Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack

Re:Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack by ArchTypical on Tuesday August 28, 2018 @03:21PM (#17861999)

Paying 300-500/mo for decades, as a chronic heart patient here. I've had multiple open heart surgeries and nothing sweeter than paying 6k for the recovery room and 0 for the surgery (along with sweet receipts for 1mil in aggregate surgery costs). The separate billing is a pointless red herring, in context of the article.

$10,920 for room charges is absolutely ludicrous.

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Re:Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack by linker3000 on Tuesday August 28, 2018 @05:23PM (#17863034)

In the UK and paying a monthly National Insurance tax:

About 5 years ago, I had 6 weeks in hospital, a total of 3 angiograms, one MRI scan...and then 5 stents (should have been 4, but they tore something and had to put in a covered one!).

The wait was mainly down to an unfortunate series of events: One stent was needed in a 'tricky' place and so I was timetabled to be operated on by a specialist surgeon elsewhere, but his father fell seriously ill so he went on leave. My first op was rebooked for another hospital...and they had a 'flu outbreak so ops were postponed. Eventually I was booked in elsewhere had a one hour ambulance transport ride for 'third time lucky'.

The stents were fitted in two separate operations about two weeks apart. The most notable expense I incurred was for data top-ups on my cellphone because hospital wifi was still being setup and hadn't quite made it to my ward.

The NHS gets a lot of flak, and it's by no means perfect, but it's generally there for you when you really need it.

PS: I'm on a slew of meds for my heart condition and T2 diabetes - all free at the point of collection.

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Re:Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack by NearAP on Tuesday August 28, 2018 @04:51PM (#17862766)

I'm curious - do you think the figures for room and board is generally high? Or do you just think it is high for the city?

I'm asking because a friend was in the hospital in the bay area for 7 days and his room and board was approximately $21,000

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Re:Insured, but Still Owing $109K for a Heart Attack by ArchTypical on Tuesday September 04, 2018 @06:43PM (#17913495)

I had my surgeries in the middle of Los Angeles (Kaiser - 4867 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027). My insurance covered 7 days, but I paid for additional recovery time at about 2k a day.

In regard to your friend ... his 7 x 2 = $14k. That's a LOT for basically a bed, blood draws daily, limited TV and cafeteria food, but in the center of Los Angeles, that's what you get.

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