All the PEOPLE who helped me, from holding me up when I couldn’t walk, to all the nurses and technicians, and even now the billing people that work for the hospital and who are explaining things, are my personal heroes. I had small problems with 1 CT tech, one nurse (old and had been doing this since Moses was a baby) and one DR who I saw for two minutes a day. The PEOPLE were truly wonderful. They all loved my giant bus that friends had signed. Bus content. From: tcb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tcb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of atx Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 7:12 PM To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [tcb] Re: Denis' medical bills update. Med billing, is very difficult to wrap your arms around. It takes a trained individual to understand the details. Anybody that doesnt understand their bill should seek some explanation and guidance. Any inaccuracies should be questioned. Yes, it can be expensive but I really don't think most Hospitals, Docs, Nurses, Therapists & etc... are out to get people. As for codes it's just a # and procedures should represent that code and #'s parameters. Keep in mind mind that there is no code for compassion so find a place that cares for you. Jeff sent via iPhone On Dec 8, 2010, at 6:35 PM, "w.wood" <evil.scientist.boo@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: Most of health care is billing and coding and agreements, not patient care. Every procedure has a code, Medicare creates the codes and the rest of the industry pays based on the coding practices and those agreements. Yes, you're a sucker if you pay street prices for a medical procedure and it's all unfortunately going into the Insurance companies back pockets. I work in DC, I'm there every week and I can't tell you how many lobbying groups there are all around me. In the one building I'm in, there's at least 4 however that are related to Medical Insurance, Social Security and Medicare. See, when Dennis fell. He needed: 6x code 324 - Daily Hospital ICU 6x code 666 - Daily Sponge baths 6x code 621 - Daily Meal provided by a "nutritionist." and so on. What's even more amazing is that there's no checks and balances and if you believe the bill you receive somebody is tracking every pillow fluff and every bed pan cleaning, constantly. I think 80% of what they put on the bill is just there to pad it. On Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 4:39 PM, sammie smith <bugcollections@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: One more comment Denis, then I will shut up about hospitals and health care. One of my daughters was in a car wreck; hospital bill was about $40.000, insurance approved amount was about $3,500, hospital had to write off the approximate $36,000 difference. Poor slob who has no insurance, if he pays, will have to pay the full $40,000. Told you before; 99 accountants can't figure out what is going on with health care costs, billing, or anything else to do with money and health care. --- On Wed, 12/8/10, Denis Dodson <coocoo@xxxxxxx> wrote: From: Denis Dodson <coocoo@xxxxxxx> Subject: [tcb] Re: Denis' medical bills update. To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Wednesday, December 8, 2010, 1:23 PM Today I learned that the reason I don’t owe 20% of $83K is that the insurance companies make deals with the hospitals that mark down the cost. So they say $83K and the insurance says “No, it is $49K” Then they trim things here and there, so I pay 20% of $30K. The hospital billing ladies have been really nice and they seem amazed by it all, even as they are explaining it. I don’t know who to kill. Further strange. I was 6 days in ICU. The insurance company sent me a letter that said I was pre-approved for 4. I got billed for 5. Do I have to kill them all? From: tcb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tcb-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of wuzmop@xxxxxxx Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 11:33 AM To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [tcb] Re: Denis' medical bills update. Similarly, when Sonja had surgery years ago, we got identical, SEPERATE bills from both doctors in the medical practice her surgeon practiced in. Never saw, met, or even knew who the other doctors was. -----Original Message----- From: Mike Hayes <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: tcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Tue, Dec 7, 2010 4:29 pm Subject: [tcb] Re: Denis' medical bills update. My wife just had surgery and I have whats considered good insurance and it still cost me $2800 out of pocket. Last year leading up to the time my father died his bill for the 8 months prior was 1.8 million. He had really good insurance and he didn't pay anything. There were doctors billing his insurance that we never saw come or go. On 12/7/2010 4:10 PM, Denis Dodson wrote: I thought that the $30,000+ total cost for falling off the deck was nuts, well today I actually spoke to the very nice hospital billing office lady who corrected me. The actual total bill before insurance was $83,362.67! That does not include the doctor’s, radiology, ambulance, emergency room or oxygen bills. Shirley said this is what it cost to put me back on my feet for the next event, a deer? _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com <http://www.avg.com/> Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3304 - Release Date: 12/08/10 -- My Email Moniker http://www.findinternettv.com/Video,item,1570570433.aspx _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1170 / Virus Database: 426/3304 - Release Date: 12/08/10