Home Stretch
They called to confirm the stent removal for tomorrow. They told me to be there at 11am, and to be prepared to be there 6-7 hours (!!!!!). This is for a routine, minutes-long procedure. Why such a massive window? They claimed I was last in line, and that the time cushion would allow for them to deal with any last minute problems with the patients before them. They recommended I take a book. Thanks!
Also annoying, I'm required to have someone accompany me home. That means more than a cab. I actually need someone to walk me out. Thankfully a friend is helping out, but they make it tough. It's not like I can say, "hey, man, be ready some time between 11am and 6pm." It's like furniture delivery or something. Why they can't just call me an hour beforehand is beyond me.
Also fun to share: the cost so far - not including two urologist visits, and tomorrow's stent removal, which will be tallied up later - has already hit $20,000. Can you believe it? That's more than Baby Z. cost, and she was a c-section with five nights in the hospital. I had a routine procedure that happens dozens of times a week to thousands of people, involves no cutting and no overnight stays, and it costs about as much as a nice car. Where does all the money go?
Also annoying, I'm required to have someone accompany me home. That means more than a cab. I actually need someone to walk me out. Thankfully a friend is helping out, but they make it tough. It's not like I can say, "hey, man, be ready some time between 11am and 6pm." It's like furniture delivery or something. Why they can't just call me an hour beforehand is beyond me.
Also fun to share: the cost so far - not including two urologist visits, and tomorrow's stent removal, which will be tallied up later - has already hit $20,000. Can you believe it? That's more than Baby Z. cost, and she was a c-section with five nights in the hospital. I had a routine procedure that happens dozens of times a week to thousands of people, involves no cutting and no overnight stays, and it costs about as much as a nice car. Where does all the money go?
posted by Josh at 9:19 PM
2 Comments:
Where does all the money go?
A very large percentage of it goes to cover things like malpractice insurance for all the docs, administrative costs for the insurance companies, and payment to the hospital for all those uninsured people who use the emergency room as their primary care location.
I read somewhere that only about 1/3 of the "billed cost" of any health care proceedure at a hospital is directly tied to the cost of the equipment and medical experitise actually used for the operation.
Where does all the money go?
Under the hospital's mattress.
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