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Study Shows Shocking Disparities in Hospital Bills for Appendicitis Treatment #costsofcare
“Mommy, my tummy hurts.”
It’s 4am. Your 8-year-old son is shaking you awake. After you confirm that in fact, he is having abdominal pain and not just a bad dream, you head down to the local hospital emergency department to have him checked out.
Little did you suspect, a variety of factors beyond your control in the next 2 hours, having little to do with your son’s medical condition, will determine whether your family has to declare bankruptcy or not.
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The case of the $517 chest x-ray #healthcare #prices
Part 1 in a Series. So the story goes like this. A patient of mine needed a chest x-ray. He doesn’t have health insurance, so rather than just give him a requisition and send him to the local hospital, I decided to do a little calling around on his behalf to find out what the damage would be…
Vendor #1: A well-known local hospital
I called up the radiology department and asked them how much a PA and Lateral Chest X-ray would cost. “I don’t know – we don’t have that information” I was told by the clerk. The radiologist gave me the same answer. They both said I should just send the patient over and he would find out the cost when he received the bill.
That seemed a little dumb. Since when do we go into stores and buy things without knowing the price?
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