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We asked for an itemized price list when my wife gave birth. They claimed she received lactation consultation even though she rejected it, as this was our 2nd b

by fma 7y ago

We asked for an itemized price list when my wife gave birth. They claimed she received lactation consultation even though she rejected it, as this was our 2nd baby. Despite having documentation saying so it went back and forth and we just paid it because it was too time consuming. Anyways. In the itemized bill they charge about $40 per ibuprofen. If we knew the price, we should have brought our own and just rejected theirs. Someone might come along and reply with that $40 covers nurse salary, tracking the medicine etc. Yeah... Bull$hit.

GordonS 7y ago
Out of interest, can I ask how much the "lactation consultation" cost? Here in the UK, my wife's breast feeding help consisted of an inexperienced midwife (possibly only a trainee), awkwardly being remarkably unhelpful.
- fma 7y ago
  I believe it was $200. For our first daughter ours was helpful. We took a class (paid by ourselves) before hand but it definitely helps to have someone walk through it with your actual baby. However for each delivery the nurses knew enough to be helpful too. Also, since my wife has had surgery to remove a benign tumor in her breast, lactation consultation was covered the first time. No idea WTF happened the second time. This is the US medical system for you. I'd also like to add we received a random bill for our first daughter 2 years later. No idea what it was, but the insurance covered all of it so I didn't care.
noelsusman 7y ago
The hospital definitely didn't carefully consider the $40 price to cover the actual cost of delivering the medicine to you. They just multiply their cost by some number and call it a day. The fact is that hospitals aren't built for itemized bills because very few patients pay the posted prices out of pocket. Medical debt is extremely hard to recover in the US, so why bother expending the resources to figure out a sensible pricing structure for a small minority of your customers who mostly aren't going to pay that price anyway?

by fma 7y ago

GordonS 7y ago

Out of interest, can I ask how much the "lactation consultation" cost? Here in the UK, my wife's breast feeding help consisted of an inexperienced midwife (possibly only a trainee), awkwardly being remarkably unhelpful.

fma 7y ago
I believe it was $200. For our first daughter ours was helpful. We took a class (paid by ourselves) before hand but it definitely helps to have someone walk through it with your actual baby. However for each delivery the nurses knew enough to be helpful too. Also, since my wife has had surgery to remove a benign tumor in her breast, lactation consultation was covered the first time. No idea WTF happened the second time. This is the US medical system for you. I'd also like to add we received a random bill for our first daughter 2 years later. No idea what it was, but the insurance covered all of it so I didn't care.

noelsusman 7y ago

The hospital definitely didn't carefully consider the $40 price to cover the actual cost of delivering the medicine to you. They just multiply their cost by some number and call it a day. The fact is that hospitals aren't built for itemized bills because very few patients pay the posted prices out of pocket. Medical debt is extremely hard to recover in the US, so why bother expending the resources to figure out a sensible pricing structure for a small minority of your customers who mostly aren't going to pay that price anyway?