My own experience with hospital billing: Had to go to ER in November, and I was admitted upstairs for a “rescue dose” of IVIG for neurological condition (simil

My own experience with hospital billing: Had to go to ER in November, and I was admitted upstairs for a “rescue dose” of IVIG for neurological condition (similar to CIDP/GBS). We were told by the admitting doctor it should probably be covered by insurance but if not in his experience it should cost around $10,000 for all five infusions necessary, plus another $2,000 per day for the bed. The doses are infused over five separate infusions. Get one dose that night of 30g of IVIG. Next day new doctor comes and tells me he doesn’t think insurance will cover it, and he’s talked to the pharmacist and it will cost us $16,000 per infusion. We absolutely can’t afford that so get discharged. We now have an outstanding bill for $16,666.30 for 30 grams of IVIG that insurance didn’t cover. (Cue dramatic story about having to get rid of all of our stuff and being driven 3,000 miles across the country to change to a different insurance plan offered by my company.) I am now on regular infusions of IVIG, and a 40 gram infusion costs $3,700 at the contract rate the new insurance pays. That’s $94 per gram vs $555 that the hospital is trying to charge is. A 6 fold increase to a private individual who can’t afford it, without being told in advance the actual price or given the option to not get it.