You can’t just drop that without details. Plan name. State. Monthly premium. Obamacare subsidy or no.
Yeah, I wonder, too. I’ve done the same for $15 copay through Kaiser (individual, marketplace) and Blue cross (employer).
I’m forever grateful to have been on Kaiser my entire life, and that all my employers have had it as an option.
It’s expensive up front (~$5k per year, my employer covers it thankfully) but the most I’ll ever pay per year out of pocket is $1500. Office visit/urgent care is $10, ER is $100 and waived if you’re admitted, prescriptions are $20, and the most expensive surgery I could get is $150 which includes the hospital stay if needed. My partner got sterilized for like $35. The biggest thing for me is my therapy is free so long as it is virtual (my therapist is 4 hours away by car anyway), and $10 for an in person visit if I make the hike.
It’s absolutely wild how much one’s experience can vary with the healthcare system in the US based on their insurer alone.
I have never seen charges like this for breast imaging under insurance before. Something is wrong, either billing or the insurance. The only way I can see this if the imaging was ordered without a proper reason…but likely not.
It also depends on what lab the imaging was processed. Oftentimes labs adjacent to a hospital but not actually part of the hospital will accidentally (as if) get billed as an on site hospital visit for these types of procedures unless caught. OP could also have an HDHP.
I’ve also seen some insurance plans will for some unearthly reason have gaps in the contract and some types of tests become billed outside of insurance even on the “better” plans.
Also, fun thing I learned, women don’t need mammograms! They can get ultrasounds instead and ultrasound is actually better!..
…Except insurance won’t cover it as a wellness visit because apparently medieval tit-smashing is the preferred method for insurance providers.
Thank you for providing some reason. I’m glad the person you’re replying to has never had crappy insurance before. This bill is completely within the US standards especially with a high deductible plan.
I don’t like that I’ve had to learn so much about medical billing to keep from getting fucked over by procedures honestly. I used to just go do things and ignore the cost because health > money. But then the prices started skyrocketing for simple things and I’ve had to learn to jump and dodge costs. It’s asinine having to be your own doctor, lab tech, and billing department just to play within the confines of the US medical system.
I feel pointless overhead like this is designed to keep us so busy, we don’t have energy left to realize how fucked we are, let alone react to it. But, “mah freedumb!”
No, ACA has rules for breast screening coverage. If it was a screening mammo and USlike this. If it was done to someone under 40 or not high risk it would not be a screening exam. If it was a diagnostic exam that is completely different. It would be covered under the general policy with copay/maximums etc. Screenings and diagnostic mammograms/US are different and not covered under preventive medicine.
That whole diagnostic vs preventative thing we do is so stupid. The raw cost of most tests is nothing. Labwork for example, they only run one or two tests (sugar, cholesterol) unless you request more, but don’t say you’re in pain or it becomes diagnostic!
Meanwhile, at the actual lab, the machines run a myriad of tests on each sample as they’re designed to. So the back and forth about lab billing is asinine. The machines already calculated the results as a part of their standard operating procedure. Why not just return all results the machine generates regardless of query? Why not a full panel as SOP?
Why not make body scans SOP at a younger age so we have a baseline of what a person’s body operates at before they age? Etc.
They’ve inserted extra steps just for revenue-generating touch points. So damn backwards.
The part I think most Americans don’t realize it’s this:
In Canada, when I don’t feel well, I go get it looked at. I barely need ID (and when I broke my arm I forgot it at home). I don’t need to provide proof of insurance or a visa card, butnindomhave a medical number for records segregation.
My point is, healthcare in Canada at its current and worst post-covid state, is still a “here is my body please fix it KThx” setup, and it’s comically more easy than the in-network/out-network who-bills-whom and how-will-you-be-paying mess that is America; and comically more easy while Americans don’t realize it that I get stressed just remembering it from when I was there.
You don’t need good health care for better pricing, although that just happens. You need better healthcare so you don’t have to micromanage how you’re getting it. Healthcare in the entire rest of the g7 is just so vastly different in ways Americans largely don’t even realize.
Mom died of breast cancer. On my bd last month.
She felt a lump, didn’t get it checked, figured it was a bit of fake titty that broke loose. Would have cost too much to get looked at.
Found she had breast cancer. Her chemo stent got infected, wanted to wait until Monday to have it seen. Would have cost too much.
Husband drove her 2-hours through 14° weather, snow and mountains and all, to the ER. Dead within 24 hours.
But hey! Another dead conservative Boomer! Win?
Human to human: I am so, so sorry for your loss and hope you are able to accept it and eventually still live your life to its fullest. I imagine that’s what she would have wanted. Nothing else I say should diminish that.
[She] didn’t get it checked, figured it was a bit of fake titty that broke loose.
What does this mean!? I don’t have breasts, so I have no personal experience but is it common for parts of them to break loose??
Another dead conservative Boomer! Win?
I’m sure you’re hurting, but this is a lot of projection. Did anyone actually say this (either online or in-person)!? If so, they are a bad person, no matter their political affiliation or beliefs and you should stay away from them…
There’s absolutely no win there. I have a similar experience just before COVID, and the only saving grace was all his treatment - and the cost when he chose plan B - were both readily available and both cost-free.
It’s unmitigated cruelty that you need to grieve while dealing with that healthcare system; and second-guess with the what-if thoughts as well.
We tell the stories of the people we lost in COVID, and it helps to laugh together, and I hope you have a similar outlet to make room for some peace eventually.
Could be worse. You could have paid that to find out you do have breast cancer…
Ignore it. Throw it away. They already billed your insurance ten times that much, they made their money .
That’s a good way to get the bill sent to collections and have debt collectors ruin your credit score. Real life isn’t as simple as just ignoring your bills.
