Hospital bill!!!!!!!!!!!

My deductable is $500 regardless because I stayed overnight, so I'm not
upset about paying that. I'd have to pay it no matter what. But the
hospital
just automatically billed them for a birth they didn't assist with and EFM
they didn't use!! No wonder our insurance premiums are so high! Should I
call the insurance company about this? I feel like I should do
*something*.

I would, it's the only way that premiums will be kept down, the consumers
being proactive!

I was shocked when some americans I was staying with didn't bat an eyelid
when the insurance claims the dentist did had way more fillings on than they
had actually had, they said it was normal, personally I consider it to be
fraud.

Anne

I would call the insurance company - I think it's fairly common (at least
around here) for the patient to be eligible for 30% or so of the refund if
they spot and report a billing error. Meaning, you might deserve 30% (or
whatever) of that overcharge!
It's worth a phone call . . .
Hannah

*magnesium hydroxide 30ml 2.05
*acetaminophen 325mg, tablet .67

Huh? You can buy about 50 of them for this, used to be able to get
more, before they introduced the package size limites.

You could buy 50 pills for 67 cents? Where did you shop?

(But yeah, meds in the hospital always cost more. And there IS more overhead
invovled there too, so it isn't all just scamming you for every nickle.)

Naomi

Naomi Pardue wrote:
*magnesium hydroxide 30ml 2.05
*acetaminophen 325mg, tablet .67

Huh? You can buy about 50 of them for this, used to be able to get
more, before they introduced the package size limites.


You could buy 50 pills for 67 cents? Where did you shop?


Megan probably means through the subsidised NHS on prescription. At my
last refill (I take ibuprofen daily for RA) I got three 100 tablet boxes
of 400mg ibuprofen for about $1.50 for the same reason.

Andrea

JennP wrote:

*normal deliveries 1300.00
*fetal monitoring with delivery 246.33

So that's it. I'm not misinterpreting this, right?


That's rather cheeky, I agree with what others have said, I'd let your
insurance company know.

Andrea

Did they open up a delivery kit for you? I hope not! We had a charge for a
precipitous delivery -vs- regular vaginal delivery. The first kit was only
the basics and not a whole table set up.

I would talk with the business office first. This is ridiculous!!

Kelly
#4 2/12/05

"JennP" wrote in message
...
Just thought I'd share this in case I'm missing something.

*room total med/sur/gy/2bed 514.50
*magnesium hydroxide 30ml 2.05
*acetaminophen 325mg, tablet .67
*ibuprofen 800mg 1.75
*ibuprofen 800mg 1.75
*lanolin, 7gm 2.70
*maternity kit total med-sur supplies13.37
*antibody screen 57.00
*rh 29.00
*fetal hemoglobin screen 28.00
*blood typing, abo 13.00
*rhogram/rh-d immune globulin 201.00

Here's where it gets interesting:

*normal deliveries 1300.00
*fetal monitoring with delivery 246.33

So that's it. I'm not misinterpreting this, right?

JennP.

Sounds like fraud, plain and simple. Whether it was intentional or not
(probably not), your insurance company shouldn't be getting charged for
services that never occurred. People are right about this sort of thing
impacting premiums.

I'm wondering if this ever happens in Canada, where it isn't the
insurance company but the government that pays for the medical bills.
That said, I'd love to see a breakdown of my bill from when ds was
delivered. Most Canadians don't have a clue how much medical care
actually costs.

Melania

You could buy 50 pills for 67 cents? Where did you shop?

Megan probably means through the subsidised NHS on prescription. At my
last refill (I take ibuprofen daily for RA) I got three 100 tablet boxes
of 400mg ibuprofen for about $1.50 for the same reason.

nope, prescription charges are ridiculous for many medicines, if you could
buy them direct it would cost less

I would pay between 30 and 40 pence for a box of 16 paracetamol
(acetomorphin), which is close of 67 cents, there have been clamp downs, in
the past you could definitely get cheaper, but it would usually be round
tablets, uncoated, I like to get the capsule shaped ones, well coated!

snip
No wonder our insurance premiums are so high! Should I
call the insurance company about this? I feel like I should do
*something*.

JennP.


Pretty amazing story, JennP.

When I told John Santa, MD then of Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Portland Oregon
that OBs were closing birth canals up to 30%, he said there was nothing he
could do because insurance companies can't tell MDs how to practice
medicine.

Insurance companies are remaining mute as MDs KEEP birth canals closed when
babies get stuck.

NICU costs can be astonomical.

From a purely business perspective, it is in the interest of insurance
companies to subsidize the MD/hospital system by not looking too hard at
MD/hospital fraud.

The MD/hospital birth industry generates FEAR - which generates insurance
business.

Todd

I know. Aren't the prices outrageous? Two bucks for one dose of milk of
magnesia! Crazy.


But typical. I had an embolism when I was 19. The typical "retail" billing
price for the liter of tPA solution I was given was $1800-2000.

They billed $5000.

That was in 1991.

Jenrose