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Hospitals also insanely overcharge for IVs. A few years ago I was in the hospital, and I knew I could keep down oral re-hydration solution. The hospital put m
by Slansitartop 9y ago
Hospitals also insanely overcharge for IVs. A few years ago I was in the hospital, and I knew I could keep down oral re-hydration solution. The hospital put me on a saline IV anyway. When I got the bill, the IV line item was $2000! Insurance discounts brought that down to $200. I paid all that for a couple dollars of salt water I didn't need.
- gasgasgas 9y agoThe charges are inflated because of insurance. The actual paid amount is less.
- Slansitartop 9y agoThe actual paid amount was $200, which is still excessive, especially for something I didn't really need.
- LeifCarrotson 9y agoWell, that's the amount you paid. Some fraction of the insurance premiums which you and your employer paid also went to the hospital for that IV. I wonder how much. Obviously not $2000, that's absurd. But maybe $200. Or $2. Or maybe the insurance company gets paid $20 by the hospital so they get to make $180 off of you for the IV.
- Slansitartop 9y agoI'm on an HSA. The hospital would have gotten nothing from the insurer, and I would have had to pay the whole bill, if I hadn't hit my deductible. If I'd just been to the ER and not been admitted, I would have probably had to pay for it all. I have it on good authority that saline IV bags are dirt cheap. The hospital used a machine to control the delivery rate, but that cost should have been amortized over hundreds or thousands of patients. The nursing labor involved was negligible, not more than a half-hour for the whole stay.
- moftz 9y agoGrainger sells 1L bottles of saline for $12.15. Bags are about the same price elsewhere on the internet. One thing I'm wondering is if the $200 (or $2000) also includes the labor to set it up and the consumables that go along with the IV.