America's Stunningly Overpriced Healthcare System In 2 Charts

[Maven]

48. I just went to the ER in intense pain from a kidney stone.

I'd never had one before so I couldn't be sure what the pain was. So I went to the ER at around midnight.

I was there for a total of around 4.5 hours. In that time I received an IV, blood tests, saline drip, one CT scan, one brief physician consult, and...some ibuprofen and FloMax.

For those services and medications, without even staying one night, the hospital billed my insurance company $18,000 and change.

$18,000.

Now, maybe some people are going to the ER when they shouldn't. Maybe. But a better question is, where do these numbers hospitals are charging come from???

My CT scan alone was billed at over $12,000 when the average cost of a CT scan in California is a little over $2,000.

Now of course, I'm insured, so my insurance company "negotiated" the total cost down to 7,800 or so. Which makes it even more apparent that the raw number the hospital charged was completely fictional. Had I been uninsured, the hospital would have tried to collect 18 grand from me, without ever having to substantiate that number. That is ABSURD and it is CRIMINAL.

If you're looking for someone to blame, don't blame the person who needs care. Blame the institution that thrusts "financial responsibility" forms in patients' faces while they are in pain and then makes up huge numbers to charge them for minor medical services and basic drugs.