eparing a "Beer Butt Chicken" to grill my extra sharp knife zipped right through the chicken neck and into my left index finger. At the time I splinted it up with a popsicle stick and tight bandage not realizing that I had severed the tendon that straightens your finger. After discovering the severity of the injury I decided to have it repaired upon the doctor's recommendation. I went through all the discomfort of the surgery including having to wear a splint on that finger for two months and as you can see from the picture the results didn't make a whole lot of difference appearance wise.Now for the bill (and I'm not making this up). Following are the charges: Surgery Center - $5,736; Doctor - $2,432; Emergency Care $114; Anesthesia $469 for a grand total of $8,751! I kid you not, if I had known the cost and that I would have to pay it, given the questionable improvement, I would have said, "Just leave it be or cut off that joint". Fortunately I didn't have to pay nearly that much. Doctors and hospi
tals have contractual agreements with insurance companies that they will pay certain amounts for certain procedures. So when the insurance company receives the bill they adjust the amounts that they will pay. They are called Contractual Adjustments and written off by the providers. In this case the Contractual Adjustments were $7,256 leaving $1,261 paid to the providers plus the $235 that I paid. Can you imagine having to get that done without insurance? And the fact that it didn't turn out to your satisfaction is just too bad. I wonder why health insurance is such a problem in this country? M/W
5 comments:
Well, is this entry here to tell us that you STILL can't straighten your finger?
Yes, that's as straight as it gets.
Mike: Quite a story. I agree with your "sticker shock" about medical charges. I went to a specialist a few weeks ago. His office visit was $196.00. My co-pay was $10.00. What are they thinking? About your finger...it's too early to decide that you can't straighten your finger. It could be a year before you get full use and full movement back.
Mike said when he asked the doctor if he could expect further improvement, the reply was, "probably not." But I think doctors are too quick with discouraging words.
Mike & Kathy: Some Drs often give a low expectation of recovery to keep the patient in a realistic frame of mind. Mike's Dr. doesn't know about Mike's strength and strong will. He may surprise his Dr. I sure hope so.
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