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High cost of knee surgery

As some of you might know, I recently had arthroscopic surgery on my left knee. Just looked over the 14 pages of itemized services provided by the hospital and staff. Wonderful staff, this I have to admit.

My medical records for the 45 minute surgery was a whooping $21k of which insurance paid $16k. (Since I told em I was from the border town of South Slovakia; they moved the balance due over to some Democrat who was in at the same time for his annual flu shot)

Here are but a few of the listed actual itemized charges:

NEPTUNE MANIFOLD (I don't know what that is but, I sure hope it helps me to stop snoring) it costs 87.28;

INCISOR cost 145.08 (happy they didn't work on my molar)

SUCTION MAT was 38.35, (Walmart has them discounted for only 4.98 or two for 10.00);

STYLET INTUBATION SATIN SLIP (love that name - now I'm the envy of the neighborhood) I got for a steal at only 12.95;

SOLN LR 1000 for 140.00 (betcha they could have used the LR 750 for half that cost);

and, the "piece of resistant" (that's french for final) a COMPLK AUTOM CBC W NPL NODIFF was a meager 46.37 (didn't Toyota recall that item recently?).

Least the knee doesn't stick any more, kinda feels like when you spray Pam cooking oil onto a new frying pan.

Now just can't wait for the new and improved social medicine to kick in. Then they will either give me a "pill" (period) and that should fix it for good. Or perhaps, if the Board of Review votes and decrees they really have to go in and open the knee, a wooden mallet for the anesthesia and use the plastic cutlery they hand you at Wendy's for the chili and fries, is all they will need.

Ain't life grand!

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 21, 2010 at 8:04 PM

    With the technology available to the medical community today, I would say the U.S. has some of the best healthcare in the world. Based on the fact that you are paying 24% of the total, it sounds like you need better insurance. Insurance is a bet pure and simple. Why do you carry any kind of insurance? Do you play blackjack? Have you ever accepted the dealer's 'insurance' when he is showing an ace?
    How can the government be expected to solve these problems when you have: 1)Little Johnny falls down, scratches his knee, and is rushed to the ER(because insurance pays for it) 2) Doctors perform a battery of tests and use $50 worth of gauze and tape to cover said scratch(insurance anyone?) 3) Insurance companies that rewrite the doctors bill and pay a more reasonable $10 worth of bandages but still charge outrageous premiums(passed on to the consumer)
    Socialized medicine is not the answer. How about ala carte medicine? How many doctor bills have you seen that have been re-priced by an insurance company? How about our politicians use their version of 'healthcare' for a couple of years, then let us know how it works.

    True story - my wife gave birth recently with NO medication other than 5 ibuprofen in the following day and a half. The hospital billed our insurance company $452.07 for two separate pharmacy charges.

    ReplyDelete
  2. bob.severMarch 21, 2010 at 9:13 PM

    Heard some politicians and even news commentators, equate the adoption of universal Health Care as taking America into the 21st century. How sad a thought!

    I for one have always thought of us as somewhat beyond 21st century medicine. I guess that statement is actually true now. We can drop down a bit with the rest of the world.

    Maybe it is time we let the rest of the world take the lead in the development of medicine; we can sit back and mimic them. I digress, and sad to say, so will our health care services!

    ReplyDelete

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