So I got appendicitis at the end of March.

[morbidart]

It was in the middle of the night and I was in immense amount of pain. Surgery was quick, my recovery was good, I did not need to stay the night. So yeah, typical thing that most people will go through but without any complications

Comments

[ambobuddha]

*jawdrop*

Seriously??

When I was laid up for a suspected stroke, they had an item on the bill for about $140 for "urology" - I assumed it was for the pregnancy test they gave me before I had my cat scan.

And the pregnancy test was exactly the same as the ones you can by for $7 at Walgreens.

Total bullshit, man.

[morbidart]

I can't even believe how much hospitals overcharge. It's crazy.

[peloquyn]

I just got the itemized statement for the gallbladder/hernia surgery - minus the pre-operative tests (which came out to be something like $6k) and the surgeon's fees (billed separately to the tune of $9k) my 8 hours in the hospital came to $18k. I'm allergic to morphine, and I think I'm glad of it, looking at this! I'm uninsured, though, so I will be paying all of this out of pocket...eventually.

Glad you're doing better, though, it's good to hear from you :)

[morbidart]

I'm sorry you have to go through that. Make sure you negotiate it down if you can. My brother IS insured but had a head injury that ended up costing $75k, which left him with $30k to payoff. He's going through negotiations to get that reduced to a point where he can actually pay.

The ambulances in California are privatized. His insurance will pay up to $300 for that service. But the private company charged my brother $3000. They eventually settled with him at $1800. It's still ridiculous.

There is something seriously wrong with our health care system.