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Apr 2, 2012 -- 3:59PM, craner7 wrote:

Apr 2, 2012 -- 12:01PM, yankeeoldfan wrote:

Apr 1, 2012 -- 6:40PM, craner7 wrote:

Joe .....7000 for 5 days at a mental health facility....not me but someone I know....50K for my surgery and about 22 hrs in the hospital. A Dr charges 100-200 to walk in your room and say how ya feeling?

Craner I had a cataract removed, I went in the hospital, spend one hour in a small room being processed for the surgery.. They then took me into another room where I was in at most five minutes, then to another room and had a lense put in my eye which took all of 3-4 minutes.. then back to my little room where they gave me a glass of orange juice and took my blood pressure again.. then sent me home.. The bill changed to my medicare was just less a few bucks from $8500.

Two years ago I had a total hip replacement, I went into the hospital and was out on the third day, the total bill was just under $60,000. While in the hospital ( I have type 2 diabetes, which I had to tell them about and I get all my meds through Wall Mart for less then $30. a month) a doctor came in and asked me how my diabetes was doing, I told him everything was going fine.. This Dr. had nothing to do with my hip surgery, and I never asked to see him either, but anyway when I got my bill from the hospital and Dr. this Dr. that came in and asked me how my diabetes was charged me $770.  I called the hospital and told them I didn't even ask for that Dr. and I was not going to pay for him, they immediately told me if I didn't pay they would sue and take me to court and make sure I paid, even after they (hospital) had already gotten $40,000. plus from my insurance already..  And you tell me these charges have to be alright ??

I Hear you!!!!!! Very loud and clear YOF! And honest to God I don't know what the answer is because I'm a free market guy and even though I may seem pretty brilliant at times here I'm really not In my logical mind there is no reason why these charges need to be so damn high. The case of Dr's you don't even know or authorize is easy.....if you are alert and able, YOU OK your Dr's! Same with ER charges. A couple months ago I went to the ER for very bad chest pains....the charge, including x ray, not scan, was nearly 2K.....I was in and out in about 4 hrs, even though they wanted me to stay over. THat's anther story......I didn't want to stay because my co pay on my ins ( which the premium was raised 50% ) had jumped from 250 to 900 ....unless I knew my life was hanging by a thread I wasn't gonna pay 900 for a night laying in a hosp bed. Had to go back the next day anyway because the pain came back stronger and had to stay. So I'm waiting for the bill now for my luxury hotel stay of 900 bucks....which will only be the copay! Ins will kick in more! So next time you see a hospital giving a fundraiser crying for funds.....just wave.

Again, the case of Dr's just walking in who you never heard of and charging fees like 770 is a crime! Now I'm sure someone here might pop in and say they probably did a lot for you behind the scenes besides just dropping by for a minute. We should be able to demand to see why and what they did to deserve to paid.

Dr's should be well compensated for what they do, and I know malpractice is a big problem in costs.....other than Tort reform and personally authorizing the Dr's who care for you,  I don't know what the answers are.....especially for the obscene rates hospitals charge for their luxury rooms with surf and turf dinners!

Don't know if you know I live in South Dakota, my biggest city is Sioux Falls, which is about 160,000 and growing leaps and bounds.. Anyway, the hospital that I went to is Sanford and they are so money hungry that they were willing to sue me for a measly $770. after insurance paid them close to $40K and my deductible was $5000. and 80/20 on the next $10K, so out of my pocket on the whole deal was $7000. now get this about once a year or so the Sanford hospital will donate millions of dollars for different things like putting up a $1,000,000. scoreboard for a little town out side of Sioux Falls, or they put up a complete gyms that cost $10M so their personal employees could have a place to work out and if any of the colleges or HS needed a gym to play basketball in it was there.. It shows they make more money then they know what to do with.. The Dr. that took my cadarat out of my eye has a winery in Calif. numerous apartment complexes in Sioux Falls and more then most even know about.. Again I don't begrudge anyone of making money, but just how much money do these Dr. have to make.. You don't like the government getting involved, but you tell me who's going to put a stop to this ??  It just can't continue at the pace it's going or the common person will go broke in insurance premiums or bills which ever comes first...

At least you guys are talking about the real problem -- the cost of health care.

Instead of dealing with that, the politicians pick a fight with the insurance companies. What are these companies supposed to do -- charge a buck and a half a month while a five minute visit can cost seven grand?

Apr 2, 2012 -- 7:52PM, craner7 wrote:

Exactly. Maybe the answer lies in the insurance companies saying enough is enough. Why does the cost of health care keep going up way above everything ( well except gas )? Someone in the health industry is making a lot of money....yea Dr's but for the most part they earn it, except the guy who will peek on you and charge ins 200 ...or in YOUr case...700!!!! Maybe Govt needs to get involved as far as guidelines go since a lot of the cost goes to medicaid, medicare....like not paying Dr's just to say how you doing! Bottom line is it just should not cost as much as it does for health care....but whats the answer? Why can a hospital charge 700-1000 per day for a bed and that's not counting Dr fees, meds? Nurses make a decent living but they're not getting rich...who is? And aren't hospitals " non profit "?

Hospitals aren't non profit  in SD Craner.. Another thing, you can't hardly drive around the hospitals in Sioux Falls SD, there are cranes, construction crews, and a new wing going on every hospital in the city, which by the way has four.. And like I said in another post they give millions of dollars just to have their name on a new stadium score board, and that's only one thing they spend like crazy for.. Yet still they go after the poor guy, and I'm not talking about myself, but the poor family guy who's struggling to make his house, car, and living expense payments that can't pay all his health costs..

I have a neighbor who was 67 years old, most of his life he worked as a hired man on a neighbors farm, he raised four kids and did a good job doing so, his wife was a beautician by trade, he had come down with cancer and his family of all things didn't have a supplement to go along with his medicare.. Worse yet he ended up dieing and the damn hospital/Dr's are at this wives door trying to take every red cent she makes.. (at 65 years of age she still works at a beautician two to three days a week just to keep the wolf away from the door) Again this is far from being fair in my books..

The biggest problem is the medical profession, the pharmaceutical companies, the insurance companies are all lobbying for our politicians to do absolutely nothing, they are all making mega bucks and sure has hell doesn't want anything to be controlled by anyone especially the government.. Everyone of these sectors of business is making multi millions and even billions, so why would they want to have anything change that ??

What really gets me, I've worked all my life and have a decent nest egg built up, mainly because of the land I own etc. Not lots of cash but a good amount of property, I know I can life fairly comfortable, I have three kids and would sure like to leave them something when I die, the way medical expenses are going if me or my wife happen to have a not so healthy retirement it could take a lot of what I've worked for all my life to just take care of us..

Another thing that bothers me, my wife's mother had some money, not a lot by today's standards, but close to a half million dollars, she went into a senior home and was there 8 years before she died.. When she died she was living off of the government because they had taken all her money in less then 8 years.. Again you talk about an expensive bed to sleep in...

I guess you can see how I feel about the medical profession, I guess I've vented enough.. But again I say something has to be done, it's gotten way out of hand and it will only get worse... 

Mar 29, 2012 -- 2:38PM, ArtVandelay wrote:

he said seaman...  uh huh... huh, huh,huh....  huh, huh....

 Hey Art, it's really hard to hate you sometimes!   lol