Hospital Implant Charges

[daynaloo 0]

Has anyone looked at their itemized hospital bill after the procedure?

The hospital I used charged my insurance company $9405.20 for the actual Implant!! I am calling the hospital about that, but would like to know what other people were charged for the actual implant. I had my surgery in Kirkland, Washington. Any info would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Dana

[HeatherO 7]

That is crazy because you know the hospital did not pay that much for the implant . . . and then people wonder why the insurance rates go up so high every year. What kind of markup is reasonable, certainly not more than 100%???

[crzytchr 3]

My surgeon said at the seminar that the actual band is only around $1000. WOW! what a markup that hospital has.

[kiz 1]

I wonder what the cost actually is. At the self-pay semimar I attended, they said the band costs the hospital $3,000. hmmmm

[dbrengle 0]

I am looking at my bill right now, and my surgery was over $18,000.00, the biggest part of the bill, was for supplies/implants which totaled $9561.30. WOW thats crazy. Makes you wonder how much the markup was for the band it self.

I work for Aetna insurance and even though they billed this amount, they want get it all of it. Im sure they will get probably anywhere from $8000.00 to $9000.00 tops. Hospitals and Doctors never get the full amount, unless you are a self pay person.

[AliNSanDiego 1]

The hospital billed my insurance $34,243.23<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

Anesthesia Service was billed separate $1,440.00 <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

And my surgeon also billed separate $5,500.00 <o:p></o:p>

<o:p></o:p>

Total billed - $41,183.23 <o:p></o:p>

[KyBandChick 3]

Hospitals always mark up a ton knowing they are only going to get a fraction from the insurance company. If your procedure was in network then your insurance company has a fixed price they pay for the procedure given you didn't require anything special. The hospital can bill anything they want and your insurance is still only going to pay what they think the procedure is worth.

The person who gets the bad end of the deal is the self pay since they have to pay the inflated rate...which is just crazy.

[Daisalana 33]

I was self-pay $15,000..I was told itemized, the band is $1,200..

And when they thought they were going to have to replace it, they told me it would be $1,200..

This is for the Inamed/Allergan 4cc 9.75"

The biggest rip off for me, it was $500 pre-paid to anesthesiologist.. their rate is $500 per 30 minutes..

Well my surgery ended up being 32 minutes long, and I got a bill after the fact for ANOTHER $500 for those 2 minutes. I remember bein livid and fighting it, I don't remember if I won or not.

Edited September 19, 2008 by FairyFacade

[Brandy~ 2]

My total Bill for surgeon and hospital was 31,334. They charged me 9700 for the band. My insurance ended up paying all but my copya of 76.32 of my surgery. I am not sure what they paid to the doctor though. My work covered the rest of the insurance co payment of 1500.

[MacMadame 81]

Like FairyFacade said, self-pays pay a negotiated rate that is a lot less than what the insurance company is billed. I think it's often slightly more than the insurance company actually pays though. Of course, that's going to vary depending on the insurance company.

I have to pay the anesthesiologist $1000 ... I hope that's for my whole surgery because with my hiatal hernia and scar tissue from my gallbladder removal, there is no way I'm getting out in the "average" time.

[Daisalana 33]

Don't go over 2 minutes past the hour!

(like you can control it)

Insurance really does get weird rates, i've had something if I self pay is $80 and when insurance covers, it is $800.

(hospital bills). They filed wrong, charged me 80, I made them re-do my insurance claim and suddenly it was 800.. its ridiculous.

[Jodi_620 37]

I HATE DEALING WITH THE BILLING PART OF THIS!

The hospital charged insurance $29,000 for my surgery; now I knew that it would be more than what they charge self-pay but according to my records, self-pay is charged $10,500.00 for hospital, that is a huge difference! I called the hospital and asked for an itemized bill because the bill they send only has "procedure date" and "amount charged." They sent me the itemized bill and a check for $180-something :smile2:...it just says reimbursed overpayment (????) , I am suspicious about this, I hadn't paid the hospital anything yet and neither has insurance so who has overpaid? I haven't cashed the check yet...

I waited to see what insurance would say and just got and EOB showing that they will only cover around $18,000 of the $29,000 claim and patient responsibility is around $2,500.00.

Now I have to find out what this reimubursement check is all about plus I had to give my surgeon $3,000.00 downpayment at my pre-op visit and I need to know how that payment factors in to all of this. I know that they had also sent a claim to the insurance company $4,000.00 for the surgeon assistant and the insurance company denied that claim (procedure must be performed by and actual doctor). They told me they would just write that off so maybe they foresaw this and that is why they ask for $3,000 up front...who knows!

It has all been very confusing, my hospital does not provide decent detail on what they charged. Even the itemized bill is mostly medical codes that mean squat to me. My insurace pays 50% up to $1,000.00 if we find billing errors but the way they bill, it is very hard to keep them honest.

Anyway (sorry to hi-jack your thread :thumbup:)--under the supplies heading there was a charge for $9,200 and change which I assumed was the band.

[Morkiecoco 0]

Wow, no wonder there is so many american that can not afford health insurance. My last two reviews at work, my raise was the raise in Health Insurance. I work for a small company. I had to fight to get my health insurance approved, and scheduled for 10/10/08, however to do self pay the fee was $18,000.00 and chargeing it threw my Insurance it is $25,000.00. I think it has to do with the Insurance company fighting markups, and overall the Dr. office gets around 18,000.00. I used to work in a Dr.s office and they never get 100% they charge, and takes 2-3 months before they get paid. I was in the Hospital for a day for another procedure, and got charged something like $25.00 for a asprin. Our system is totally messed up.

:thumbup: