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May 24, 2015
How to Keep Down Sky-High Hospital Bills: Don’t Pay
The bill was $600,000, Hartter said... The administrator looked at the bill and said, “‘Don’t worry. By the time we apply the discounts and everything else, it’ll be down to about $300,000,’” Hartter recalled.“I said, ‘What’s the difference? That doesn’t make me feel any better.’” Instead, he had ELAP analyze the bill. The firm estimated costs for the treatment based on the hospital’s financial reports filed with Medicare. Then it added a cushion so the hospital could make a modest profit. “We wrote a check to the hospital for $28,900 and we never heard from them again,” Hartter said. -- Newsweek
Posted by gerardvanderleun at May 24, 2015 11:29 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
WFM. Hospitals have hundreds of different rate sheets. They will never tell you which one they are quoting from. And you cannot negotiate if your answer is yes.
Posted by: Fat Man ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://americandigest.org/sidelines/nav-commenters.gif)
at May 24, 2015 3:05 PM
Sure, if you don't mind them coming and stealing all your stuff.
Posted by: ghostsniper at May 24, 2015 7:24 PM
This article hits home for me. I have Multiple Myeloma, a blood cancer for which there is no 100% cure. The best my oncologist can do is administer chemotherapy and perhaps get me to the Mayo Clinic for a stem cell transplant. I am taking Revlamid (Google it up, it is potent stuff). The cost of this drug is a thousand dollars per pill and my regimen calls for fourteen days pills, one week off, repeat indefinitely.
Yeah, expensive. Fortunately the drug company and The American Cancer Society offer assistance where I don't have to pay one penny of the costs but consider this: if a person cannot afford the costs of treatment, what happens? They die, that's what happens. I thank God for my illness and the treatment needed to live a somewhat normal life. Prognosis for this particular cancer ranges from five years to ten.
Posted by: chasmatic at May 25, 2015 8:01 AM
It's absolutely criminal Chas that 1 pill costs $1,000. That's more than gold. Maybe even diamond.
That the cost is spread to others is even more so.
THIS is the stuff this rotten assed gov't should be fixing. Stuff that directly effects american citizens every day. NOT all the retarded shit it wastes so much time, effort and resources on, overseas bullying, gay shit, marijuana, jackboot unions, etc.
You votists need to keep this stuff in mind next time you're compelled to go punch chads, that you're voting for people that don't give one goddamn about you cause if they did people like Chas wouldn't be taking pills that cost $1000 but rather a few bucks each.
Just think of all the lives that have been lost by this cheap and criminal misdirection. And soon it will be YOUR life on the line.
Posted by: ghostsniper at May 25, 2015 10:26 AM