Good medicine

Are you following the health care reform debate?

I'm not really. But I'm certainly experiencing the system and recognizing the need for change. And how.

I have started to receive the bills from my broken ankle, surgery and brief hospitalization.

Holy.

Cow.

I am certainly thankful that I have health insurance, mostly subsidized by my employer. (I pay a hefty premium but it's pre-tax.) As someone who has always been basically healthy and is not a big consumer of health care services, I've been guilty of only paying partial attention to how it all works. Deductible? Coverage for various services? In-network, out-of-network, referrals? Typically, our expenses are no more than a couple of hundred dollars. If that. Except for when Lizz had her wisdom teeth removed. THAT was ridiculously costly.

So far, I've received bills with poorly itemized charges for:

Room/board - semi-private room (3 nights)
Pharmacy
Med-sur "supplies"
Lab
DX X-Ray
OR "Services"
Anesthesia (multiple charges)
Physical Therapy
Emergency Room
Recovery Room
"Professional Charges"
"Hospital Charges"
X-Ray Ankle 2 views
X-Ray Chest single view
X-Ray Ankle complete minimum of 3 views

I'll award a roll of TP worth $1,000 for the closest guess on the grand total thus far. (My part will hopefully be substantially less, but seeing the total "cost" is truly frightening.)

Oh, it wears me out to think about this. And it saddens me to think of all the people who are sicker than I and have little or no insurance coverage. I've known for many many years that our system is broken and needs fixing.

On the bright side ... the sun is shining today!

HOW TO COMMENT
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