re: Even with good health insurance, a CT scan is costing me $2,000 out of pocket

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I’m all up for centralized health care if it meant I pay more taxes.

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Medicare is the most broke dick healthcare system in the world. It's so broken, overused, abused and expensive that the government pays other private companies to administer it because they have no clue how to do it and don't really care to. Tying the government to centralizing healthcare where they just pay private insurance companies to do it anyway adds a level of corruption that nobody wants.

Centralized healthcare is a myth.

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it's the cost of the procedure

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You should be able to shop the procedure at different contracted locations (or at least call your insurance company and get estimates).

See where the place ranks that you're getting the $2k out of pocket.

$1,000 deductible plus another $1000 to cover your 30% isn't really abnormal depending on the CT

[img]I sat in there for 5 minutes and a doc read it for like a minute.[/img]

The billable cost on my new patient office visit last week with a pain doc was almost $1000 for a 15 minutes visit.

Maybe this will help for some of you. In an emergency situation, of course you don’t have many options, but for planned things it might.

Healthcare Bluebook

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That's insane. Do one at an independent MRI or CT facility.

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If the OP is sure he will reach the OOP for the year, he'll want to stay in network. Paying less out of of pocket now is only going to compound and add to the deductible and OOP max moving forward.

It's a good idea to shop and look around but staying in network is going to provide you with the best coverage for the remainder of the year.

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Was health insurance ever better in the past?


When it was actual insurance (aka, a hedge against yourself).

The insurance industry has completely ruined medical care for most Americans.

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I would argue very forcefully that these frickers are responsible for some people ending up with diseases that could have been prevented because of the high cost.

A personal example:

Before I hit 50, I was seeing a small amount of blood in my stool. The gastro doctors ordered a colonoscopy, which was a great idea. I had one done, and luckily my issue was just a couple of benign polyps which they removed. No problem.

About a month later, the bills started rolling in. Confused, I called the insurance people. I was told that since my procedure was "diagnostic" and not "wellness", it was not free to me and by the time all was said and done, I was out of pocket about $3500.

Fast forward 5 years later (a few months ago) and it is time for me to have another colonoscopy. I was told that this one also would not be "wellness" but would be "diagnostic" since last time they found polyps.

Figuring that I was paying out of pocket again, I had a serious debate with myself about whether I should have it done again or not. I ultimately decided to get it, and everything was clear.

And somehow, I ended up not paying a penny this time. I don't know what changed with my insurance, but I thought for sure I was going to have to go back into my pocket again.


The point of the story is this: How many people out there pass up on getting tested for diseases like colon cancer because it will cost them so much out of pocket, and then end up with said disease later? I can see the number being high. I thought about rolling the dice, but decided not to. I am sure a lot of people are not as fortunate.

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Still waiting for the bill for the hospital stay, the follow up scan, the upcoming surgery. Was health insurance ever better in the past?

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Getting expensive medical stuff done in January is always a swift kick in the nuts. The good news is that you’ll definitely hit that max OOP quicker.

I have a procedure that I tried to get in before January but I couldn’t get the scheduling to work with the holidays and work commitments. So now I’m about to drop $1,500 for something that would have been much cheaper three weeks ago.

Is the facility you went to in network or out of network?

I have no deductible but I pay out the arse for it. Healthy family of 4. Pushing $2300/mo. That’s health and dental, but the dental is a very small percentage of that monthly figure.

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it was not free to me and by the time all was said and done, I was out of pocket about $3500

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I've had multiple colonoscopies over the last 2 decades and never paid close to that amount out of pocket. Never more than 1400 including the procedure, the anesthesia and the pathology.

BCBS i pay $150