I just received a $76K (not including anesthesia) bill from the hospital. My insurance has a 10K max lifetime coverage and this was the balance. It was an uncomplicated removal of lap band and RNY. 1 night in-network hospital stay. Does this seem high?

Insanely high. My high end VSG was 40 K.

Seems crazy high. They should negotiate with you significantly since you’re paying mostly out of pocket.

Yes, too high. You need to talk to a coordinator in the billing office and explain your dilemma. Quite often the hospital will be willing to write off part of the bill.

it seems high - but it might be because of the lap band removal piece. I'd talk with the billing office - maybe they'd be willing to discount it given you're paying out of pocket (as others have said).

Woah!! That seems really expensive. I'm in Australia and even my gastric sleeve surgery isn't more than 4 thousand dollars

Freakin Crazy - Get information on the web and good documents and send it over to them - They will settile with you or apply for aid to cover the additional - Or if it gets ugly take them to small claims court first on your own they will back down when you start to aggravate them.

I did this with a heart surgery, They considered it outpatient because i was only in there 3 days - So i fired off all kinds of documents and requests and then took them to small claims court. the judge demanded mediation which worked great for me, They agreed to take my outpatient limit plus 500 dollars and wiaved the other 40k

Has your insurance paid anything yet? If not, they will adjust that down per the contract they have with the hospital.

11 minutes ago, bmbutler2 said:

Has your insurance paid anything yet? If not, they will adjust that down per the contract they have with the hospital.

I was going to say that. I think sometimes they jack up the bills they send to the insurance company knowing the insurance company is only going to "allow" a certain amount of the total - sometimes even half or even less.

I got a bill from the hospital for my plastic surgery for $144,000 (I actually was a pre-pay so I shouldn't have been billed AT ALL, and my pre-pay was just over $20K - so nowhere NEAR $144K!). I called the hospital's billing office and they said they'd adjust the bill - so then I got another one for about what I paid (around $20K). Of course, I had already pre-paid for the surgery, so I called and told them that - and then I never got another bill. But I suspect that first one was the amount they'd normally charge the insurance company - who in turn would have only paid a percentage of that.

Thank you all for the feedback. After a sleepless night and a discussion with my insurance and the hospital billing office for 2 hours, the bill is being adjusted to $1100. Big difference, right?

Wow! Talk about a Non Scale Victory!!

The sad thing is many people do not realize they can negotiate, it's as if you have to know all the information and answers before you ask... craziness.

I was going to say that. I think sometimes they jack up the bills they send to the insurance company knowing the insurance company is only going to "allow" a certain amount of the total - sometimes even half or even less.
I got a bill from the hospital for my plastic surgery for $144,000 (I actually was a pre-pay so I shouldn't have been billed AT ALL, and my pre-pay was just over $20K - so nowhere NEAR $144K!). I called the hospital's billing office and they said they'd adjust the bill - so then I got another one for about what I paid (around $20K). Of course, I had already pre-paid for the surgery, so I called and told them that - and then I never got another bill. But I suspect that first one was the amount they'd normally charge the insurance company - who in turn would have only paid a percentage of that.

Is this because you guys in America don't have Medicare like we do in Australia?
If hospital bills were over 100k no body here would be able to afford to go to the hospital. That seems absolutely insane to me

3 minutes ago, Celeste kimberly said:

Is this because you guys in America don't have Medicare like we do in Australia?
If hospital bills were over 100k no body here would be able to afford to go to the hospital. That seems absolutely insane to me

pretty much nobody can afford it here, either. Fortunately, I was billed that by mistake. But for lots of other people, it's very real (probably not for plastic surgery - but maybe for complicated heart or brain surgeries (??)). That's why people go bankrupt due to medical bills if they don't have insurance. It's awful.

pretty much nobody can afford it here, either. Fortunately, I was billed that by mistake. But for lots of other people, it's very real (probably not for plastic surgery - but maybe for complicated heart or brain surgeries (??)). That's why people go bankrupt due to medical bills if they don't have insurance. It's awful.

Omg that is awful! :-( I don't think ppl realise how lucky they have it here in that regards

There are sometimes way for ppl who don't have insurance through work or the "Marketplace" to get insurance...but yes, we have some who encounter high bills.

Some of my friends in the UK, where they are covered by national medicine..and friends in Canada have pointed out though that in the US we often have quicker access depending on what your situation is.

I have a tendency to throw blood clots and I have read in horror as friends in the UK fight to get appts faster..and some of the things they have to go through to get specialists, meds, etc....I'm hoping they have been rare exceptions.

We also have ppl who can afford it...come to the US for quicker access from Canada AND the UK...sigh...wish there could be a balance between affordability AND availability for everyone.