The last pending insurance claim for my surgery/hospital stay processed today, so I thought I'd give the cost breakdown for anyone who is interested. Context: I live in Illinois and had my surgery at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Mo., through the Washington University WLS program. My primary surgeon was Dr. Arghavan Salles, though Dr. Christopher Eagon assisted. My surgery was on Feb. 15, and I went home on the afternoon of Feb. 17. My insurance is the Health Alliance POS 6300 Elite Silver CS plan, purchased through the Illinois Health Marketplace. I have a $1,000 deductible. Laparscopic gastric bypass w/ Roux-en-Y: Billed = $5,100, My cost = $145.97 (I believe this is for Dr. Salles)
Laparscopic gastric bypass w/ Roux-en-Y: Billed = $2,550, My cost = $29.19 (I believe this is for Dr. Eagon)
Anesthesia gastric restrictive for morbid obesity: Billed = $3,360.00, My cost - $1,013.22 (includes $1,000 deductible)
Anesthesia gastric restrictive for morbid obesity: Billed = $3,360.00, My cost - $63.22 (not sure why there are two anesthesia charges)
Contrast X-ray - Esophagus: Billed = $123, My cost =$0 Each of the above were individual claims. Then there's the big one, for the hospital stay, which breaks out as follows: Room-board/semi: $2,210.00
Pharmacy: $439.90
Med-sur supplies: $10,306.95
Sterile supply: $472.50
Laboratory OR (Lab): $35.00
Lab/Chemistry: $244.00
Lab/Hematology: $81.00
DX X-ray: $448.00
OR services: $23,365.00
Anesthesia: $8,336.00
Occup Therp/Eval: $259.00
Drugs/detail code: $698.15
Drugs/self-admin: $8.00
Recovery room: $2,460.00
Educ/training: $110.00
O.R. procedures for obesity W/O.CC/MCC: $0.00
TOTAL billed = $49,473.50, My cost = $100.00 All told, I only have to pay $1,351.60 out of $63,966.50, or roughly 2.11 percent of the overall cost, and my portion includes the $1,000 deductible. Without that, I'd only be responsible for $351.60, or 0.55 percent of the overall cost.