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Walk into a hospital and ask how much an appendectomy costs. The answer is they really don't like that question.

aYsY4dDQ2NrcNzA 4y ago
Or four appendectomies.
kube-system 4y ago
The answer to that question is: 1. depends on what specific services you will receive, which varies, and 2. the people behind the desk in the hospital are clinical staff, not billing It's walking into the front door at Accenture and asking the receptionist how much a website costs. They need to gather requirements first. And there are some things your surgeon won't actually know about your surgery until they cut you open. And the people at the front desk aren't knowledgeable enough to even know what those things are.
- suzzer99 4y ago
  I'd settle for an answer to "Is this thing going to cost in the ballpark of $500, $5000, $50,000, more?" - which is still impossible for the hospital to answer w/o lifting heaven and earth.
  - kube-system 4y ago
    In California: > $1,500 to $180,000, with an average of $33,000. It really depends on a lot of factors, many of which are not known in advance. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-appendix-surgery-costs-differ-around-us/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-appendix-surgery-costs-di...
    - simfree 4y ago
      It depends what the billing specialist and charge master for the hospital say, and how much they think they can ream you. For example, I got a bill for my Covid booster ($42.50) and Mpox ($67) vaccine, yet apparently my state considers this fraud, as the vaccines are supposed to always be free to the patient, regardless of insurance status or citizenship.
      - kube-system 4y ago
        In the link I posted, the study shows 2/3 of that range of costs is due to differences in treatment, not billing. Major surgery on a vital organ is always a customized service not a commodity.
AlbertCory 4y ago
My attitude is: if they don't quote a price, then it's up for negotiation. $25,000? No, sorry, the highest I can go is 15. You'll do 19? I have to go ask my manager; that's more than I'm authorized for. Sure you can't do 15? There you go!
- hotpotamus 4y ago
  That's actually more or less my take these days. If you don't know how much it costs, then I don't know if I can pay it. So I suppose we'll find out together.
  - TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
    Then they ruin your credit score.
MiddleEndian 4y ago
Even simple shit they don't know. I walked into a door and busted my eyebrow open in the middle of the night so regular clinics weren't open. Went to the hospital. They gave me stitches. Routine procedure. This was months ago. I still don't know how much I owe them. A few weeks later I went to a clinic to have the stitches removed. I paid them $20. Maybe if I told the hospital I didn't have insurance they would have let me pay in cash too, but probably not.
- kcplate 4y ago
  > Maybe if I told the hospital I didn't have insurance they would have let me pay in cash too, but probably not 11 years ago I had a minor fracture on shoulder from a fall. Ironically it was during a 12 week period where I opted out of offered COBRA coverage between gigs (Mainly due to the fact that the COBRA was nearly $800/mo and I’m a cheap bastard) Went to ER, explained that I didn’t have insurance but could pay cash. Also because I was curious I asked what my charge would have been if had I had the COBRA. Cash price was roughly $1300. With COBRA the charge would have been $2400 for the 3 months of coverage, plus another $1000 for the ER visit, but the insurance would have paid another $4K to the ER if I remember correctly. Those numbers aren’t precise, but they are in the ballpark at least relative to each other. No doubt I hit a sweet spot and if I was injured to a greater degree…COBRA would have won the economic toss, but for my one incident where I could test cash price medical care, cash price worked out.

Or four appendectomies.

The answer to that question is: 1. depends on what specific services you will receive, which varies, and 2. the people behind the desk in the hospital are clinical staff, not billing It's walking into the front door at Accenture and asking the receptionist how much a website costs. They need to gather requirements first. And there are some things your surgeon won't actually know about your surgery until they cut you open. And the people at the front desk aren't knowledgeable enough to even know what those things are.

suzzer99 4y ago
I'd settle for an answer to "Is this thing going to cost in the ballpark of $500, $5000, $50,000, more?" - which is still impossible for the hospital to answer w/o lifting heaven and earth.
- kube-system 4y ago
  In California: > $1,500 to $180,000, with an average of $33,000. It really depends on a lot of factors, many of which are not known in advance. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-appendix-surgery-costs-differ-around-us/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-appendix-surgery-costs-di...
  - simfree 4y ago
    It depends what the billing specialist and charge master for the hospital say, and how much they think they can ream you. For example, I got a bill for my Covid booster ($42.50) and Mpox ($67) vaccine, yet apparently my state considers this fraud, as the vaccines are supposed to always be free to the patient, regardless of insurance status or citizenship.
    - kube-system 4y ago
      In the link I posted, the study shows 2/3 of that range of costs is due to differences in treatment, not billing. Major surgery on a vital organ is always a customized service not a commodity.

AlbertCory 4y ago

My attitude is: if they don't quote a price, then it's up for negotiation. $25,000? No, sorry, the highest I can go is 15. You'll do 19? I have to go ask my manager; that's more than I'm authorized for. Sure you can't do 15? There you go!

hotpotamus 4y ago
That's actually more or less my take these days. If you don't know how much it costs, then I don't know if I can pay it. So I suppose we'll find out together.
- TedDoesntTalk 4y ago
  Then they ruin your credit score.

MiddleEndian 4y ago

Even simple shit they don't know. I walked into a door and busted my eyebrow open in the middle of the night so regular clinics weren't open. Went to the hospital. They gave me stitches. Routine procedure. This was months ago. I still don't know how much I owe them. A few weeks later I went to a clinic to have the stitches removed. I paid them $20. Maybe if I told the hospital I didn't have insurance they would have let me pay in cash too, but probably not.

kcplate 4y ago
> Maybe if I told the hospital I didn't have insurance they would have let me pay in cash too, but probably not 11 years ago I had a minor fracture on shoulder from a fall. Ironically it was during a 12 week period where I opted out of offered COBRA coverage between gigs (Mainly due to the fact that the COBRA was nearly $800/mo and I’m a cheap bastard) Went to ER, explained that I didn’t have insurance but could pay cash. Also because I was curious I asked what my charge would have been if had I had the COBRA. Cash price was roughly $1300. With COBRA the charge would have been $2400 for the 3 months of coverage, plus another $1000 for the ER visit, but the insurance would have paid another $4K to the ER if I remember correctly. Those numbers aren’t precise, but they are in the ballpark at least relative to each other. No doubt I hit a sweet spot and if I was injured to a greater degree…COBRA would have won the economic toss, but for my one incident where I could test cash price medical care, cash price worked out.