Theory of Medical Billing

A co-worker of mine just recently returned to work after a week off for hernia surgery. Hernia surgeries are pretty common place in the medical field these days and a good amount of patients get discharged the day of surgery. So you can imagin then that this surgery is very minor in comparison to some others. Anyway, he was back on his feet in a day or two and took the rest of his time wondering how the hell he racked up such a high medical bill. The total cost from the time he was admitted to the time he left the property was a little shy of $5,000. Considering he spent the night, that probably tacked on another $500-$1,000. Either way, 5K can break anyone’s piggy bank. The surgery was done laparoscopically, some general anesthesia, a few small holes and voila (vwah-lah). A few comforting words from the surgeon and a thank you for your money.

Question: How much should an individual be billed for health care services? Answer: Depending on who you refer the question to, it could range from $0 - infinite amount. The reality, in my opinion, hospitals and other medical offices seem to fall a bit right of center on your bell-shaped curve. Which I guess in most cases seems fair. They spent a lot of time and money to get to the postion they are in, so why shouldn’t they charge an arm and leg. And depending on the procedure, location, tenure of surgeon and your health care provider, those numbers could drop (which they never do) or skyrocket (which they always do).

So, my theory is this…$1,000 per article of clothing. Makes sense, right? Now of course there are some flaws in my theory because some surgeries run in excess of $20,000. But as I mentioned above, the price rises depending on procedure ect. But the base price holds strong at a grand per article of clothing removed. In my co-workers case, it works out. Once you have to put on the little hospital night gown, BOOM!!….$4,000 off the top. I know I could be reaching a little here on this theory, but who knows, maybe there is some truth to it. What do you think?