors don’t make that much, and non-catastrophic services wont actually bankrupt you. Reminds me of my $375 visit to the derma (only paid $75 after insurance) that lasted 15 minutes, 10 of which were spent with the Dr talking about his vacations at my homeland.
Yah, except Mayo doctors are on salary. They don’t get paid by the procedure or the patient. That’s why most of them have time to actually engage a conversation with you.
My son, who’s an insurance adjustor and sees medical bills all the time, said 13 grand for surgery is ridiculously low. He was amazed they didn’t itemize for a much higher bill. I expect most of it is the cost of the drugs and the maintenance of such a large, complex, and technologically sophisticated facility. The Mayo is quite a place!
Planet Money did a series on medical pricing. You can probably find it if you look.
The gist was that hospitals don’t charge based on procedure costs. The administrator knows roughly what it costs to run the place for a year, say $X. He/she also knows roughly how many of various procedures they will do, and simply assigns random values to the procedures to generate $X in revenue. This takes into account the way insurance companies reimburse (a lot less than the number you are seeing), the rate of non-payment, what public hospitals are legally required to provide for free, etc.
Very interesting, since it isn’t the way we usually think about cost and pricing.
Interesting, indeed. It’s bizarre. And the result is, the consumer has NO IDEA what she’s dealing with or how much an illness ultimately will cost her.
I’ve called their billing department four times now, begging them to explain to me how much is gonna be in the bag I’m left holding. They don’t seem to know. I’ve not gotten one single straight answer, or if I have, it’s not been in any way comprehensible.