invoice has arrived

[westie]

i have been chasing the hospital for my invoice ever since i was discharged on 07-03-2008. the estimate i had been given was $33,000 to $37,000 all up including all specialists fees, all hospital charges and tax.

yesterday i got the invoice, the actual charge has escalated to nz$ 47,000, oh dear! i have asked for clarification of why it varies so much from the estimate but i know in advance i will end up having to pay it all.

i guess that is just how the cookie crumbles and it is tough luck westie

as previously mentioned i went back to work 13 days after surgery; i am self employed, it is a big motivating factor. the first couple of days back at work were a bit hard, but i soon came right.

yesterday we were very busy and we did not have a free hoist for me to inspect underneath a car. so i got down on the gound and laid down on my back on concrete and crawled under the car to have a look with all the guys and customers telling me not to do it.

that was a big mistake, it hurt getting down and up and my chest was sore last night thought it is ok now. after sitting at my desk for a few minutes, i started to faint but managed to snap out of it on the way down!

the learning point here is do not lay down on concrete and crawl under cars just 22 days after mitral valve replacement!

 

[Mary]

I have to agree with you.

Getting down on a concrete floor, and pulling yourself underneath a car, is not recommended for someone three weeks and one day out of replacement surgery.

Keep it up, and you'll have another hospital bill to go along with the one that you've just received!

Behave yourself!

 

[Freddie]

westie, and whats your explanation for doing it in the first place????
There had to be someone else that was able to do that inspection???

Maybe you are looking for another hospital bill?

I sure hope you have learn a lesson.

Take it EASY will ya.

 

[westie]

there will not be another invoice

there will not be another invoice

well folks, that $47,000 invoice has put me off the private health system. that is the first and last invoice.

next time, and i hope that is never, i will be heading for the totally free new zealand heath system to which we all have access; eventually!

freddie, i guess it is just because i am not very good at doing what i am told

 

[ctyguy]

I understand your need to get back to business, bills keep coming in they don't care if your 3 week post-op or not. But unless you want another time in the hospital I would listen to your body and slow down. Being at work at 3 weeks is bad enough but unless you give your body a chance to heal properly your just asking for more problems down the road.

 

[cp172]

I returned to work after three weeks. The hardest part of my job is to click a mouse and I was waisted by 2pm every day. Going under a car would have resulted in a ride (and invoice) back to the hospital.

Westie..take it easy.

 

[Bridgette]

That was interesting to read Westie, about how much your final bill differed from the estimate......I was going to use the same surgeon as you and at the time he quoted me about the same as what he told you - he said "about 35,000 all up"
In the end I got it done elsewhere (much closer to home) and the bill was about 50,000 in total - I remember thinking damn, why is it so much more expensive than what Dr R quoted? - but having read your post it makes me think maybe $47 - $50,000 is actually the standard price they should be quoting to prospective patients so they don't get a nasty surprise when they open their bills

Bridgette

 

[westie]

any other kiwi's with a similar experience?

any other kiwi's with a similar experience?

thanks for your comments bridgette; immediatly post open heart surgery is not the best time for nasty suprises

in the real world there will eventually be someone who just does not have an extra $10,000; that would be terribly stressfull.

actually, i do not have $10,000 cash sitting in my cheque account either but i guess i will scratch it together by raiding my small business and borrowing the rest off the bank.

i am sure i would have still have had this operation even if i knew it would cost $50,000, but then i would have arranged the funds required before the operation, not after it......

has anyone else had a similar experience of escalating charges in new zealand?

 

[Jkm7]

Westie....... Take better care of yourself. I'm days over 3 weeks out from mitral valve replacement and there is no way I'm crawling on concrete under a car. I'm doing really well though and want to keep it that way.


About the bill........ thankfully, my insurance is covering everything 100% (not that we don't pay gi-normous health insurance premiums each month for DH and me)....... but I'd really like to see my Mass. General Bill. Last OHS four years ago and now this second one, I never got any bill at all. It went directly to my insurance and I never heard or saw a thing about it. I'd really like to read it.

 

[JCSydney]

Please take it easy Westie, you really do not want to go back into hospital. I've already had one trip back, which was completely out of my control, but coming out last Sunday felt like starting all over again.

I have private health insurance, but I'm happy to say I only have to pay a small extra amount to both the surgeon and assistant surgeon.

Please look after yourself.

 

[TLB123]

Westie,
You really must be careful not to overdue it. There will be plenty of time to crawl under cars.
I received my bill which thankfully I only had to pay 300 dollars. The surgery bill was $93,800 and change. That doesn't include the card cath I had three months before. That was another $23,000. I thankfully only had to pay $150out of that.
Take Care

 

[Jkm7]

Did everyone get copies of their bills from the hospital? When they left or later by mail?

 

[marie]

I have not. i had surgery Jan 22 and haven't gotten anything from hospital or doctors. Medicare and Blue Cross have paid on everything submitted as far as I can tell. It appears to total well over $100,00.00 billed.
Earline

 

[WayneGM]

Sorry to hear about the surprise bill. Make me thankful for public health care in Canada, although I realize I've probably pre-paid for my surgery, and then some, in my taxes over the years.

As for crawing under the car...WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? Please be careful and let yourself heal PROPERLY! At 22 days, your body is still healing and adjusting.

 

[BackDoc]

My surgery was 12/12/07. I have copies of all itemized bills, hospital and surgeons. Including the cath the day prior to my valve replacement and aortic aneurysm repair the total is $103,000. I checked into the hospital the morning of the 11th for the cath, and checked out on 12/17/07, 5 days after my surgery.

I was at the Cleveland Clinic Weston Florida. My out of pocket expenses amount to $2,500. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida is my insurance.

You can't put a price tag on this type of surgery. Even if I had to pay the entire amount myself I would have found a way.

I was back in my office seeing patients on a part-time basis on 1/10/08. By 4 weeks post-op I was having no significant problems.

Not wanting to upset anyone, but those of us that are self employed have a different mind set. If we are not on our job, we don't get paid. We don't get "sick leave", or "family leave". So I can understand where Westie is coming from. I think us self-employed folks may have a stronger motivation to recover faster. The mind can play a very important role in recovery.

However, with that being said, I wouldn't crawl under a vehicle 2 weeks post- op. I would be back only making sure my employee's were getting the job done.

 

[JAJ99]

My mitral valve repair and 5 nights in the hospital (with no complications) cost about $83,000. I had to pay around $900 out of pocket to max out my total out-of-pocket/year. Not bad considering I have a new lease on life!!Having the surgery at Mayo makes the billing rather easy. Everything comes from one place. I recently had to take my daughter to the emergency room. I've written out checks to 5 different places and she was only in there for about 3 hours.

Best of luck with your bill situation. Take it easy, (i.e. no more crawling under cars for a while) or you'll be spending a lot more money.

 

[Lisa in Katy]

I think my cost out of pocket was $250 to the hospital, but the hospital waived that. Since I was on an HMO, I never received a bill. I saw the hospital bill because the insurance company was very slow paying and I finally asked for a copy so I could tell the insurance company how much they owed (I was working negotiating managed care contracts for a related facility at the time, so I had a copy of their contract). Anyway, it was over $100,000. The insurance company paid about $30,000. If I remember correctly, the actual cost of the valve to the hospital was about $10,000.

Generally, if you have no insurance, indemnity or a PPO/POS, you will receive an EOB from the insurance company that states the total, how much they paid, and how much you owe. You might receive a bill from the hospital, but it will probably just have a total. If you want an itemized bill, you have to ask for it.

Frankly, as long as you have insurance, billed charges are moot. If you've ever looked at the EOBs from labwork, you will see what I am talking about. My most recent INR was billed at $58, and the allowed amount was $1.98. Hospitals generally get paid somewhat less than half of their billed charges, probably closer to 25%. I could tell you the exact numbers when I get back to work tomorrow, but that's proprietary!

 

[dan777]

Did everyone get copies of their bills from the hospital? When they left or later by mail?

I received my bill and had to settle with a credit card or cash before being dismissed since I had no insurance. My experience with US hospitals was tons of miniscule details down to the q-tip / box of kleenex level. Here in Singapore it was 1 page and completely understandable. You did not have to audit the number of tissue boxes since the misc hospital supplies amount was just a simple daily rate.

The bill was about 32,000 USD all in.

 

[DeWayne]

total bill we got was for around $120,000 the cath was something like $11,000 in the end we ended up not paying a dime after my AARP insurance paid for time in the ICU and the hospital, that more than covered my deductible and co-pays.

 

[westie]

cheered my up

cheered my up

thanks folks, it has really cheered me up to find out that i am just about the only person here who has paid full price; i envy those who only paid a few hunded dollars.

anyway, my wife has spat the dummy and made me take health insurance through our motor trade associations special deal with southern cross health, which is a non profit making cooperative; even got my heart covered after a 3 year stand down period. (yes, in writing)

i got myself in this stew because i grew up in a society where everyone had free and easy access to free health care and where the private system only did little things. sadly i did not realise how much things had changed over the last 15 or so years to the point that if you want to be sure of the best surgeon, care and an operation when and where you want it, you have to go private

an exspensive lesson but what is done is done