Posted on 02/27/2019 9:03:19 PM PST by BenLurkin
In a rural area just outside Florida’s Everglades National Park, Parker spotted the kitten wandering along the road. It looked skinny and sick, and when Parker, a wildlife biologist, offered up some tuna she had in her car, the cat bit her finger.
After cleaning off the wound, she did some research and began worrying about rabies, since Miami-Dade County had warnings about that potentially fatal disease in effect at the time.
So, she headed to the emergency room at Mariners Hospital, not far from her house. She said she spent about two hours in the emergency room, got two different types of injections and an antibiotic, and never talked with a doctor.
Then the bills came.
In Parker’s case, the majority of the cost was for the rabies immune globulin. For that injection alone, the hospital billed her and her insurer $46,422. That’s well above what’s considered typical.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
The philosophy at the hospital is that if you can pay your bill, you can pay 10 other peoples bills too. That is how the illegals get free healthcare.
This is nothing unusual. The hospital can charge anything they want. The insurance company Will give them a fraction of that.
I'm not a "wildlife biologist," and yet even I know - without "doing some research" - that you don't mess with stray animals.
Regards,
If she had played illegal alien it wouldn’t have cost her a dime.
Hospitals charge the insurance companies 10 times what they will accept. But the contracts say that if the insurance company doesn’t pay the bill within 60 days, they have to pay the bill in full. The carrier gets a set discount for rapid payment and a breach results in liability for the billed amount.
If you ever get a bill from a hospital and you don’t have insurance, they will almost always accept a fraction of the bill if you pay cash and pay it quickly.
Yakov Smirnoff thought so.
How can a biologist not know that any wild mammal can have rabies? Especially being east of the Mississippi?
It is out of control without any sort of regulation like a flat rate manual
Someone’s gotta pick up their charitable tabs.
I had the rabies shots when I was a kid (around 1966) I think it cost my father about $350.00 total
The actual cost of the rabies immune globulin would have been about 3500 dollars. It should also be noted that ten years ago the cost would have been about 750 dollars. It is the same immune globulin as before and no new research costs are involved in this very old product. The huge mark up on this treatment was a function of the hospital. The drug manufacturers have also marked up this product over the years far in excess of production costs. Their philosophy is to price the drug at whatever the market will bear.
I am a pharmacist and love what our drug manufacturers produce and discover to maintain our health and prolong our lives. THEY ARE ALSO PREDATORY BASTARDS as are our hospitals!
In defense of our hospitals they have a huge amount of patients that can not pay and legally must be treated. Those with good insurance pay for those that can not.
Some years ago I had to take my wife to the ER in the middle of the night for an emergency. In the waiting room were mostly illegal aliens and minorities. I suspect my wife was the only one with insurance. I was raised on the border and speak Spanish. I know who is an illegal and who is not. It is very easy to discern by mannerisms and accent. Our border Spanish accent is very different than the accent from deep in Mexico or Central America.
Yeah but then they claim youare on the hook for the part your insurance doesnt cover.
Hopefully she learned her lesson about stray animals.
What’s interesting is when Trump administration’s pricing disclosure rules kicked in this particular hospital’s price dropped dramatically from $7727 per 2ml dose to $1650.
Obviously it’s Trump’s fault!
Not if the hospital/doctor is “in-network” for your insurance...fees are pre-negotiated and are “payment in full” (no going after the patient for more). Medical fees are outrageous due to “15 cents on the dollar” government reimbursements and up to 70%-80% “no pays/”no insurance” at hospitals. Consider MRI’s for example...major MRI “chain stores” charge as low as $499.00....average hospital charge $3350.00...15% of $3350. is guess what? You guessed it, $500.00.
https://www.firstlookmri.com
https://www.mripathways.com/about-us/
https://smartchoicemri.com
Expensive pussy.
were they the old awful belly button shots? If so, how painful was it if you remember?
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