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$700 for blood tests?

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by kingcreole, May 22, 2008.

  1. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Princecreole has needed some blood tests done to check for immune deficiencies and allergies. Took him in last month so he could get some blood taken for tests.

    Bill comes from the doctor's office today. AFTER insurance, it was a little more than $700.

    What. The. Fuck. He's had tubes in his ears twice and both times it cost around that. His fucking birth was a little more than that. Blood tests really cost this much?

    Before insurance, it was in the neighborhood of $1,200.
     
  2. dixiehack

    dixiehack Well-Known Member

    Is that after the insurance paid its share, or after they negotiated the price down off the roof, with their check to the doc still pending? You should be able to tell by looking at your bill for another 12 hours or so.
     
  3. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Insurance ... bleh. Yeah, it's after insurance Blue Cross picked up about $500.
     
  4. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    I started another thread on this sort of thing, but it's still stunning. I got a cut on my finger a few weeks back, two stitches at the emergency room, and it cost me $442 out of pocket. The total bill, before insurance, was $1,044.
    Last week, the wife decides it's time for a new wheelchair. On the company's website, it's $1,200. Add all the options she needs and it goes up to $2,600. Going through insurance and medical supply companies -- there is no wheelchair store you can walk into and just buy one, apparently -- it's $4,254.
    Makes me want to live in a bubble for the rest of my life.
     
  5. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    Damn ... for a cut finger?

    I guess I don't get it. Seriously, my son had tubes in his ears twice, and neither time did it cost us this much.
     
  6. EStreetJoe

    EStreetJoe Well-Known Member

    In 2006 I needed to have a highly specialized blood test to detect a genetic disorder that only one or two labs in the country do, so I had my blood drawn locally and shipped to the lab.
    The lab accepted the insurance payment of $2,000 for the blood test, no bill from the lab.
    The local hospital lab that drew and shipped the blood tried hitting me with an $11,000 bill (only $10,000 of which was paid by insurance) for the blood tests, using the argument that they're allowed to charge for the bloodwork even though they didn't perform the tests. Two phone calls of arguing with the billing department about this resulted in the hospital declaring my account paid. The next day I made a call to the insurance company letting them know they paid $10,000 to the hospital for tests they didn't perform.
     
  7. SixToe

    SixToe Well-Known Member

    We determined Ivory soap and some Super Glue would have worked for a big pussball like you, right?

    ;D

    I can't imagine what it would be like to be uninsured.
     
  8. SportsDude

    SportsDude Active Member

    I thought I got screwed when I had to pay 60 bucks last time after insurance. Geesh.
     
  9. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Yeah, that sounds about right. ;D
    If I had it to do over again, I'd just slap a band-aid on the thing and call it a day.
     
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