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  • Estimated Costs!

    After reading this board I'm quite puzzled. I'm wondering if I have be mislead.

    My dad works for a university so he has "state" Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance...

    After talking with a hospital insurance rep., I was told that the estimated cost of my Posterior (sorry if its mispelled) Spinal Fushion would roughly be $8,000 and $5,000. She gave me two costs, I'm assuming one for the hospital and one for the doctor...this is b4 insurance i think...but i'm not sure.

    I know these are estimated costs....however, I haven't seen any posts that have had surgery costs being so low....

    Has anyone had such low surgery costs...or could this be a mistake?
    glenda

    54T
    Posterior spinal Fusion--Dec. 12, 2007
    Fusion: T5-L3

    10T and Loving it!!

  • #2
    Glenda,
    Chances are that the amount quoted to you is the deductable or the out-of-pocket expense. It is not the full amount for the surgery/doctor/anestisologist.
    SandyC

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    • #3
      That may be a quote of only part of the package. I recently had a routine colonoscopy, took the precaution of calling the clinic's billing department to ask the cost, and the lady checked and said about $1700. But the actual billed cost was almost $6,000 -- she had forgotten to mention the facility cost. Fortunately my Blue Shield reduced this substantially but I still ended up paying twice what I anticipated. There are other threads where patients tell you what they got billed for fusion.

      The AAOS (orthopedic surgeon group) has a report on only the patient hospitalization costs of spinal fusion -- not even mentioning their own professional surgical fees:

      http://www.aaos.org/Research/stats/A...on%20Chart.pdf

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      • #4
        Writer,
        Your right, there are lots of hidden costs to any procedure. Then if there are problems with the procedure, then costs can really skyrocket . I had an A/P followed by a MRSA infection resulting in 6 surgeries in 8 months for a total of 1/4 million dollars!
        SandyC

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        • #5
          Omigod, I hope you've recovered and aren't worse off for the experiences.

          I'd be interested to see a breakdown of the surgery costs -- and I suspect others would as well.
          Last edited by Writer; 08-22-2007, 02:55 AM.

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          • #6
            Writer,
            The final bill arrived in an 8x10 manila envelope and is about 1inch thick. To post here would not be appropreate, as it would take to much space. To give you an idea of who and what:
            surgeon/infection control doc/icu/cardiac lab (I had an MI in recovery)/PICC Line/anesthesiologist/home health RN/at home IV drugs/multiple MRI,with & without contrast/CT scans/Bracesx3 etc. As you can see to list the charges would be intimidating to say the least.

            In the end my doc had to take out all of the new hardware because of the MRSA. My spine did collapse a bit, because of the lack of support. I'm fuse at 70T/70L, from T4 to S1. I really don't have much pain and I can still do alot of the things I did before surgery.....I just do it differantly. I think I'm a bad example for people to look at, who are considering surgery. It was just one of those things if it could go wrong it did. My surgeon is fab. I had great care at UCSF.
            Sandy
            SandyC

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            • #7
              estimated costs

              Wow. Reading these posts about medical insurance is frightenining and I am glad I now live in the UK as treatment is free for us. I am in a milwaukee brace and I am wondering how much my parents would have to pay for it if we lived in the USA.
              WANE

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              • #8
                Wane,

                Your treatment is not free. You, as a tax payer, are paying for it.

                Chris

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                • #9
                  Estimated Costs

                  I dont pay any tax im still at school
                  WANE

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                  • #10
                    Okay smarty-pants, but I'll bet your parents do.

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                    • #11
                      esimated costs

                      Done some research. Here in the UK we pay what is called National Health Contributions which is taken from your earnings before you acturley recieve your weekly or monthly salary. Only my Dad works so he pays these contrbutions which work out against what he gets paid every month £85.32.
                      For this we get all hospital treatment on our NHS without paying anymore. We have to pay so much towards dental treatment if you are over the age of 16, under sixteen you pay nothing.
                      I have soon got to have braces with headgear as well as my milwaukee brace in a couple of months time and my dad dont have to pay anything extra.
                      We have to pay for sight tests and glasses if you are over the age of 16
                      WANE

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                      • #12
                        Before insurance it was 26, 800.00 for what the doctor and his assistant did during the surgery. The hospital bill covered everything else and was 140,000. I did have to be re-admitted two weeks after that surgery due to fluid on my spine and the 140,000 includes that time in the hospital too.

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by wane
                          Done some research. Here in the UK we pay what is called National Health Contributions which is taken from your earnings before you acturley recieve your weekly or monthly salary. Only my Dad works so he pays these contrbutions which work out against what he gets paid every month £85.32.
                          For this we get all hospital treatment on our NHS without paying anymore. We have to pay so much towards dental treatment if you are over the age of 16, under sixteen you pay nothing.
                          I have soon got to have braces with headgear as well as my milwaukee brace in a couple of months time and my dad dont have to pay anything extra.
                          We have to pay for sight tests and glasses if you are over the age of 16
                          WANE
                          I live in the UK too, and I have to say, I'm happier with my private insurance. Some of the waiting lists on the NHS are absolutely ridiculous. I would probably still be waiting for my surgery had I gone with the NHS (or not even have gotten it, as I seem to remember happening to one girl on here!)

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