Heart Care Costs,Want to guess a couple?

[mightybooboo]

The Heart Attack thread got me thinking....Wife is sorta Hospital management and ran into what an insurance plan here in Calif is paying for a couple of procedures,I reckon its going to be fairly close across the country.

So,with INSURANCE what does a Dr get paid for

#1- open heart surgery?

#2- cardiac Catheterization?

Guess away!

[barelahh]

7 -10k for open heart,
2-4k for cath depending on what they do.

[calliemoonbeam]

Open heart - $50,000
Cardiac Cath - $5,000

[fetch33]

Not that I don't care about costs, but I am in the camp of thank GOD someone went to school for 10+ years, is skilled enough and puts up with all of the carp doctors have to in order to practice. Let him/her get paid what the market will bear.

[Kmac15]

Originally Posted by calliemoonbeam

Open heart - $50,000
Cardiac Cath - $5,000

Thats about what our EOB's have said.

[mightybooboo]

Just Dr costs,not the whole thing,I think the costs will shock you!

[Pink_Carnation]

I don't know about the Dr. but just for the room to put in a pacemaker for my step dad it was $10k. That did not include anything used or the Dr.'s fee.

[calliemoonbeam]

I don't have insurance now, but just guessing from the last time I was admitted for heart problems which, knock on wood, was about three years ago.

[clovis]

I could guess for a million years, but never get it right.

The truth is that they get paid on two conditions:

1. How much the health insurance policy pays.
2. How much money they think they can get out of the patient.

What the consumer doesn't know is how the formula between the care giver, the insurance, and the patient is figured.

[Tricky Grama]

I agree, its getting ridiculous.

Has to be put in perspective, of course.

Years ago, folks would just die. Is that better? You have that option, however. Just don't do the surgery.

Then you can also look at folks who buy 200K-300K homes (and more, but most of us are in far cheaper abodes I'm thinking.) How long to pay them off? If you'd die w/o open heart, would you set up payments to pay it off? Do w/o the home?

How about that truck that cost 50K? Would you rather live & have some quality of life instead?

Ask our Melissa about med costs & whether she thinks its worth it.

[Nomad]

My bypass operation was $77,000. I don't know if that was including the doctor or just the hospital. Whatever the surgeon got, it was worth it to me.

Nomad

[unregistered6474]

My Dad has prostate cancer and is getting hormone shots. ONE shot is $3,000.

Insurance does not cover chemo, but if he wanted that it's $12,000 a pop.

[badlander]

Whatever they get paid, they are going to take a hit from the insurance companies they are dealing with.

Most doctors, when they agree to be a preferred provider for any insurance company, whether it be Medicare or Blue Cross Blue Shield, agree to accept on assignment whatever the company agrees to pay them. Usually they can expect to write off a percentage of any large claim.

You may think that they are getting over paid, think again. Most surgeons come out of med school with huge student loan debt. They have enormous malpractice insurance premiums to pay along with operating costs for their offices, staff, supplies, labs bills are big enough to choke an elephant. You are paying for their education, knowledge and services.

Still, the US has the best medical coverage in the world. I heard on the radio yesterday that in Canada the average wait for a colonoscopy is 170+days. Try waiting that long for a test if you have a symptom that may have you thinking the big C word. A friend in Ireland went for a chest xray for suspected pneumonia. I emailed her and asked her what they found. She wrote back and told me she wouldn't have the results for 9 DAYS! Her husband had to have a colostomy and discovered that he needed more surgery afterwords for rectal bleeding. I asked her how his surgery had gone and she told me that he kept getting bumped down the waiting list for the procedure. That was 4 months after she told me about his need for more surgery. Another story I heard was a woman who had waited over 5 years for bariatric surgery. She was just told she would probably be waiting another 2 years. 7 years....makes me shudder as a nurse to think about all of this.

Yeah, we pay dearly for our medical care, but think about having to wait for a test or surgery that could mean the difference between life and death.

[freegal]

I'm wondering if the OP's intent is to tell us how little the Dr is paid for these procedures! We just may be surprised!

Can't wait to see my MIL's bill for her time in the hospital. It is day 7 and besides her regular MD and the ER, she has 3 other specialists working with her Dr. Her previous visit to ER was $5K for 6 hours ER stay.

[badlander]

Originally Posted by freegal

I'm wondering if the OP's intent is to tell us how little the Dr is paid for these procedures! We just may be surprised!

Can't wait to see my MIL's bill for her time in the hospital. It is day 7 and besides her regular MD and the ER, she has 3 other specialists working with her Dr. Her previous visit to ER was $5K for 6 hours ER stay.

I remember getting a final bill from the hospital where my mother died over 11 years ago. The total cost of her care over a 6 month period that she was in and out of the hospital and terminal was over 79,000 dollars. I wonder what it would be today.

4 months ago when I severed part of my little finger, my total ER bill, doctor, medication and xray was over 1500.00 Dollars.

Over 400 dollars was just the doctors fee for cleaning up the wound, sewing back on what he could save and severing that which couldn't. Took him about 15 minutes. Given the amount of pain I was in it was worth every penny.:baby04:

[KimM]

When my dad got his valve replaced, the total bill was around $240,000. with $45,000. of that being pharmacy. Then they sent him home with MRSA in the cath site.

[Dandish]

Just guessing...just doctor's fees, right?

Open heart - 3300
Cath - 1200

[WindowOrMirror]

Open Heart Surgery - $12,000 to $36,000 for the surgeon and a total bill of $24,000 - $55,000

Heart Cath - $2,000 to the physician, up to $8,000 in total cost, more with drug-coated stents or several stents / complications

[mightybooboo]

Originally Posted by freegal

I'm wondering if the OP's intent is to tell us how little the Dr is paid for these procedures! We just may be surprised!

DING DING DING! We have a winner!

And Dandish was closest,I guessed 5 times the amts!

The Insurance,In Calif pays for .....

#1-2000 dollars

#2-200 dollars

As for #2,good point made earlier,I believe thats just for the cath,I ASSUME an intervention such as an angioplasty or stent pays more but I doubt much more.

That 2000 per OH,they can do 3 in a day,even 5 a week is a half mil a year,they arent hurting.But it still seems dirt cheap to me what the actual insurance pay is for such a thing.

Private pay,its a lot more though I havent got that number.

A lot of folks say "I dont care what it costs",that isnt true if its YOU paying for it,or even paying the insurance premium,I care a lot as if its out of reach you have a problem,I fear we will see big cutbacks as the economy and wages conts their decline.

[mightybooboo]

Originally Posted by Tricky Grama

I agree, its getting ridiculous.

Has to be put in perspective, of course.

Years ago, folks would just die. Is that better? You have that option, however. Just don't do the surgery.

I think sooner than later that option will be pay up front or go home. The Goose that laid the Golden Eggs in America is gone,reality.