[quantummkv]

Am i missing something in here or are the costs in that bill really this high? $22,526 for room boarding for 2 weeks? Over here in India my grandma's bypass surgery costed somewhat about $10,000. That included everything including the stent, medicines and boarding, that too at a renowned, premiere private hospital.

Is this a special case or are healthcare costs generally this high in America?

[justboxing]

> are healthcare costs generally this high in America

Yes they are ridiculously high, even after factoring in cost of living / currency rates or as a %age of monthly salary, if you are comparing it to costs in a different country. 1 month after coming here (to America) from India (1999) I had to get wax from my left ear cleaned as it was blocking my hearing.

They squirted some liquid in my ear and got the wax out. 2 weeks later, I got the insurance Statement. It cost $ 800. I was astonished. In India a year before, I'd paid a Doc 100 Rupees (at that time, $2 equivalent in USD) for the same exact thing.

A month later, I had a chest x-ray taken, and some weird quirk in insurance it wasn't covered. So I had to boot the bill. $ 576 for 1 single chest x-ray. My take home at that time as a software engineer was about 2500 / month after tax and deductions, so this was 23% of my paycheck!

Health Insurance coverage is too closely tied to employment. In order to get continued coverage, you are more or less working "for the man" till you die.

[pravda]

>$ 576 for 1 single chest x-ray

Well, that's just a rip-off price.

>Health Insurance coverage is too closely tied to employment. In order to get continued coverage, you are more or less working "for the man" till you die.

At age 65, you can enter the single-payer system!

[dogma1138]

That's what you get when most bills are either unpaid or paid at cents on the dollar by insurance companies.

[tehlike]

If you or on high deductible plan, consider hsa :)

[throwaway2016a]

Depending on his tax rate with HSA a $1000 bill would still be $750 after the tex savings. Hardly an improvement.

[anilgulecha]

Apropos the topic at hand, I want to post a picture I recently took at a hospital here in Bangalore, outlining patient rights.

http://imgur.com/a9axFK2

The first one is the right to an informed choice, including information upfront about the price of treatments.

[everdayimhustln]

In America, hospitals mostly charge whatever they want.

[HillRat]

Specifically, the chargemaster rates for uncovered "off the street" procedures are essentially unmoored from the negotiated and mandated prices for the same procedures from payers. Quite a few "doc in the box" urgent care clinics will be happy to bill you $1,200 for your out-of-network hangnail procedure.

[b3b0p]

I just had a stent. I stayed Friday night, Saturday Morning surgery, and left Sunday Morning. My bill was almost $100,000 USD (less than $2,000 short).

[mettamage]

I once read a blog post of an American doing medical tourism to India. I can't find it now, but I think Americans agree with you.

[koonsolo]

Because it's so easy to sue in US, doctors and hospitals need to pay a lot to insurances.