The cost of Surgeon vs Anesthetist

[Gracie09]

I broke my arm in a fall last October. The emergency room billed $12,500 for three hours in a room, an x-ray, ct scan, a sling, and a referral to an orthopedist. Insurance got discounts and paid $4,000. What exactly makes an uninsured person cost $8,500 more to treat?!!

That some of them will walk away from the bill and the hospital has to pay it's bills. That insurance companies negotiate rates that are below cost and the hospital has to pay it's bills.

 

[MrsPete]

If you really think about what they do it will send shivers up your spine.

They have to do 2 things:

1) Make sure you are paralyzed

2) Make sure you can't feel the pain.

I imagine the worst thing that could happen is succeeding at #1 and failing at #2.

I've heard it put like this: You're not so much paying this person to put you to sleep . . . rather, you're paying him to wake you up healthy at the end!

The guy who did my anesthesia when I had surgery two summers ago was WONDERFUL. I felt very, very blessed that he took care of me. Still, I didn't wake up nicely -- I was disoriented and threw up violently for a good half hour. My mom behaves the same way, even though she's never had a doctor do anything wrong. This business of putting people to sleep is awfully tricky.

 

[CPT Tripss]

That some of them will walk away from the bill and the hospital has to pay it's bills. That insurance companies negotiate rates that are below cost and the hospital has to pay it's bills.

If that's the case, hospital administrators must be the worst business people in the world. I always wonder how they can claim that their secret chargemaster is based on their actual costs and then go out and accept third party payments that are les than half of their "cost." It's much better to have an insurer negotiating for you than being stuck as an uninsured person and having to go through bankruptcy . . . Or not get treated.