December 21, 2015

Is $3,500 a reasonable price for a CT scan?

I recently went to the hospital for a CT scan ordered by my doctor and this is what the local hospital charged me per scan.

I was in there for a total of 10 minutes.

They actually decided to do two, instead of the one ordered by my doctor, and have sent me a bill for $7,000.

Does anyone know....Is this really the going rate?

And...Is there anything I can do about them deciding to do two instead and charge me $7,000?

(I had no insurance at the time-but I am on Obamacare now)

Everyone complains about the insurance companies charging too much, but the hospitals are grossly overcharging patients.

No wonder insurance is so high.

Our health care costs will not come down until there are regulations stopping hospitals from gouging us.

December 21, 2015

After downing an energy drink, what happens in the body is kind of scary

There’s been a lot of controversy about caffeine-spiked energy drinks in recent years after a spate of deaths and overdoses related to the beverages. In one of the most heartbreaking cases, 14-year-old Anais Fournier of Maryland died after consuming two 24-ounce cans of an energy drink. The Food and Drug Administration has been studying such cases to determine if there’s a causal link and, if so, what to do about it....

Systolic blood pressure (the top number): 6.2 percent increase.

• Diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number): 6.8 percent increase.

• Average blood pressure: 6.4 percent increase.

Writing in JAMA, the researchers said these changes may predispose those who drink a single drink to increased cardiovascular risk.

This may explain why a number of those who died after consuming energy drinks appeared to have had heart attacks.

http://www.adn.com/article/20151112/after-downing-energy-drink-what-happens-body-kind-scary

Anyone else notice how many young people are dying of 'natural' causes these days with no real explanation?

December 15, 2015

Banks Said to Face SEC Probe Into Possible Credit Swap Collusion

U.S. regulators are examining whether banks colluded in setting prices in the derivatives market where investors speculate on credit risk, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is probing whether firms acted in unison to distort prices in the $6 trillion market for credit-default swaps indexes, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the investigation is private. The regulator is trying to determine if dealers have misrepresented index prices, the person said. The credit-default swaps benchmarks allow investors to make bets on the likelihood of default by companies, countries or securities backed by mortgages.


The probe comes after successful cases brought against Wall Street’s illegal practices tied to interest rates and foreign currencies. Those cases showed traders misrepresented prices and coordinated their positions to push valuations in their favor, often through chat rooms -- practices that violate antitrust laws. The government has used those prosecutions as a road map to pursue similar conduct in different markets.

Credit-default swaps, which gained notoriety during the financial crisis for amplifying losses and spreading risks from the U.S. housing bust across the globe, have since come under more scrutiny by regulators. Trading in swaps index contracts has increased in recent years as investors look for easy ways to speculate on, say, the health of U.S. companies, or the risk that defaults will increase as seven years of easy-money policies come to an end.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-05/banks-said-to-face-sec-probe-into-possible-credit-swap-collusion