I finally looked to see how much my dialysis costs.

[JohnnyRingo]

Last edited Sat Feb 27, 2021, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)

I usually flip through the monthly statements until I see "this is not a bill" and toss it aside, but this time I took time to peruse the itemized charges that Medicare and my supplemental insurance paid.

$100,000 a month, plus $800 every time the doctor stops by to say hi. Now that covers 12 treatments a month and they send everything used to medical waste; filters, lines, and needles, that they send to somewhere like New Jersey, but I'm nearing the million dollar mark already.

Now I know why my insurance company sends me Marlboro coupons with each statement.

[Metatron]

1. So great to see you posting!

Hope your recovery is going well, Johnny.

[MLAA]

2. You look more like the Million Dollar man than the Marlboro man to me! 🙂

[samplegirl]

3. Your worth a million to

me. Bestie ever!

[flying_wahini]

4. I remember a home health care patient that was on dialysis and

He needed an extension for an O2 tubing so he could walk to the bathroom (just about 10’ away) and Medicaid refused it. They said it was too costly. GRRR. Still upsets me even today and it was years ago.
Don’t get me started.......

[msongs]

5. sounds overpriced to me. then again kaiser charges $650 for ONE penicillin shot nt

[Calculating]

6. What the hell?

No wonder I can't afford health insurance, it all goes to pay for the top 5percent costliest patients. I guess I'll continue going without and just die if I ever have something legitimately bad happen. A million dollars a year is absurd, that's like the economic productivity of 10-20 average people going to keep one person alive. Why is our healthcare so fucking broken?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

7. Is the insurance actually paying that full amount?

I had a heart attack and was in the hospital for three days in December. The full bill was something like $80,000, but insurance paid $32,000 or thereabouts and the rest was written off.

Insurance actually pays much less than the full sticker price. Which is why people would have policies with a very high deductible, so that if they did need some kind of care, they'd be billed at the lower insurance rates, rather than the full amount.

[JohnnyRingo]

9. They pay it in full between Medicare and insurance

Almost $8,000 every time they stick the needles in me. Then they take half my blood out and run it through a filter that looks like an Aqua-Pure before returning it to my body. For four hours. Three times a week. All that equipment, except the machine, is medical waste that they have to dispose of.

I really wasn't too surprised, considering the attention I get. They sample my blood once a week and give me a progress report and keep an eye on my meds in case they need changed. I just got a new one yesterday because I've been experiencing serious drops in blood pressure that makes the room spin and get gray. They also put me on a new vitamin, so actually they take better general care of me than my regular doctor.

There's always Medicaid, but I don't know what people do who don't have insurance. I'm afraid they may just die. In America.

I joke that I wish they gave me the cash to pay for dialysis myself and I can skip a month if I want. i could buy a house one month if I survive, and an Aston Martin next time.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. Kidney dialysis is almost always covered by Medicare.

My younger brother was on dialysis for several years before getting a kidney transplant. I'm forgetting all the details, because his illness forced him to retire at age 50, and he was immediately on Medicare.

[onethatcares]

8. medical billing,

I keep thinking about billing my client more 60 days after I finish one of their projects but I'm having a hard time getting beyond the not telling them exactly what they'll be paying me for initially.

I think I'll use the boiler plate on my contracts in tiny letters that says, you may or may not receive another bill from said service provider unless said provider feels the need to take a good vacation and have a $600.00 bottle of wine.

and I'm a carpenter.

[applegrove]

11. Don't the feds pay for dialysis? Your insurance company made lots of money off of you

Last edited Sun Feb 28, 2021, 03:32 AM - Edit history (1)

when you were healthy. They are a business. They don't have feelings. Put them out of your mind. They have it down to a science like casino stats. Most people are not going to cost them while they pay in hundreds of thousands in premiums over their lifetimes. Plus the gouging. You are not responsible for the excessive cost of everything. I bet it is all made in china and prices of therapies should be falling not climbing.