Medical bills.

[TAB]

So how much do you think a 36 day stay in a ICU runs these days? 

No major tests or procedures were done, just all the normal stuff.


I'll post the answer later tonight.

[Timothy]

So how much do you think a 36 day stay in a ICU runs these days? 

No major tests or procedures were done, just all the normal stuff.
I'll post the answer later tonight.

For me, one week was about 100 grand, included at least one surgery to save my life and about 80 x-rays, etc...

Total stay for 70 days topped out at just over 600 large for me...still paying for some of it..  edit....that cost included about 15 different surgeries.....

36 days?   I'll guess 1 grand a day or $36,000.00

[Hottrockin]

36 days in ICU?  With-

No major tests or procedures were done, just all the normal stuff.

36 days is a REALLY, REALLY long time!  Normally you'd be stepped down to a PCU bed and then onto a medical or surgical bed, so I'm unsure where this is leading?

It's not about the overall 'cost' due to most people having insurance and that get paid per contract on a per diem or per day so to speak...if the contract sez you get $ 1,500.00 per ICU day then you get paid $ 1,500 x 36 days or $ 54,000....which leads me to another point!  Most contracts with insurance companies have a "stop-loss" so there's no way in hell you're gonna get that $ 54,000.  Kinda depends on why you're in the hospital as well as it could pay based on a DRG (diagnostic related group) <<< that's a Medicare thang and really sucks 'cause ya get's lots less money!  Triple by-pass you'll be lucky to get paid (take home), $ 18,500.  Doesn't matter what the charge is!  Charge could be $ 134,836.00...you can only collect the DRG of $ 18,500.  No balance billing patients either, that's a BIG no-no!

No insurance?  No problem!  I'm lookin' at several, several million dollars written-off (we do around $300K to $500K per month) to 'charity'...if you qualify under the federal poverty guidelines / per year...you'll get a reduction if not the whole thang written off!  For non-insured people the hospital I work for automatically give a 15% discount on services + if paid in full w/in 30 days you get an additional 10%....so....25% off if paid in full w/in 30 days!

[1911 Junkie]

I work in an ICU. Rates vary by location.

Ours, I  beleive,  is $6000/day (they don't call it expensive care for nothing). That would put you at $216,000 just for the room.

Tests and Dr visits not included.

Hottrockins post is right though, just because that is the "rate" doesn't mean they actually see it. I think they overinflate the rate just to hope they see even a percentage of it.

[TAB]

None of you were even close

Final bill was 1.38 millon.  Thats alittle over 38k a day.

The room was about 10k a day  Rxs were about 5k a day , about 1k a day in tests, treatment ( resporator) was around 5k a day the rest was doctos fees.

[Sponsor]

[1911 Junkie]

Well, with the income you claim to make, you should be able to pay that off in about a month.

CA is more expensive than the rest of the planet.

Was this an adult or a premie?  Neonatal ICU rates put adult ICU rates to shame.

[tombogan03884]

Kaiser ?

[TAB]

portland OR actually.  some big catholic hospital there.



I make between 50-60k a year, but I do have alot of money pass thru my hands.

Its not un common for me to have a 100k job where I only make 5k from it.

[blackwolfe]

Nine years ago my wife's 38 day ICU bill before she died was well over $250K not including doctors fees, radiology, etc.  I have no idea how much the total came to, but I believe it was over $350K.  I was receiving bills from medical groups, doctors, medical companies I never heard of, and who knows who from everywhere.  I received a written request with no explanation from an insurance company I didn't know, to audit her medical care records.  I called my insurance company and eventually found out that the company making the request was the reinsurer for the insurance company.  I spoke to my lawyer about whether to grant permission to open my wife's medical records to the reinsurer.  The lawyer said I should so I signed the release.  That was a big mistake.  The reinsurer used the audit as an excuse to delay payment and to try to negotiate a lesser payment.  The hospital wouldn't negotiate until a certain amount was paid and the insurance company wouldn't pay.  I started getting bills and letters from the hospital saying that the insurance company wouldn't pay and the bill was my responsibility.  I went round and round with the hospital, laughed at them, and told them that I didn't have that kind of money.  I paid what I was resposible for and told them that if they wanted my house for payment, they could come and take it, but I wasn't leaving voluntarily.  I don't remember what else I told them and the reinsurer, but after about 4 or 5 months I pretty much got them to battle with each other without me in the middle.  The insurance company made a partial payment to get the hospital to sit down and negotiate, then the hospital reneged on the negotiations.  I don't know what they ever settled on.   Months later I got a cutomer service survey from the hospital addressed to my wife concerning her recent hospital stay, care, and treatment.  Apparently the fricken jerks didn't figure it out that she had died in their hospital and couldn't fill out the survey.         

[Texas_Bryan]

None of you were even close

Final bill was 1.38 millon.  Thats alittle over 38k a day.

The room was about 10k a day  Rxs were about 5k a day , about 1k a day in tests, treatment ( resporator) was around 5k a day the rest was doctos fees.

How?  Don't get too personal, I just find slamming five grand in meds in a 24 hour period hard to comprehend.  Ten grand a day for the room, someone needs to make a Expedia or Hotwire setup for hospitals.   It's a meat market out there.  This is exactly why I don't go to the doctor, 'you came in for your physical, but we found x, y, and z.  Now you need to take these pills three times a day, every day, until your dead.'  I've learned enough to know that medicine is a business like anything else.