[Graybeard58]

My sympathies for the insurance problems.

My wife just had spinal fusion in Dec. she was in the hospital for four days and the hospital bill was $55,000 in addition to the surgeons fee of $9,000 plus radiology charges of about $2,000, drugs another $1,000 or so.

I am going to contact the insurance company and check on that $55,000 figure. I don't have to pay anything but I think the insurance company is getting ripped off.

The $55,000 was in addition to $2100 for room and board at the hospital. The bill just shows, IH Misc- $55,281.70

Anybody have any clues what that outrageous figure could be for?

Seperately - A molded plastic back brace that probably may have cost $50 to manufacture, their charge to the insurer -$1,600

[HairOfTheDog]

I think hospital costs are complex and there are lots of reasons including lawsuits that have contributed to their extraordinary charges, but I think a big part of it is the invisibility of employer-paid group plans.... A good idea and nice perk that employers started offering, but it has made the cost of insurance and medicine invisible. Most don't know how much their insurance costs, and they pay very little attention to charges they don't have to pay.

I think the same thing is true for taxes. If we eliminated withholding and had to write checks to the government instead of just collecting checks for refunds, the big-spending politicians would be out of office in a year.